Taylor Phillips
Staff Writer
Mira Costa junior Emma Gray took her singing, dancing and acting skills to New York University Tisch over the summer to participate in the school’s drama program.
Gray, is a member of the drama club, improv club, the Comedy Sportz manager, and participated in last year’s play, Twelve Angry Jurors and the musical, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Gray’s passion for drama led her to apply for New York University’s drama program at Tisch at the school over the summer.
“I want to learn more about musical theater,” said Gray. “I want to get better and I want to know more about what it’s like to study that at a collegiate level. So, I just wanted to see it and have the opportunity or that experience to see if it was right [for me].”
Gray’s sister currently attends NYU and recommended that Emma should apply for their summer program. Gray was interested in going to NYU Tisch for college as well and decided to apply. NYU Tisch is a part of the NYU campus that solely focuses on students who are trying to get receive their degree in the arts, such as performing arts, film and television, photography and music.
“[To apply] you had to [write] a personal statement, you had a resumè, and you sent in supplemental material,” said Gray. “So videos of you singing, dancing, or acting.”
Over the four week period at NYU, Gray took classes with teachers at Tisch and worked with other students in the program to help her grow and build on her talents in musical theater. At NYU Tisch, they help students learn with professionals who work in the field the students are interested in.
“It was sort of, I guess I can call it a musical theater intensive,” said Gray. “We had classes every day, from 10 a.m. to 5:30 and then on Tuesdays and Thursdays we had workshops at the other drama studios there from 7 to 9:30. So it was basically classes every day except for the weekends. On the weekends we saw shows and lived in the dorms.”
Gray fell in love with drama when she was very little and grew up singing and acting with her sister. She plans on applying to the NYU Tisch program for college and also wants to pursue drama as her career in her future.
“It was amazing,” Gray said. “You get six college credits. It was literally the best experience of my entire life.”
Gray enjoyed her time at the school, getting to meet new people, and learn from trained professionals who could help her develop her skills. She recommends the program to all and was very excited about all the new things she learned while she was there.
“You learn from industry professionals,” Gray said. “Like my vocal performance teacher was in the longest running of the Phantom of the Opera on Broadway. And my ballet teacher studied with Meisner and was a featured dancer with Bob Fosse. Like all of these teachers are like credited professionals who have experience in the field that I want to go into.”
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