Acting (B.F.A.)

If your goal is a professional acting career, Ithaca’s bachelor of fine arts degree in acting is the program to choose. We offer a time-tested balance between the best aspects of conservatory training and an enriching foundation in the liberal arts. Our curriculum is performance-oriented, with highly individualized instruction and a faculty invested in your growth as an artist and person.

Your training will begin with two years of coursework in voice, movement, and scene study, accompanied by the study of stagecraft, history, and theatre organization and management. During your junior and senior years, you'll extend this basic training through classes in styles of acting, directing, acting for the camera, dialects, dance, and dramatic theory. You'll also have opportunities to choose special elective workshops in areas such as audition techniques and professional aspects of theatre.

Each semester there are numerous audition opportunities not only in the department, but in a variety of other venues around campus and in the vicinity. The Ithaca area has a well-established theatre community, and professional theatre companies such as the Hangar Theatre and the Kitchen Theatre provide additional opportunities.

You may also round out your education with a semester abroad at the Ithaca College London Center. In an intensive, nine-credit course that studies British drama and culture, you'll participate in a lab/seminar centered on the review and discussion of the more than 20 plays you'll attend -- many in the fabled West End -- over the course of the semester.

In your senior year, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in a week-long field studies trip to New York City, during which our highly supportive network of I.C. theatre alumni will talk with you about their experiences in the profession. You’ll see productions, practice your audition skills in a workshop setting, and benefit from presentations by alumni, who will help you bridge the gap from student to young professional.