Do you want to become an actor? You don’t have to go to Hollywood or New York City to gain experience and credentials. Later this year Brenau University will offer a bachelor of fine arts degree in acting that will add to theater degrees that support the Gainesville Theatre Alliance.
The GTA is a 32-year-old collaboration between Brenau and Gainesville State College.
“This program has a rich history of preparing students for successful theater careers,” said Jim Hammond, artistic and managing director. “We managed to track down every one of our [former] students when we celebrated our 30th anniversary and discovered that 85 percent of them are currently working professionally in the field as actors, directors, stage managers, technicians, designers, [or] teachers, etc. That percentage is almost unheard of by most theater programs.”
Hammond credits the high success rate, in part, to the GTA’s guest professional program.
“Our students get to work side-by-side with talented professional directors, designers, actors and choreographers, who give them the tools and resources they need to build a life in the theater,” Hammond said.
Members of the alliance perform at theaters on the two college campuses, as well as on stage at the Georgia Mountains Center in Gainesville.
Recently, the GTA presented “The Grapes of Wrath,” with guest director Robert Farley, co-founder and director of the Georgia Ensemble Theatre in Roswell. The group also put on “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” directed by Alan Kilpatrick, associate artistic director of the Lyric Theatre in Atlanta.
“I have never known a theater program as well supported by two wonderful institutions, a 15-county North Georgia audience and so many unflagging volunteers,” Hammond said. “It allows us to sell out back-to-back shows and generate income that flows back into the program.”
The program already offers a degree in design and technology for theater through Gainesville State College. Brenau has bachelor’s degrees in theater, musical theater, design and technology for theater and a master’s degree in theater education.
“The new BFA in acting will maintain our commitment to a liberal arts foundation and provide gifted students [with] a more focused professional actor training program,” Hammond said.
The four-year acting degree from Brenau will include core liberal arts courses, and classes in acting, theater history, audition techniques, and stage voice and movement. From their first semester, students perform in GTA productions.
Tuition varies, depending on whether students go all four years to Brenau (where tuition is $10,432 per semester for students enrolled in the Women’s College) or they transfer from Gainesville State, where tuition is about $3,000 a year.
“In either case, almost 100 percent of our theater students are on performance or academic scholarships or receive financial aid,” said Celeste Morris, a GTA instructor.
The program is expected to start next fall with 12 to 16 students in the initial class. For information, call 678-717-3624, email Celeste Morris at cmorris@gsc.edu, or go to www.gainesvilletheatrealliance.org or www.brenau.edu.
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