Playbill: As part of Playbill's Back to School week, take a look at our annual report on the colleges and universities with the most creative alums performing on Broadway in the 2023–24 Broadway season. Below you'll find this year's top 10 most represented schools for Broadway creatives, plus some honorable mentions. Take a look and see if your school—or a school you're considering attending—made the list!
11 comments:
I can wholeheartedly say that I am very lucky to have a position as a student in the School of Drama at Carnegie Mellon University. There is a very limited number of students who are accepted here, and even fewer who decide to attend. Students who are accepted into and attend schools like Yale and New York University are in very similar positions. Looking at this list, I am filled with pride in my school that we are the third most highly ranked school in number of alumni working on Broadway currently. However, this also saddens me a bit. Looking at the list of schools represented, the top few are all very expensive universities. Many people do not have the option of attending these colleges without coming out with severe debt in the end, which I believe is a major flaw in the system. High quality arts education should be available to all students who are talented and have the determination to make it in their field, not only through an extreme paywall. This list makes me more convinced that higher education for the arts needs to be made more accessible to people with lesser means.
I think it’s awesome to see how well represented Carnegie Mellon is in the industry. It is reassuring to see that people can actually be successful after graduation and that despite the challenges we will face and how difficult this industry is, we are being set up for success here. It is clear that the skills that we are learning will actually be helpful after graduation and that if we put in the work, it is possible to succeed. It is also good to know that after we enter the industry, we will have connections we made at both her at Carnegie Mellon and by having that connection to other people we have yet to meet that will help us to grow our network and navigate the professional theater industry. While Broadway isn’t everything and so many of our graduates go into other areas of the industry, it is good to see that CMU graduates are successful across the board.
As a CMU student, I’m excited to see our school recognized among the top institutions with alumni making a difference on Broadway! It’s a clear sign of the incredible talent and history that CMU’s School of Drama brings to the table, consistently turning out some of the most creative people in the business. What I love most is the wide range of areas that CMU grads succeed in. From directors and playwrights to designers and stage managers. It shows just how well-rounded our education is, preparing us not just to get a job, but to lead and make real changes in the industry. Watching CMU alumni thrive on Broadway is both exciting and encouraging. It makes me proud to be part of this school and pushes me to aim higher every day. Being reminded that we’re part of this strong tradition of excellence and creativity keeps me motivated. It’s a reminder that what we’re learning here really does prepare us to make a meaningful impact, and that’s incredibly energizing. Knowing I’m part of this community of passionate, talented people makes me want to keep pushing myself and see where this journey can take me.
I continue to be grateful to be part of the Carnegie Mellon University community everyday because of how much we are able to accomplish, and the astonishing people I have and continue to meet. I am not surprised that we are in 3rd for the most designers, directors, stage managers, choreographers, music directors, etc. What is surprising to me is that we are tied with UNCSA, although when I toured their campus their curriculum and alumni community was similar to ours so I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising. The school on this list that most surprised me was SUNY Purchase, which was tied for 6th with Harvard. My sister toured this school, back when she was looking to play lacrosse in college and from what she told me it sounded like such a different experience and environment than the one that CMU gives us. It’s exciting to be at a college that is on this list, and not only that but a college that is number 3 in this list.
I saw the performer version of this list last year when I was finally honing in on exactly what colleges I wanted to apply to for a BFA in design and I am proud to see that Carnegie Mellon University has made the top five once again, even more so they’ve moved up a spot to be number 3! On another note I’m excited to see that Playbill has introduced a list on the Broadway creatives rather than just doing performers. I think it's important for students looking to go to college for BFAs in technical design and management to have more easily accessible resources to find out what some of the better schools are. I personally know several friends of mine from high school that absolutely had the skill set and portfolio to be a competitive candidate for some of these schools, that didn’t even apply to any of them because there wasn’t much information on the web about design and production degrees. I hope more companies begin prioritizing researching and ranking schools for their technical departments as much as they do with the performance departments.
I remember stumbling across the 2022-2023 version of this ranking when I began the college application process two years ago. I believe Carnegie Mellon University was in a similar spot on that earlier list. Now, every day I think back and wonder how on earth I got lucky enough to end up here.
