WHAT IS CAP21

[Stagerage2003]

Posted: 7/21/04 at 12:38pm

IM CONFUSED am I missing something. I need to start applying to Colleges for musical theatre and I have never heard of Cap21 and yet everyone talks about it. Someone EXPLAIN

[Erich]

Posted: 7/21/04 at 12:49pm

It stands for Collabrative Arts Project. It is one of the main musical theatre programs in the country. Weather it's good or not depends on people's own thinking. It is a studio with Tisch, the arts program of NYU. They also have a summer program as well for pre-college students.

[jenoa 2]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 6:14pm

They also have a seperate division for over 18s in the summer program.

FYI for all of you out of school....

[Sporti2005]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 6:23pm

okay, here's how it works....

NYU's Tisch school of Arts' theatre division has a bunch of acting studios that each focus on a different technique, method, idea, etc. CAP21 is their musical theatre studio (extremely competitive). they accept around 60 people per year (i was told at auditions) - 40 girls and 20 boys usually.

CAP21 is the only MT studio. however, there are other studios within the theatre dept. that have a bigger emphasis on voice/dance than the others, but you would graduate with a BFA Acting instead of a BFA Musical Theatre.

[mtdiva66]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 8:25pm

actually, there is no BFA in musical theatre from NYU. any drama majors in tisch receive BFA's in Drama.

Posted: 6/14/05 at 8:41pm

I spent six weeks in the CAP 21 intensive (through NYU).

As someone else said, it IS extremely competitive. You need to have a trained, polished, professional, MONSTER voice to even be considered. (Which never made sense to me...isn't the point of a training program to be TRAINED in something you haven't mastered yet?)

You should also know that if you audition for CAP through NYU and don't get in, you're stuck in whatever other studio you're placed in for the next two years. The only other way to get into CAP in that situation is through the Tisch summer program or waiting out the first two years of primary training.

Within CAP 21, the focus is mostly on dance, then voice...acting is almost an afterthought, or at least it was when I was there. Take additional acting classes or find a good acting teacher/coach if you want to work on your acting while at CAP.

Good luck!

[Sporti2005]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 9:34pm

mtdiva....really? they told me that i would get a BFA MT....but i'll believe you. haha, it doesn't really matter to me that much anyway!!

[Aigoo]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 9:39pm

Oh man. 60 students a year?!


That's a huge number compared to U of M's and CCM's number.

[bronxboundexpress]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:18pm

Collaborative Arts Project 21st Century.

It's an evil evil program bringing down the intelligence of its students and making them poor riff raff whole sing and dance their way through life instead of being educated.

[Thenardier]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:31pm

I know Alix Korey (currently in ASU...but was in The Wild Party along wiht many other things) teaches there!

[Pinguin]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 10:59pm

Aigoo, It's definetely a way bigger program than most other musical theatre programs, but NYU also gets a lot more applicants. The acceptance rate is still less than 10%, because almost everyone applying for drama applies to NYU, and CA21 has the most applicants out of all the studios.

And bronxboundexpress, the problem is not that they don't educate their students (they have to take the same liberal arts classes as the other drama students), but I think they must encourage that blank look on their faces when you talk to them :0)

Oh CAP21 children...

[Amneris]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:00pm

Half my friends who are in Tisch (playwrights,adler and strasberg) studios attened cap 21 summer studio last year for credit as part of their core to graduate early and also apparently save cash... these are the people who don't want to wait out the 2 years or did not make it in the 1st time... and most of them are returning this summer and will graduate in december as opposed to May. According to all 19 of them.

[mtdiva66]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:11pm

unfortunately, cap21 has a pretty bad reputation around nyu and some casting agencys as being a great place to train chorus members. u of m and ccm are alot better at training well rounded musical theatre actors. cap really doesn't provide good acting training and most of the students that go into, and come out of cap21 either have really great voices or are really great dancers... the shows that the students put on at cap21 are a good example of this; their acting (for the most part at least, im sure cap isnt ALL bad actors) really is horrendous.
Updated On: 6/14/05 at 11:11 PM

[Pinguin]

Posted: 6/14/05 at 11:14pm

I mean, if you've ever seen a musical at NYU, you know this to be true...

It's tough.

That's the problem when you have a class where people do scenes from Oklahoma...

The best musical theatre schools are definetely u of m, ccm, cmu, and boco, IMO.

[WayWicked]

Posted: 6/15/05 at 1:39am

..and of course, Oklahoma City University. Where you get the best vocal training in America and learn how to act in both musicals and plays.

Just look at Kelli O'Hara.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 6/15/05 at 8:49am

Stagerage, if you want actual accurate information about NYU's program then I'd recommend that you visit the NYU or Tisch livejournal communities and talk to actual students at CAP21. There's a lot of misinformation going on in this thread by individuals who obviously don't know what they're talking about because they're not NYU students. I'm in Tisch, in Atlantic, and I have friends in CAP21 and none of them fit the descriptions given here. Trust me.

