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Degree Information	Musical Theatre Program
	Acting Barrier
	Acting Recital
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	Theatre Track Recital

BFA - Acting Recital Guidelines

The BFA Recital must have a unifying theme or idea behind it that demonstrates a personal artistic point of view and links the pieces together as a whole. It DOES NOT mean that each piece must be similar in tone or style. You should stretch your imagination to find variety and shades of difference within a single theme (ex. dark side/light side of a single idea). Use your liberal arts background to provide diversity of thought, and explore your theme for its various aspects.

Guidelines:

Your recital must include, but is not limited to, the following:
1. A Shakespearean piece. This could be a monologue, series of monologues, or a scene. A sonnet may be used, but sonnets alone will not fulfill this requirement.
2. A Comedy of Manners piece. This may be a monologue or scene. This would include a wide range of pieces concerned with the social manners and attitudes of groups or classes of people who define themselves as superior, whose life styles are based upon strict codes of behavior and taste.
3. One twentieth-century realistic scene.
4. Additional pieces may be added from any style or genre.
Content of material should be designed to demonstrate your range of performance ability, including use of at least one dialect. Other skills that you should consider integrating into your recital might include singing, dance, movement technique, mime, circus skills, stage combat, etc. These skills must be demonstrated in the context of the scene or monologues chosen. Single songs or dance pieces will not be permitted unless they are in the context of a scene from a musical and should be included in a - d.
The entire recital must be no more than 40 nor less than 25 minutes in length.
You may utilize no more than one acting partner per scene. You should have no more than three other people assisting you in your recital, excluding accompanist and technicians. One-person performances are highly encouraged (N.B. - not one-person plays). You may NOT appear as a guest artist for other recitals during the semester in which you are preparing your own.
You must prepare a written presentation to the performance faculty that is due no less than seven weeks before your recital date. This proposal is worth 1/3 of your final grade. It must detail the following:
- An introductory essay detailing the theme, its significance and meaning to you, why you chose it, and other information telling us how you came to choose this theme.
- Selection and organization of material to be performed, including scripts.
- A justification for each selection in terms of theme and performance skills.
- List of supporting cast, accompanist, and technical staff.
- A detailing of sets, props, costumes, and other technical requirements. Please keep technical support to a minimum. The focus should be on your acting. Scenic elements are restricted to rehearsal furniture. No department props may be used.
You will receive further guidance from the performance faculty as to any other requirements or deadlines for your recital. It is your obligation to keep your assigned advisor informed of your progress and to meet with your advisor on a regular basis to measure your progress.
No less than two weeks prior to your assigned date of performance you must meet with your advisor for a hearing or presentation of your recital materials. Your advisor will make a determination at that time if you are prepared to perform the recital. Once the hearing is held you may not add to your selection of materials. You may be advised at that time to delete or make minor changes but it will be at your discretion to do so. If the recital is deemed to be excessive in length your advisor can make cuts which you must follow. The hearing is to be presented with all selections memorized.
Following your recital you should make an appointment to meet with the performance faculty for an evaluation of your recital. The performance faculty will respond to your recital as theatre professionals and hold you to professional standards. The evaluation should be viewed as a learning experience for you. Hopefully, you will take away from the evaluation a sense of where your talent stands in relation to professional quality standards, what areas of your talent you will need to further explore and develop in future training, and where the strength of your talent lies. It is definitely NOT designed merely to "rip you apart". You are expected to approach your evaluation session as an opportunity to learn as much as you can about your performance, its strengths and weaknesses, and your future training; in other words, as a professional talking with and to professionals.
A word about taking risks. While the performance faculty does appreciate a student who takes risks, we do not expect, nor will we allow, these risks to be foolish. We expect that you will take "reasonable" risks, something that will stretch you and challenge you, but not something at which you are most likely to fail. We want you to be at your best, doing your best, presenting your best. Please select your material appropriately. If you have any doubts about whether or not you should do a particular piece and what risks it may represent, please contact your recital advisor.
Seniors cast in a Department of Theatre and Dance production in a major role, as defined by the faculty stage director, may substitute that role for their recital.
Substitution Requirements:
1. Performance must occur during the senior year.
2. Application for substitution must be made following casting.
3. In addition to the performance, the student must submit a detailed character analysis and scored script.