There is no one right way to become an actor. I have to remind myself of this over and over again. One person’s path will not, and frankly should not, be mine! And when it comes to picking a drama school, there is certainly no best or “right” choice for everyone. We all know the stories of the actors who never even WENT to drama school, and they are doing just fine.
Choosing the right track for you requires two factors - knowing what works best for you i.e. how you learn best, what environment will help you grow the most, etc and perhaps even more exciting/daunting - knowing what you WANT.
Pure and simple...right?
This is your life and your career! If you want a small liberal arts education with some theater involved DO IT! If you want a big university that also has some crazy cool art classes YOU HAVE THE UNIVERSE’S BLESSING - GO FORTH. Conservatory? DO’T.
However, knowing what you want, at any age, can be a feat within itself. The answer is usually not so clear - murky at best. Many times we think we want one thing, we try it, and WOMP it’s not so great - and you wanna switch to something else. But this is also fantastic - now you know what you don’t want. (Refer to Johnny’s video on the How To Get Into Drama School YouTube about transferring schools!)
What you are looking for is that feeling of “yes. I think I can try jumping into this scary exciting unknown. I think I can do this and will enjoy doing it.” I like to call it “Following the fear.” Hopefully the school you end up picking is a beautiful, healthy mix of comfy and scary. Too comfy and you won’t grow; too scary and you also won’t grow!
When I was trying to decide what college to go to my dad asked me this question: “If you were a poet, where would you want to go?”
He asked me this because it had been a month of torture for all of us - I was so confused and lost and could not for the life of me figure out what I wanted. He asked me this question because I was so caught up in what I thought I should want, or what other people thought would be best for me and my career that I was drowning in my own thoughts.
When he asked me this question, he allowed me to fantasize and enter my own personal dream world where I was the artist I of being, and then I could make my choice from that perspective.
Again - the poet he asked me to envision was the poet version of ME. so I ask want to now ask you:
If YOU were a poet, if you were the artist you know you have the potential of becoming, where would you go?
