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May 18, 2012/For Release Upon Receipt Media Contact: Marla Carpenter, 336-770-3337, carpem@uncsa.edu UNCSA SCHOOL OF DRAMA AMONG THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’S “LIST OF THE 25 TOP DRAMA SCHOOLS”
WINSTON-SALEM – The School of Drama at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) has been included in The Hollywood Reporter’s “List of the 25 Top Drama Schools.” According to the magazine: “To find out which schools give the most bang for the buck, The Hollywood Reporter polled Casting Society of America members and theater insiders. Some schools were chosen for their illustrious alumni or curriculum, but the bottom line is, these 25 schools offer the entree it takes to get a job.” The list of the top 25, which is in alphabetical order, was first published in the May 11 edition of the magazine.	Two Gentlemen of Verona
UNCSA Chancellor John Mauceri, who is the founding director of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, said: “If you look at the success of its alumni, the School of Drama is one of the most successful drama conservatories in the nation. And for an acting school – especially an acting school outside of New York or L.A. – that’s a remarkable statement. Not a day goes by without our hearing about a Drama alum who has won a role in a film, on a TV series, at a regional theatre, or on Broadway. “Much of that success is due to my friend and longtime colleague Gerald Freedman, who is retiring this year after more than two decades at the helm of the School of Drama,” Mauceri continued. “Under his tenure, the Drama school has become one of the most competitive and highly regarded undergraduate BFA acting conservatories in the nation. Directors, producers, casting directors and agents know that a having a UNCSA School of Drama grad at an audition means that person is versatile, exciting, technically skilled and creatively inspired.” The Hollywood Reporter agreed: “Ex-New York Shakespeare Festival artistic director Gerald Freedman has created an undergrad drama program where students get guest instruction from the likes of Sam Waterston, Patrick Wilson and UNCSA alums Mary-Louise Parker and Chris Parnell.” The magazine also cited two other notable UNCSA Drama alumni: Joe Mantello and Tom Hulce. “For me, it’s all about the work: getting it, using it, failing at it, learning from our failures, getting back up on our feet and doing it again,” Dean Freedman said. “‘The process’ we call it: principles and a way of working.” Other schools featured in the article include the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, The Juilliard School, Yale University School of Drama, Northwestern University (where Freedman studied), and the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Kensington, Australia. The only other school in the Southeast to make the list was Florida State. As America’s first state-supported arts school, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts is a unique stand-alone public university of arts conservatories. With a high school component, UNCSA is a degree-granting institution that trains young people of talent in music, dance, drama, filmmaking, and design and production. Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, the School of the Arts opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu. ###
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May 18, 2012/For Release Upon Receipt
Media Contact: Marla Carpenter, 336-770-3337, carpem@uncsa.edu

UNCSA SCHOOL OF DRAMA AMONG
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER’S
“LIST OF THE 25 TOP DRAMA SCHOOLS”

WINSTON-SALEM – The School of Drama at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) has been included in The Hollywood Reporter’s “List of the 25 Top Drama Schools.”

According to the magazine: “To find out which schools give the most bang for the buck, The Hollywood Reporter polled Casting Society of America members and theater insiders. Some schools were chosen for their illustrious alumni or curriculum, but the bottom line is, these 25 schools offer the entree it takes to get a job.”

The list of the top 25, which is in alphabetical order, was first published in the May 11 edition of the magazine.

Two Gentlemen of Verona

UNCSA Chancellor John Mauceri, who is the founding director of the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, said: “If you look at the success of its alumni, the School of Drama is one of the most successful drama conservatories in the nation. And for an acting school – especially an acting school outside of New York or L.A. – that’s a remarkable statement. Not a day goes by without our hearing about a Drama alum who has won a role in a film, on a TV series, at a regional theatre, or on Broadway.

“Much of that success is due to my friend and longtime colleague Gerald Freedman, who is retiring this year after more than two decades at the helm of the School of Drama,” Mauceri continued. “Under his tenure, the Drama school has become one of the most competitive and highly regarded undergraduate BFA acting conservatories in the nation. Directors, producers, casting directors and agents know that a having a UNCSA School of Drama grad at an audition means that person is versatile, exciting, technically skilled and creatively inspired.”

The Hollywood Reporter agreed: “Ex-New York Shakespeare Festival artistic director Gerald Freedman has created an undergrad drama program where students get guest instruction from the likes of Sam Waterston, Patrick Wilson and UNCSA alums Mary-Louise Parker and Chris Parnell.”

The magazine also cited two other notable UNCSA Drama alumni: Joe Mantello and Tom Hulce.

“For me, it’s all about the work: getting it, using it, failing at it, learning from our failures, getting back up on our feet and doing it again,” Dean Freedman said. “‘The process’ we call it: principles and a way of working.”

Other schools featured in the article include the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, The Juilliard School, Yale University School of Drama, Northwestern University (where Freedman studied), and the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Kensington, Australia. The only other school in the Southeast to make the list was Florida State.

As America’s first state-supported arts school, the University of North Carolina School of the Arts is a unique stand-alone public university of arts conservatories. With a high school component, UNCSA is a degree-granting institution that trains young people of talent in music, dance, drama, filmmaking, and design and production. Established by the N.C. General Assembly in 1963, the School of the Arts opened in Winston-Salem (“The City of Arts and Innovation”) in 1965 and became part of the University of North Carolina system in 1972. For more information, visit www.uncsa.edu.

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