Theatre: Acting

The BFA in Acting is a rigorous actor training program that includes a solid grounding in the history and theory of performance. It also offers many of the benefits of a liberal arts education. Studio courses, as well as the production season, provide rich opportunities for students to hone and apply their skills in performance across a number of modalities. These may include naturalism, devised performance, poetic text, and screen acting. Courses in Theatre Studies and Cinema and Media Studies further deepen students’ understanding and appreciation of these art forms. Overall, this program acquaints students with the unique power and possibility of dramatic performance, as well as the foundational skills to chart their own path forward as practitioners of the dramatic arts.

The first year serves as an orientation to UBC, fulfilling some required Arts courses and a selection of electives, as well as required BFA courses introducing students to the collaborative, interdisciplinary nature of storytelling. The second year focuses on the foundational development of the actor’s instrument and the ensemble, through units such as scene study, voice and movement, storytelling, and improvisation. The third and fourth years expand the study and practice of acting styles on stage and on camera, and include units like heightened/poetic text, mask, devised performance, development of new plays, dance, choral singing, audition technique, or voiceover. In the third and fourth year, students can audition for shows that are directed by graduate students, guest artists, and/or faculty, who are working professionals and leaders in their disciplines.

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• Frederic Wood Theatre: a fully equipped proscenium arch, 400-seat theatre.
• Dorothy Somerset Theatre: a black box studio theatre with flexible seating.