WHAT IS CAP21

briarbrad
#26re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 7/12/05 at 10:04pm

Ok great, but don't start spreading fallacies...

"Michigan accepts 24 applicants out of only about 300."

They accept 24 applicants out of about 1500 candidates. Based on transcripts, resumes, and essays, UMich grants AUDITION slots to about 300-400 candidates out of 1500 who initially send in applications in which they request an audition time for the MT program.
Updated On: 7/12/05 at 10:04 PM

fayway2000
#27re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 6/20/07 at 12:04am

hi, i was wondering if anyone knew about applying to this cap21 program @ the tisch school at nyu because i am thinking of applying there. do you have to apply to NYU the university and get accepted and then apply to the tisch school and specify cap21, or do you just apply to tisch? basically, do you have to meet the requirements that NYU has, as if you were applying for a liberal arts program there.

broadwayboy1017
#28re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 6/20/07 at 12:06am

cap 21 is the musical theater program at Tisch at NYU

fayway2000
#29re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 6/20/07 at 12:10am

yes, i know that. but do you have to be accepted into NYU, or do you just audition for the tisch school. what academic requirements does the tisch school have? are they the same as nyu?

BorensteinBoi
#30re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 6/20/07 at 12:50am

I think it is unfair to say cap students are poorly trained or have less than abilities. Just off the top of my head I can think of numerous recent grads working. Natalie Cortez and Jason Tam are in Chorus Line, Austin Eyer and Christopher Spaulding are in Curtains, Krysta Rodriguez, Skylar Astin and Pheobe Strole are in Spring Awakening and Spelling Bee alone has Jared Gertner, Sara Inbar, Dana Steingold and Chuck Rea. I don't even know that much about the program and I know those people all went to CAP. Perhaps you should write to one of them and ask their feelings on the program. I am sure one of them would respond. I am sure you could get in touch with them through any of the shows they are doing. I hope this helped.

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scott68
#31re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 6/20/07 at 1:05am

To get into Tisch, an application to the university and an audition for the school are both required. That said, the academic expectations do vary from school to school, and Tisch's are far from the most rigorous. (I don't mean that negatively, or to put down the school in any way, as I have many friends in CAP and other studios in Tisch, but the "cutoff point," so to speak, is lower than some of the other schools'.)


"Why, I make more money than... than... than Calvin Coolidge! PUT TOGETHER!"
~Lina Lamont


My name wasn't, isn't, and will never be Scott.

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ShbrtAlley44
#32re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 6/20/07 at 8:40am

Uh, I went to Tisch and I have a BFA in Theatre.

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avab802
#33re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 6/20/07 at 9:02am

FayWay, I auditioned for CAP21 and did not get in (and did not want to go into another studio) but I was accepted into NYU academically. This was almost 10 years ago now, but as far as I can tell the academic application to the university is separate from the audition for Tisch. You have to be accepted into the university academically as well as be accepted into Tisch based on your audition.

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JumpJumpJumpSoHigh
#34re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 6/20/07 at 9:30am

Yes, the academic and theatre applications are still different, and you can be accepted to NYU without being accepted to Tisch.

I spent three years at Cap21, and came out of it not wanting to be an actor anymore. I now have a really fun 9-to-5 job in book publishing -- and the only reason I don't regret going to Cap is that I know if I DIDN'T, I'd spend the rest of my life wondering what would happen if I did!

Generally speaking, it's the sort of studio where if you don't kiss all the right behinds on the very first day, you'll be ignored. And as I'm the sort of person who likes to quietly feel my way around a program instead of trying to make a huge splash the moment I arrive, it just didn't work for me. There ARE, however, some truly amazing teachers there. Someone already mentioned Alix Korey, who was really awesome, but my personal favorite was David Hibbard (I think he's in Spamalot now?), who was the best vocal performance teacher I've ever had!

So, what you get out of Cap depends largely on your personality. But if you really want NYU, consider Playwright's Horizons -- you're trained in pretty much every aspect of theatre you can think of (though you do have to choose a specialty eventually), and they put on the most shows per year out of any studio (whereas Cap only puts on ONE show per grade, per year, which is ridiculous).

~JJJ


Dear Ken, I'm in pieces. Why the cold shoulder? Love, Barbie

fayway2000
#35re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 6/20/07 at 1:29pm

thanks, those posts were very informative. so basically, you have to be acccepted into nyu and then go from there with which specific department/school you want to go into. is this the same with other schools such as carnegie mellon and michigan?