My high school was an early college program and had zero opportunities for theatre. Everything that I did that earned me a spot here was something I taught myself. So many of my classmates showed an interest in theatre, but didn’t know how to turn it into a career or pursue it further as a hobby. I only knew where to begin because I had the resources, and supportive friends and family.
I am filled with a sense of despair when I think about the fact that every ranking I have seen with the ‘best theatre programs’ or ‘most representation on Broadway’ is primarily made up of the same few schools. While I am sure these alumni deserve to be recognized for their work, there seems to be a funnel effect into the industry from these few schools. I hope there are theatre artists out there from other schools who also get their chance to make it.
I went to a performing arts high school twenty minutes from Manhattan. If you were to ask any of the teachers about the school’s biggest success stories, they would most likely list off the same five names—all of which had made it to Broadway. Broadway is, objectively, amazing. It’s a creative center that allows some of the best minds in the theater industry to showcase their talent to as many people as possible. Making it to Broadway is a dream most of us have, whether we admit it or not—but sometimes I wonder if it should be that way. What about all the other success stories? All the people who weren’t on Broadway, but were still creating great theater around the world? It didn’t end in high school. On almost every college tour, the guide would manage to slip in how many graduates were working on Broadway. It’s not that we shouldn’t uplift those people any less, but what is it saying about the people who don’t? There is so much amazing theater to be seen outside of a blocks-long sliver of New York, and I wish that was ingrained into more young artists. That being said, I’m EXTREMELY proud of all the CMU graduates who are working on Broadway today. It’s certainly no easy feat to get there.
I saw this post on Instagram and I really wanted to see the specific statistics behind it. It is an honor to be at this school that produces some of the top performers/designers in the country. I am curious to know if part of the reason for the top two schools having so many people credited is due simply proximity. Coming in at number 3, we still had a considerable amountof deigners on Broadway this year, but not anywhere near the amount that NYU and Tisch had. I think that by already being in that area (especially NYC), it gives them a sort of gateway and advantage in that specific world and community. I'd be curious to see another type of statistic, whether that be people touring with concerts or Broadway shows, people working in film, people working in other theatre-related industries. I think successful alum is a really helpway way to gauge a school and the outcome it creates for its' students.
Pretty coolio CMU is #3. I will say though I wonder what percent of people on Broadway did not go to school at all/took an alternative route. Most of these listed schools are all $75K+ a year. I think theatre has an elitism problem when it comes to universities, nepotism, and wealth. I did not expect Harvard to be on this list. I didn't know they had any department/degree relating to theatre except maybe in literature. I’m also surprised Boston University was further down on the list because it is usually near the top of everyone’s college lists seeing that it’s a conservatory. I’m not surprised UNCSA and CMU are together because often on lists and articles like this one they are always neck and neck. I did hear though that the undergrads there aren’t allowed to design any shows. This could be a lie but that is what I got in response to mentioning that in the most recent Hollywood Report on best theatre schools CMU was the first loser behind UNCSA in undergrad theatre design/production if you disregarded the first two spots that were all only grad programs or acting-only conservatories.
It is absolutely incredible to see that Carnegie Mellon has such a massive Broadway representation on the creative side of the industry. We are ranked number three, with NYU being one and Yale being two. The wonderful Carnegie Mellon is ranked number three, which is incredible. Also, I did not know that Harvard has a good theatrical design program, which beats me. Carnegie Mellon definitely deserves this title, as they are incredible, obviously. This is for the 2023-2024 Broadway season and they considered creatives to be; directors, designers, choreographers, music directors, book writers, composers, lyricists, playwrights, and stage managers. I am very proud to be attending THE Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama. This is such an incredible school, and environment, and is THE place to be. The alumni on Broadway deserve every amount of success they have, and it is so incredible to see how much representation CMU really has on Broadway.
These are always so fun to read (and see the endless reposts on friends’ Instagram stories.) I am so proud to go to this school and be surrounded with so many talented creatives and brilliant artists, both behind the scenes and onstage. There is always some outlet that publishes an article along these lines every year with the usual suspects of schools pumping out the future of entertainment, and it never ceases to put a smile on my face. I wish that they did this same listing for film and television, but I wonder if it is more difficult because of the epic scale of the corporate companies. I wonder how many students that go to school for theatre find their way into creative and production roles in companies like NBC, Warner Pros, Universal, etc. They are still making the art, just in a different platform.
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