Expansions and Additions at Lang, The New School for Drama

Two major developments at The New School for Drama and the theater program at Eugene Lang College will bring significant changes to each department in the near future — significantly altering the educational opportunities available to current and prospective students interested in dramatic arts.

Beginning in the Fall 2013 semester, The New School For Drama will offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in dramatic arts for the first time. That same same semester, Eugene Lang will also begin offering a Bachelor of Arts degree in theatre, a field of study that has only been available at the college as a concentration within the arts major.

According to Colette Brooks, Associate Professor of Theater and Writing at Lang College, the BFA program will be offered through The New School for Drama with a more conservatory-based approach focused on acting, directing and playwriting. The new Eugene Lang theater program meanwhile, will remain interdisciplinary, requiring students to learn more than acting and performance.

“We want actors and theater people who are well-educated, as well as well-trained. That’s our mantra,” Brooks said.

According to faculty members involved in the direction of the new programs, they will give prospective students an opportunity to decide what type of education they want within their chosen field of study. Those who want to be immersed in performance and its components can apply for the BFA at The New School for Drama, and those who want a level of immersion while maintaining a higher degree of educational freedom can pursue the Lang theater program.

“What is distinct about Lang is that acting and theater students don’t just act,” according to Cecilia Rubino, Assistant Professor of Theater at Lang. “They may have a deep passion for the craft, whether they’re actors, writers, or directors, but they understand they need a broad interdisciplinary education.”

The changes in theater and drama education have been in the works for some time, according to Professor Rubino, but they are long overdue for some students — including undergraduates who have completed their studies at The New School without an opportunity to major in their desired discipline.

“It sounds great but, they should have had an undergrad program before,” according to Christian Marriner, a recent graduate of Eugene Lang who will play Lord Farquaad in “Shrek the Musical” when it goes on tour this autumn.

Marriner graduated with an arts degree concentrating in theater, but said he would have been happier at Lang with a curriculum centered more on performance. After attending the American Musical and Dramatic Academy for two years, he said he felt he was given the tools to be an actor, but often thought the drama courses offered at the undergraduate level at Lang were “a sacrifice of those tools. Taking classes that weren’t really helping me grow as an actor was a bummer,” he said.

Magee Fahey, another Lang graduate who concentrated in film and video, also wished there had been more opportunities available to him at the college. “I wanted to take more acting classes, but all I could find was Acting for TV and Film, which was awful, and Scene Study Analysis which I had already taken at the community college I went to,” Fahey said.

The expansion of theater and drama programs within The New School will mean more classes available to those who wish to pursue the discipline – whether they harbor even a passing interest in dramatic arts, or a passionate enthusiasm for performance.

“What distinguishes us is that we care that students have a global understanding of performance, that civic engagement and social justice is part and parcel of what you can pursue [at Lang],” said Professor Rubino, who added her hope is that, with access to a well-rounded curriculum, graduates will be “uniquely able to engage in the industry.”