For many actors and actresses, performing on Broadway is the ultimate career goal. There are more than 40 theaters in New York’s Broadway district and each of these showcase world-class musicals and plays to hundreds of paying spectators. Of course, many performers become successful on Broadway without higher education or a degree in the theatrical arts. However, others decide to go this route. According to official Broadway casting statistics from 2016 to 2020, nearly 95 percent of performers had a college degree. Moreover, 97 percent of all performers in leading roles during this time graduated college.
Below are six of the best colleges for aspiring stage performers.
University of Michigan
The third-ranked academic institution on U.S. News’ list of the best public universities, the University of Michigan is known for many things, including its Ross School of Business and high-caliber athletics program. It hasn’t historically received similar levels of attention for musical theater, yet its program had the most graduates in Broadway musicals from 2016 to 2020. Of Broadway actors from the top 10 musical theater institutions in the US, 19.1 percent were Michigan alumni. Six percent of all Broadway performers from 2016 to 2020 honed their craft at Michigan.
Michigan’s Department of Theatre & Drama offers bachelor’s degrees in theater, theater design and production, inter-arts performance, theater performance: acting, and theater performance: directing. Students learn from qualified faculty at the Walgreen Drama Center, which features the Stamps Auditorium and Arthur Miller Theatre as well as designated studios for screen acting, sound, and design.
Notable Michigan graduates include Broadway performers Celia Keenan-Bolger (To Kill A Mockingbird), Ashley Park (Mean Girls), and Hunter Foster (The Bridges of Madison County).
New York University
New York University (NYU) ranked second among all schools with 5.7 percent of Broadway performers from 2016-20 graduating from its theater program. Notable alumni of the NYU Tisch School of the Arts include the late Philip Seymour Hoffman, Raúl Esparza, Mahershala Ali, and Sterling K. Brown, the latter two of whom often deliver guest lectures at the school. In a June 2022 story for the Hollywood Reporter, a NYU school rep said that each of its students over the past three years secured either an agent or manager after graduation.
Located in Manhattan, the Tisch School of the Arts has been providing aspiring stage and screen performers, writers, and directors with the necessary technical training to take their careers to the next level for more than 50 years. In addition to its undergraduate degree programs, it offers graduate programs in musical theater writing, dance, performance studies, and art and public policy.
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama Acting and Music Theater is one of the preeminent learning centers for musical theater performers in the US. It ranked fifth among all schools in Broadway cast representation from 2016-20. The school’s rigorous, four-year conservatory training course features classes in acting, movement, and voice and speech. Students benefit from participation in hands-on, collaborative projects and can gain additional experience through study abroad programs in England, France, and Australia. Moreover, students can develop their own musical works with support from theater leaders belonging to the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera and American Society of Composers and Publishers.
“I think of my time at Carnegie Mellon as the most creative and most expansive time I’ve ever experienced… it was a four year playground,” recalled graduate Zachary Quinto, best known on Broadway for his role in the 2013 Tony Award-winning The Glass Menagerie.
Yale University
While it wasn’t listed among the top 10 schools in terms of Broadway casting from 2016-20, The Hollywood Reporter listed Yale University as the best drama school in the world in its June 2022 rankings. Founded as the Yale School of Drama in 1925, the Ivy League theater school is now known as the David Geffen School of Drama following a $150 million donation by Geffen, a film studio executive and former Yale instructor with a net worth of more than $10 billion, in 2021.
The largest charitable donation in American theater history has allowed the school to forego expenses for as many as 17 students per year, removing financial barriers for otherwise talented performers who might not be able to afford tuition. This isn’t the only reason for aspiring performers to think about applying to Yale, however. The school has produced Academy Award-winning actresses, including Meryl Streep, Lupita Nyong’o, and Frances McDormand.
The Juilliard School
A global leader in arts education, The Juilliard School offers degree programs in dance, drama, and music. Its undergrad and graduate streams, both of which are four-year programs, feature classroom and stage instruction through which students develop an ability to bring characters to life while revealing the humanity that ties together individuals of all backgrounds. Notable alumni include Corey Hawkins (The Tragedy of Macbeth) and Brittany Bradford (Julia).