The Acting BFA Program

The professional actor training program is a four-year sequential course of study in acting—voice, speech, movement for actors, dramatic literature, and history of the theatre, supplemented by offerings in stage combat, performance improvisation, Lecoq technique, acting for camera, makeup, and audition technique. The schedule is rigorous; in a typical week, a student works directly with faculty members for 27 to 40 hours and spends a comparable amount of time in preparation.

• The first two years of training focus on the development of the actor’s imagination and an exploration of his or her inner resources as they relate to the external demands of the craft.
  
  
• During the third and fourth years, classroom work broadens to consider the elements of style and modes of behavior in various historical periods and in different media. During these last two years, the student is continuously engaged in rehearsal and public performance. The productions provide a wide range of experience, from the contemporary to the classic, and are directed by visiting professionals as well as experienced resident faculty.

The acting BFA program is one of four in the nation that meets the standards of the Consortium of Conservatory Theatre Training Programs. In the fourth year, those actors who (in the collective opinion of the faculty) are most representative of the four years of a conservatory training program are presented under Consortium auspices to an invited audience of more than 300 agents, producers, and casting directors in New York City and Los Angeles.
 

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A very high percentage of alumni continue to find employment in the acting profession. They appear constantly on Broadway and Off Broadway, in films, on television, and in related media.

Our alumni include:

Kirk Acevedo Robert Burke Oriagh Cassidy Ron Eldard Dwight Ewell

Edie Falco Melissa Leo Adina Porter Parker Posey Jay O. Sanders

Karen Sillas Sherry Stringfield Stanley Tucci

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Acting Faculty (Board of Study)
David Bassuk, MFA, Southern Methodist University
Philip Carlson
Akil Davis, BA, New York University
Jill Echo, MFA, Purchase College
Ginger Eckert, MFA, Brown University
David Gideon, BA, Franklin & Marshall College
A. Dean Irby, MFA, New York University
Trey Lyford, MFA, University of California, San Diego
Christopher McCann, BFA, New York University
Scott McCrea, MFA, Columbia University
Pamela Prather, MFA, University of California, Los Angeles
Ronni Stewart, BA, New York University
J. Allen Suddeth, BFA, Ohio University
Maggie Surovell, MFA, University of Georgia
Charles Tuthill, BFA, New York University
Rosalyn Coleman Williams, MFA, Yale School of Drama

Contributing Faculty:
Rina Saltzman: Theatre and Performance

For additional information:
Conservatory of Theatre Arts Faculty

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For additional information and updates during 2013–2015, please visit www.purchase.edu/departments/AcademicPrograms/Arts/taf/acting.aspx.

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