Star Making: Face-to-Face with the Main Examiner from the Shanghai Theatre Academy

Author: Li Xuetong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: Every year, candidates from all over the country come to seek tutelage and learn acting through various means. In recent years, with the prosperity of film and television dramas, this "examination army" has shown an increasing trend year by year. A significant portion of these candidates, along with their parents, often lack awareness. They do not understand what a "drama college" is like; what qualities actors need to possess; why the acting major is necessarily an undergraduate program; what courses are studied over four years; what the enrollment exams cover; what preparations students need to make; whether there are career prospects after graduation; the current state of the entertainment industry; and whether their own children are suitable for this path. In the eyes of the general public, the acting program at the Shanghai Theatre Academy is seen as a place that cultivates theater and film actors, whose lives often carry a certain mystique. With tens of thousands of candidates from all over the country applying each year, only a handful ultimately get admitted, showing the intense competition. How the enrollment exams for the acting program are conducted, how teachers and students interact in class, and even what their daily lives are like—given that the Shanghai Theatre Academy has produced so many artists and celebrities, people are eager to delve deeper. It is hoped that this book will open a gateway to the of art for candidates and their parents applying to the acting program at the Shanghai Theatre Academy, as well as for the readers who are interested in the development of the program!