6 Rising Stars Tell Us Why They Chose Their Acting Schools

Acting is all about choices—especially when you’re picking a school.

To better understand what goes into that decision, we found six up-and-coming performers, each of them studying at a different acting program. They clued us in to their reasons for pursuing a BFA (and one MFA) and how they feel about their choice today. 

Their stories might help you find your own path.

Shawn Bowers chose Ivy League prestige 

MFA in acting, Yale University’s David Geffen School of Drama

St. Louis, Missouri, native Bowers had already lived a couple of lives—from prelaw undergrad to steadily working actor in New York—before feeling a call to deepen his artistry. Setting his sights on a top school, he landed at this legendary MFA acting program in New Haven, Connecticut.

“I wanted to find a process for myself,” says Bowers, now in his second year.

Yale’s drama school emphasizes collaboration. Actors in the three-year program hone their craft through cross-disciplinary opportunities like New Play Lab, a three-week intensive that teams playwrights, dramaturgs, directors, and acting cohorts to create new work together. “The characters are being developed around the actors that are in the room,” Bowers explains. “We get to build from the ground up.

“The process at Yale is very transformative—getting to know who you really are, and not the idea of who you think you are,” he adds. “When I enter into the work, post–grad school, I would hope that I have more freedom and liberation, more play and pleasure.”

Coby Hawkins chose Hollywood’s backyard

BFA in acting for stage and screen, University of Southern California’s School of the Dramatic Arts

After fighting his mother’s efforts to get him onto a stage for years, student athlete Hawkins finally caved during his senior year of high school. The Union City, California, native quickly got hooked and decided that he wanted to act for the rest of his life. 

Developing his craft in college was the logical next step. After starting his studies at UC Davis, he transferred to USC. Now in Los Angeles, he’s eyeing a career onscreen. “A big thing for me about USC, specifically, was the potential for work with the School of Cinematic Arts,” says Hawkins, now a senior. “Their film program is the best in the country.”

USC has given him plenty of camera time. He’s gained a better understanding of adapting a performance to fit specific shots—medium, close-up, extreme close-up, and so on.

“Probably the biggest thing I’ve learned, especially [about] acting on camera, is that sometimes listening is more captivating than speaking,” he says. “The best performances are not self-generated. They’re created with your partner.”

Meghana Kumar chose transatlantic training

BFA in theater, Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts 

A dancer since childhood, Kumar caught the acting bug through high school musicals in Monroe Township, New Jersey. She craved a well-stocked acting toolkit and found it in nearby New Brunswick. The Rutgers curriculum has given Kumar a technique, from Meisner to Adler to Hagen, for every situation. “Everything is a breakfast buffet, and you get to make your own plate,” she says.

But the real action is happening across the Atlantic. During their senior year, acting students spend a semester at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. They go deep into the Bard, performing with professional Shakespearean actors and visiting cultural landmarks that contextualize the work.

Now that Kumar’s studying in London, she’s reminded of a beloved third-year movement class, in which she participated in salons on Elizabethan, Victorian, and Baroque plays. 

“I, as an Indian woman, got to play Queen Victoria,” she says. “It was amazing—oh my God. And getting to learn all the dances of that time—it’s so much to sink your teeth into. 

“I trusted my career with the right people; I feel like I have not wasted a single moment of time here.”

Grisham Locke chose a musical marvel

BFA in musical theater, Texas State University’s School of Theatre, Dance, and Film

Musical theater performer Locke wanted a traditional college experience. Voice and choreography classes, yes, but also the odd football game.

“I knew senior year of high school that I was not ready to move to a city—if that’s Chicago, New York, L.A., or wherever—and pound the pavement,” says Locke, who grew up in Ruston, Louisiana. “I just didn’t have the training. So I needed a robust-enough program that was going to help me get there in four years.”

A suburban state school might not seem like an obvious launchpad to Broadway dreams. But earlier this year, the Hollywood Reporter ranked Texas State—in San Marcos, about
45 minutes south of Austin—among the top 25 drama schools in the world. Graduates of the musical theater program have gone on to perform in Broadway shows like “A Strange Loop” and “Smash.”

Locke grew up in choirs, and the vocal pedagogy at Texas State changed how he thought about singing. “It is the most practical and tactile scientific methodology I’ve ever come into contact with,” he says.

And crucially—as he aspires to an industry expecting actors to grind out eight shows a week—Locke has learned to take care of himself. 

“Theater is something you do, but it doesn’t have to be who you are,” Locke notes. “Once you learn that, you are free to explore so much of yourself through your art, because you’re not tying your own value to it.”

Jaden Michael Madgett chose Black excellence

BFA in acting, Howard University’s Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts 

Madgett jumped at the chance to sharpen his craft at Howard, one of America’s most prestigious HBCUs. “I would be in a space where I wasn’t the minority,” the Houston-born actor remembers thinking.

Madgett was drawn to the Washington, D.C., school’s rich legacy of Black artists, like Boseman, Taraji P. Henson, and the Howard Players, a groundbreaking theatrical company dating back to the early 1900s. Now a junior, he’s gained valuable insights into the importance of specificity in acting. A naturally playful person, he admittedly brings a lot of energy to the stage. The faculty have helped put his lightning in a bottle, he says. “I come at it very strong, but coming at something very strong and having no direction just leads to chaos,” he says. “You’re presenting and not performing.”

At Howard, Madgett found a safe haven to make art outside of Eurocentric ideals, particularly through lessons about African theater traditions.

“I feel like it’s created a little niche for me,” he says. “It’s something that I have that other [actors] can’t say that they have.”

Emma Stuart-Box chose creative community

BFA in acting, California Institute of the Arts’ School of Theater

Growing up in Tokyo, Stuart-Box wanted to study drama for A-levels at her British international school. It didn’t happen; no other students at her academic-focused school were interested in advanced-level drama studies. Undeterred, she joined a local theater company and acted in Japanese-language productions. 

So she had two goals for college: gain experience acting in English and immerse herself in the creative process. She achieved both at CalArts, the Santa Clarita art school founded by brothers Walt and Roy Disney.

Now a senior, she’s thrown herself into different styles, from contemporary American drama and Shakespeare to screen acting and clowning. The school’s exploratory spirit extends to the many productions mounted every year. No two pieces are the same, Stuart-Box says. This semester, for example, she’s collaborating with the dance school on a performance art piece.

“Once you start getting in the loop of things, it’s very easy to collaborate, and you can put up your own show if you want,” she says. “It’s so easy to find people who are eager to create with you.”

This story originally appeared in the October 20 issue of Backstage Magazine.