Straight away, Feather, I should tell you I know very little about Drama, even after spending three years at The New School.
I loved my undergraduate education. I learned about more than I ever could have imagined, not just coursework, but about myself on a host of different levels- scholarly, political, creative. It's an odd university. My program, the "traditional" undergraduate liberal arts college (which was anything but traditional) was kind of the redheaded stepchild of the institution. Nobody knows what to do with the division and there's constant talk of doing away with it entirely. That having been said, there was, at least, some interaction between it and the other schools. You could petition to take a course at the art or music school, do combined a BA-MA program with one of the grad programs, or take summer classes at the other liberal arts division. The only college you couldn't cross-register with was Drama.
Drama's an insular program. They don't interact with the rest of the university, and even their building is several blocks from the rest of the Greenwich Village campus (it is, however, about a block from where I live, so if I wind up there in the fall, I'm not wearing shoes to class for the first month). They keep to themselves and don't really invite anyone else in.
The undergrad theatre curriculum was firmly rooted in theory and the avant-garde. It wasn't what I was interested in as an undergrad and still isn't really enjoyable for me, but my exposure to the theoretical and the postmodern has made me a more well-rounded artist. Drama's program looks as if it's got an emphasis on the 20th Century movements, but they also keep on top of what's happening now. If NSD is anything at all like Lang, a lot of what you get out of it depends on what you put into it.
Has this been of any help at all? I feel as if I've been blathering on and saying very little.
This evening, I actually had my psychic to look into when I might hear from schools. She doesn't perceive time. So. Incredibly. Anxious. Gah!
Amy Beth got a reaction from Feather in Playwriting MFAs