Bachelor in Fine Arts in Acting
Policy Statement
18-07
June 16, 2018
Bachelor in Fine Arts in Acting (132 units)
This new state-supported program was recommended by the Academic Senate on November 30, 2017 and concurred by the President on December 7, 2017.
The BFA in Acting is a rigorous, focused and sequential actor-training degree. This degree prepares its graduates to enter the acting profession and work across all media: stage, film, television and web-based work. The degree nurtures and develops both skilled, transformative actors and self-generating, collaborative theatre artists. The degree aims to train young artists whose work is truthful, physically and imaginatively engaged, vocally dynamic and versatile, and who can work successfully in a highly competitive global market place.
Initially the BFA sequence focuses work on “Self” via the introduction of fundamentals of acting, and the development of the actor’s body, voice, imagination, and creative individuality. Work also addresses creative blocks and unproductive habits.
The sequence then goes on to deliver rigorous exploration work on the “Role” through a wide variety of dramatic texts and genres that the student will encounter in a career as a professional actor. It continues to develop the core principles introduced in the first year and adds more advanced techniques and methodologies.
Finally, the BFA degree will prepare students for a demanding transition into the professional arena. This preparation includes Shakespeare and other classical texts, self-generated material and solo performance, on-camera acting techniques and techniques for digital or new media and an expanded mastery of the fundamentals introduced in the first year.
The degree culminates in an online Showcase, which introduces our graduates to industry professionals.
Admission Requirements:
To be eligible for admission to the BFA degree applicants must demonstrate the following, prior to the semester for which the application is submitted:
Applicants must have met requirements for admission to the university as a freshman, or articulating transfer student with 60 completed units at a previous institution.
Applicants must have completed at least 33 semester units of baccalaureate-level work applicable toward a degree at CSULB including the following Theatre Arts courses: 103, 111, 112, 114 A, 116, two units of 140, and 141 A & B or transfer articulation equivalencies.
Applicants must earn a “C” or better, and a GPA of 3.0 or higher in the following suite of courses: THEA 103, 112, 114 A, and 116. If students are enrolled in requirements at the time of the audition, they may audition with a signed Grade In-Progress form from the instructors of the in-progress courses.
Applicants must participate in an adjudicated audition with the Theatre Arts Department performance faculty.
Students may not apply after they have completed 90 units.
Students are allowed one (1) opportunity to audition/apply for the BFA. Decisions are final and there is no appeal process.
To remain in good standing in the BFA degree:
Each semester, B.F.A. in Acting students must maintain a 3.0 GPA in all performance and performance theory requirements (THEA 220 A/B, 230 A/B, 266 A/B, 320 A/B, 330 A/B, 366 A/B, 420, 430 A/B, 466). Students dropping below a 3.0 GPA in performance and performance theory requirements, or receiving a grade of F in any performance and performance theory requirement, will be placed on administrative academic warning for the following semester. During the semester of warning, BFA majors may not audition for mainstage productions or be involved with Theatre Threshold in any capacity. Following the semester of warning, students earning a GPA of 3.0 or above in performance and performance theory requirements will have their Mainstage and Threshold privileges reinstated, as long as no grade of F was earned in performance and performance theory requirements. Students who fall below a 3.0 GPA in performance and performance theory requirements in any two semesters, or earn grades of F in performance and performance theory requirements in any two semesters, will be removed from the B.F.A. in Acting program.
Progress will be closely monitored and discussed during BFA student evaluations, which take place at the end of every semester.
Candidates must perform a substantive role in at least one Mainstage or Studio production to satisfy degree requirements.
Admission to the BA degree will not guarantee admission into the BFA.
Requirements
Foundation (16 units)
Take the following 16 units:
THEA 111 Theatre Arts Showcase (1)
Prerequisites: None
THEA 112 Beginning Voice and Speech (3)
Prerequisites: None
THEA 114A Fundamentals of Acting (3)
Prerequisites: None
THEA 116 Fundamentals of Collaboration (3)
Prerequisites: 3 units of Theatre Arts or consent of instructor
THEA 141A Orientation to Production Crafts (3)
Corequisites: THEA 140 or THEA 340
THEA 141B Orientation to Production Crafts (3)
Corequisites: THEA 140 or THEA 340
Theory (18 units)
Take the following 3 units:
THEA 103 Dramaturgy (3)
Prerequisites: None
Take the following 6 units of Category C3, Humanities Explorations:
THEA 221 History of Theatre and Drama to 1660 (3)
Prerequisite: Consent of instructor
THEA 222 History of Theatre and Drama Since 1660 (3)
Prerequisite: THEA 221 or consent of instructor
Take the following 3-unit Human Diversity, Writing Intensive, Capstone:
THEA 327 Theatre of Protest and Social Change (3)
Prerequisites: GE Foundation requirements, one or more Explorations courses, and upper-division standing. G.E. foundation and upper-division status, Students must have scored an 11 or higher on the GWAR Placement Examination or completed the necessary portfolio course that is a prerequisite for a GWAR Writing Intensive Capstone.
Take the following 6 units:
THEA 320A Accents: Theory and Practice (3)
Prerequisites: THEA 220B or consent of instructor
THEA 320B Accents: Theory and Practice (3)
Prerequisites: THEA 320A or consent of instructor
Take 2 units from the following:
THEA 140 Theatre Arts Activity – Crew (1)
Prerequisite: None
THEA 240 Theatre Arts Activity – Crew (1)
Prerequisite: None
THEA 340 Theatre Arts Activity – Crew (1)
Prerequisite: None
THEA 440 Theatre Arts Activity – Crew (1)
Prerequisite: None
and the following 1 unit:
THEA 210A Theatre Arts Activity – Cast (1)
Prerequisite: None
BFA Core (42 units)
Take all the following 9 BFA Voice and Speech units:
THEA 220A BFA Voice and Speech I (3)
Prerequisites: Acceptance into BFA Degree
THEA 220B BFA Voice and Speech I (3)
Prerequisites: THEA 220A or consent of instructor
THEA 420 BFA Voice and Speech II (3)
Prerequisites: THEA 320B or consent of instructor
Take all the following 18 BFA Acting units:
THEA 230A BFA Acting I (3)
Prerequisites: Acceptance into BFA Degree
THEA 230B BFA Acting I (3)
Prerequisites: THEA 230A or consent of instructor
THEA 330A BFA Acting II (3)
Prerequisites: THEA 230B or consent of instructor
THEA 330B BFA Acting II (3)
Prerequisites: THEA 330A or consent of instructor
THEA 430A BFA Acting III (3)
Prerequisites: THEA 330B or consent of instructor
THEA 430B BFA Acting III (3)
Prerequisites: THEA 430A or consent of instructor
Take all the following 15 BFA Movement units:
THEA 266A BFA Movement I (3)
Prerequisites: Acceptance into BFA Degree
THEA 266B BFA Movement I (3)
Prerequisites: THEA 266A or consent of instructor
THEA 366A BFA Movement II (3)
Prerequisites: THEA 266B or consent of instructor
THEA 366B BFA Movement II (3)
Prerequisites: THEA 366A or consent of instructor
THEA 466 BFA Movement III (3)
Prerequisites: THEA 366B or consent of instructor
Electives (14 units)- unrestricted
EFFECTIVE: Fall 2019
Campus Code: THEABF01U1
College: 55
Career: UD
CIP Code: 50.0501
CSU Code: 10072
PS 18-07
