Hi Roz! First off: Congratulations on Doubt and Everything Acting Podcast!

My question comes from recently observing the work of some actors who graduated from your alma mater. They were great! Very focused and committed. The show I saw them in was produced at the Public Theater. Two of the same actors were also in this past season of Shakespeare in the Park. Clearly Yale has helped to pave the way for a lot of their participation in these wonderful projects.

I can't help but compare Yale to my school at Cleveland Playhouse. Though we will have a great showcase in NYC and the training is comendable, I can't help but feel that I may not be able to land that great role in Shakespeare in the Park or at another reputable theatre company right after I graduate.

My question is how can I use my experience at grad school and use it so I can have the similar advantage as the kids from Yale, NYU and Julliard? Who are the people I should network with? What additional training should I seek aside from the classical training I get from my MFA program?

Thank you very much in advance for reading my post.

What am amazing question.

My DD (12) has her heart set on Yale because a friend explained Rockcity posted. I don't think she is Yale material (although who knows at 12!) and I'd like to be able to advise her properly.

ok. Rock City.

You gotta be fierce! There are plenty of people who didn't go to Yale?Julliard/NYU who make it. And plenty of people who went there who didn't. The way to make yourself competitive with people who work is to:

1. See the work! (You are already doing that and I applaud you for that)

2. Read plays.

3. Get into a class/company/group of friends to work (put scenes on their feet) from the works that are being done. Play the parts. Get feedback. Bring the sceene in again with the feedback that you have gotten applied to the work.

The way to get competitive is to do the work. PERIOD. What made Yale great for me is that I played WONDERFUL roles. I never cast in a play in high school. I was only cast as an understudy in college and a lady in waitng wtih one line. But at YALE I played the great roles, big and small. I performed in ten plays a year. That's 30 plays in 3 years. I became an actor there by acting. You know what they say...writers write...well, actor's act. You gotta do it. I was not always good at Yale. In fact I think I was only good a few times. But I did it so much that I developed my own acting method from everything that I was learning from my experiences on stage.

I hope you find that helpful.

I want you to play the roles. Play the roles in front of people. Repeat.

Finally when you act in higher stakes auditions and opportunities you will be somewhat comfortable. I believe if you do the work you will get good. Then people will be attracted to you. You will then build a team: agents, managers, lawyers, stylist, publicists that are all attracted to you becasue of your ablity to do the work. IT'S ABOUT THE WORK.

Please let me know if you find this helpful.

Wow. Roz's response needs to be reposted in every forum.

Of course, the people who need to learn from this are probably too lazy to read it completely.

That is some really great advice! It really is about the work. I'm going to do as many challenging scenes as I can. Thank you!

Thanks.

Good luck.

I like how you said "Please let me know if you find this helpful", because I'm sure everyone who read it found it to be very helpful!