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ElFantasma14
#36re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 6/20/07 at 1:57pm

Sort of o/t, but do most musical theatre programs care about academics when you apply? I'm interested in majoring in musical theatre or drama, but I'm sorta hoping that in addition to my audition, they'll be impressed by my academic acheivements as well. So I guess what i'm asking is do most MT programs look at more than your audition to decide whether you get in?

Dover
#37re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 6/20/07 at 3:53pm

The BFA from Tisch is in "Theater." Not the most descriptive of whatever you spent four years studying, which is probably why the "Training" section of my resume takes up much more room than it should just to describe what I actually studied (I was in the directing program at Playwrights).

It's been (oh God) 10 years since I auditioned, but it seems like the basic process hasn't changed much. You have an audition for the representatives of whatever studio you're applying to, and you also submit your regular application to NYU itself. Whether you get accepted will depend mostly on your performance/artistic abilities and not so much on grades, but you still need to pass the minimum academic requirements for admission to NYU as a whole. I remember when I was applying they required an SAT score of 1200-something. It's not Ivy-League or anything, but if you really don't have good grades it might be a problem. In my career I've met a few people who said they were interested in Tisch but didn't have the grades to get in.

Trish2
#38re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 6/20/07 at 10:16pm

As long as Frank Ventura is in charge of the program I'm afraid it will never grow into the "definitive" program it should be. Especially considering it's location and wealth of teaching talent available.

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BobRandomGuyMan
#40re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 12/3/08 at 12:46am

I went to this program, and I will say that while there are some horrible students at CAP, there are also some really phenomenal ones.

That's the problem you run into when you have so many people in your class... with 60 people in my freshman class, I'd say 1/3 were amazing, 1/3 were mediocre but not completely terrible, and 1/3 WTF. By senior year, a lot of the bad people have dropped out, transferred, etc. Our senior CAP showcase had 20 actors. (Our NYU Tisch graduating industry showcase had 12... you have to be selected to be in the all Tisch one, not everyone is guaranteed a spot.)

There is some misinformation about the acting training in this thread. I did not LOVE LOVE LOVE CAP21, don't get me wrong, but the training isn't completely terrible. The structure of the training, however, is where you get such a mix of alumni with seemingly different skills. That's because there are 3 or 4 "sections" to split up the students, and each of those sections have different teachers. Sometimes they overlap, but unlike UMich or CCM, not all students will have had the same one or two acting teachers in common. It is "collaborative" in the sense that there are many different people working together to train, but there is only a very basic standard on training because of this. They also can't threaten to kick you out like other programs if you aren't performing up to standard. (NYU won't let them, except in 4 year for showcase.)

My advice going into this program is to choose to have the best education, because they will NOT do it for you. Make sure you are getting what you need, and let them know. They will not hold you by the hand and tell you what to do because there are just so many students to keep track of. I actually requested my acting teachers, not only because I connected with them and their style, but also because some teachers were, in my opinion, not so good. I'm not sure who's there now because my two favorites have moved on (Jay Goldenberg and Alix Korey, both genius), but I can at least recommend David Hibbard, Kate Guyton, and (even though she is slightly nuts) Eliza Ventura.

There was plenty of dance for me, but then again, dancing isn't one of my natural gifts. re: WHAT IS CAP21 They often let people who are hardcore upperclassmen dancers come into other classes if they want for additional training. Same with voice training - I think the vocal performance classes are great. I also took double voice lessons and used one session as audition rep coaching and one as technique.

The girl saying that CAP kids are bad actors is just mistaken. There are a ton of CAP grads in film and TV and in straight plays on Broadway. There are a lot of actors from my class including me who have performed and are regularly cast in actual roles professionally - CAP does not just churn out chorus members. I think a better way of saying what I think she means is: there are so many graduates with different training experiences at CAP that some go out into the world and are less than stellar.

If you are a person who has their s#!+ together, who doesn't need to be held by the hand past freshman year, isn't afraid to speak up for yourself and your education, and wants to learn the ropes of NYC and makes those connections before you get your BFA, I'd say this is a great program for you.

hpeabody930
#41re: WHAT IS CAP21
Posted: 12/3/08 at 2:23am

The big problem though with "Cap Kids" is that they have this inferiority complex , that somehow, all of the other studios think that they are sub-par and not "real actors".
They lack the confidence in the training they receive there, which for the most part, is very good.