If you're only interested in MT, then when you audition, you can specify that you only want CAP21 and not one of the other studios. That way you won't be 'stuck in another studio' for two years. Yes, they enroll approximately 60 students a year out of the 1300-1500 who specify CAP21 as their first choice. However, you aren't in a class of 60, the classes are broken down into groups of 15-20 for classes, as they are in every studio at Tisch.

Lastly, Tisch grads get a BFA in Drama, including those in CAP21.

[cathyhyatt]

Posted: 6/15/05 at 11:29am

sporti- isn't 60 people per year a higher number than a lot of other competive schools?

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 6/15/05 at 12:45pm

Cathy, as I and others have said 60 is higher but it's the largest school in the country with many more applicants. The rate of acceptance is similar in all the top programs, including Tisch.

[mtdiva66]

Posted: 6/15/05 at 12:52pm

well, while erinrebecca is right that it WOULD be beneficial for you to talk to NYU and Tisch about the program, nothing i have stated is misinformation. also, when you do talk to other cap students, would you really expect them to say anything remotely poor about the program for which they're paying 40g a year? while you should talk to current cap kids, who i would encourage you to talk to, are cap kids who didnt stay for the entire 3 year program and who transferred OUT of cap, they will be able to tell you about the poor acting training and the overload of dance classes. cap21 is definitely in the second tier of musical theatre training programs in the country, and that is just a fact.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 6/15/05 at 1:04pm

mtdiva, I didn't say that your information was inaccurate, I stated that there was much misinformation being thrown around by people who had never attended Tisch, and I stand by that statement. I referred the OP to the NYU and Tisch communities where they will gain current students' opinions, as well as the opinions of some who may have switched from one studio to another. That's one avenue for obtaining information, by no means should it be the only one. I'm no big CAP21 defender here, I'm in Atlantic, but I think it's advisable for everyone who is interested in this route to get as much information about every program as they can. Seeing statements like BoCo being called one of the top MT programs in the country just makes me shake my head. And your 'fact' that CAP21 is second tier does the same. If you had a bad experience there, then do people a favor and detail what made it bad, don't just make blanket statements like that which are of no use to anyone and which are just plain wrong. I know many people in the theatre biz both in the city and across the country, both family members and friends, and I've never once heard any of them say that CAP21 was second tier. Anyway, for those of you who are interested in pursuing drama in college, do your research, visit schools, talk to profs and current students, ask lots of questions, and prepare well for your auditions. The best online site for information on the MT college process is:

http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=501

[briarbrad]

Posted: 6/15/05 at 1:08pm

I would disagree that Tisch has the same acceptance rate as some of the other more competitive programs. I think they have about 2000 applicants every year for 300 spots, while some of the other competitive programs have about 2000 applicants for less than 50 spots. It's not fair to assume that just because Tisch has a much bigger drama school that they have a much bigger applicant pool.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 6/15/05 at 1:27pm

briarbrad, the year I auditioned there were roughly 3000 applicants. It hovers around that number every year. Generally, half of those auditioning specify CAP21 as their first choice studio. Some will accept a second choice and some won't. CAP enrolls approximately 60 a year while accepting approx. 80, so you do the math. It's selective. I know the numbers were roughly the same for the year following mine, this year's freshmen who just finished. A couple kids from my h/s are in that class and I went to the session at parents' weekend in the fall where Frank Ventura at CAP confirmed those numbers. Perhaps those auditioning for 2005 entry were fewer, but I doubt it.

p.s. For those doubters of talent coming out of CAP21, go see All Shook Up and have a look at Nikki James and Sharon Wilkins. It will put your fears to rest.

edited to ask: brad, what other program has 2000 applicants? I'm curious.
Updated On: 6/15/05 at 01:27 PM

[briarbrad]

Posted: 6/15/05 at 1:33pm

In terms of Apples and Apples, Carnegie Mellon sees about 2000 applicants for 45 spots in its drama school (18 Actors, 10 MT, 15 designers & PTM, 6 directors). I say apples and apples because both Tisch and Carnegie have acting, directing, tech, and MT programs. I think CCM and BoCo see about 1500 a year for their MT program.

[erinrebecca]

Posted: 6/15/05 at 1:53pm

I'm not too familiar with the figures at CCM or BoCo (although I have friends at both so could ask), but I am with CMU and your numbers are off a bit. Elizabeth Bradley is one of the people I know, tangentially because she worked with my uncle in theatre in Toronto for many years before going to CMU. They generally audition 1000 for straight drama and 500 for MT. It's a great school and was my second choice if I hadn't gotten into Tisch.

[TheColorOfFlame]

Posted: 6/22/05 at 8:14pm

These are always dangerous questions to ask on the board, because theatre students have such strong biases. In general, people who didn't get into any given programs develop a strong hatred for those programs.

And it's so sad and silly to talk **** about a program just because you know people in them. But literally everybody does it, to make themselves feel better about where they're studying.