Any Greek Theatre Majors?

[naraht]

When I was at Carnegie-Mellon 20 years ago, it was an unwritten rule that the Social Fraternities did not pledge freshman drama majors. I think it was a combination of the fact that they tended not to have a lot of time and drama was the only major where the profs would schedule things that would conflict with normal pledge meeting times. I don't know if anything has changed, but the student activities staff certainly knew about it and didn't stress over it. I have no clue on the Sororities.

[AGDem]

I was a theatre major while in school. I guess a lot of it depends on the climate of your school's greek system and theatre departments. I won't lie, I had a very tough time balancing the two and unfortunately, it came to a point where I was forced to focus on one over the other. When I got to be an upperclassman, my efforts were concentrated on my major instead of my sorority, as I felt academics should come first.

I found that both the theatre department and my sorority were pretty accepting of me being involved in both, but when I tried to balance the two, I felt like I was giving neither my full commitment or potential. I had a sorority sister who was also a theatre major and had the same problem, we both ended up gravitating to our theatre department.

There were other girls in our theatre program who rushed and or/pledged, but ultimately never joined an organization because of the conflicting commitments. It is POSSIBLE to do both, but be advised that it is very difficult. I've seen girls not get offered parts solely for the fact that they had too many sorority events that conflicted with the rehearsal schedule. I also know of another girl who wasn't offered a role because she was going through rush, which would have forced her to miss a week of rehearsal. She got a bid, but decided not to pledge.

Really think about this decision. When I joined my sorority, I wasn't very active at all in my theatre department. By the time I graduated, however, it was the exact opposite.

[alum]

Originally Posted by naraht

When I was at Carnegie-Mellon 20 years ago, it was an unwritten rule that the Social Fraternities did not pledge freshman drama majors. I think it was a combination of the fact that they tended not to have a lot of time and drama was the only major where the profs would schedule things that would conflict with normal pledge meeting times. I don't know if anything has changed, but the student activities staff certainly knew about it and didn't stress over it. I have no clue on the Sororities.

I was at CMU in the 80s and from what I recall, there was a lot of anti-Greek animosity in the College of Fine Arts. The Drama Department only chose about 36 dramats (our term for the Theatre majors) for a freshman class and cut it down at the end of each semester so by the end of sophomore year, it would be whittled down to 18. Some students who got cut from acting would go into a different focus within the department, ie directing, others would leave Carnegie Mellon completely. In any case, the first two years in the Drama Department meant extremely long days, ie building sets, sewing costumes so they would learn all facets of the business. Being a dramat was considered more difficult than being an ECE major.

We all had engineers in our memberships and each of the sororities had at least one voice major, but when I was there, female MT majors were not joining Greek Life.

A few girls from the other departments in CFA had joined but unlike the rest of us from the other colleges within the university who wore letters to class and around campus, they NEVER wore any afffiliation item to classes as the professors had the reputation of being biased.

[naraht]

Originally Posted by alum

I was at CMU in the 80s and from what I recall, there was a lot of anti-Greek animosity in the College of Fine Arts. The Drama Department only chose about 36 dramats (our term for the Theatre majors) for a freshman class and cut it down at the end of each semester so by the end of sophomore year, it would be whittled down to 18. Some students who got cut from acting would go into a different focus within the department, ie directing, others would leave Carnegie Mellon completely. In any case, the first two years in the Drama Department meant extremely long days, ie building sets, sewing costumes so they would learn all facets of the business. Being a dramat was considered more difficult than being an ECE major.

We all had engineers in our memberships and each of the sororities had at least one voice major, but when I was there, female MT majors were not joining Greek Life.

A few girls from the other departments in CFA had joined but unlike the rest of us from the other colleges within the university who wore letters to class and around campus, they NEVER wore any afffiliation item to classes as the professors had the reputation of being biased.

I was there from 1986 to 1990. Most of the Science and Engineering students that I knew just assumed that the Drama Profs were either sadistic, insane or *both*. I don't know too many departments at any college that would brag about students who had started in the department, dropped out of the University because they assumed that the Industry had to be easier than staying in the department and made it big.

Sometimes I think that the Drama Department had an element of Boot Camp to it in that the professors felt they had the responsibility of getting the students to the point where when their alumni went out into the business that just about any director they dealt with would be easy compared to the professors.

Hmm. I wonder whether any of the Fraternities that got kicked out of Carnegie-Mellon over the years tried the argument that they were abusing their pledges less than the Drama Profs abused their students...

OTOH, I still wish that the Beaux Arts ball had survived.

[alum]

^^So true. Blair Underwood (LA Law) was supposed to graduate in 1985 or 6 but left about halfway through (I don't think he was cut). I remember all of us watching the Cosby Show on a Thursday night in the big tv room in MG because he was getting a big break as the boyfriend of one of the daughters. The Thursday lineup on NBC was full of Tartan dramats. Cheers (Ted Danson '73) was on as was Hill Street Blues (tons of '60s grads) and LA Law (more 60s grads and of course Blair).


However, cutting is not unusual for drama departments. I was reading on a college admissions website that drama departments at several schools do that.


I find it interesting that there are drama-specific CMU Alumni Clans in both LA and NYC. I wonder if the dramat alums ever associate with the rest of us?

[naraht]

^^Blair Underwood was the one I was thinking of...

The actors playing the Boy/Girlfriends and Spouses of the Cosby kids were definitely a good looking group.

I know that CMU is routinely ranked in the top 10 in Drama Dept, I wonder how many of its competitors cut as well.

I doubt they associate with us mere mortals...