Star Pupils Offer Advice on Making It in the Arts
Three graduates of New World School of the Arts in Miami share advice for students interested in pursuing a dream.
Alex Lacamoire has won two Grammys and three Tonys for his orchestration on “Hamilton,” “In the Heights” and “Dear Evan Hansen.” He attended Berklee College of Music after New World.
Cote de Pablo is best known for her role as Ziva David on the hit television series “NCIS.” She attended Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.
Tarell Alvin McCraney, who went on to DePaul University and Yale School of Drama, shared an Oscar for best adapted screenplay for “Moonlight.” He began a new job in July as chairman of Yale’s department of playwriting.
The arts is one of the few fields where college is not altogether necessary. Is a Bachelor of Fine Arts the right move?
Lacamoire The pros of college are that you need experience being away from home, growing up and becoming an adult. But if you have what it takes and there is an amazing opportunity — let’s say you get offered the national tour of “Wicked” — take it.
De Pablo There are many roads to achieve success. I have worked with tremendous actors who work with no training and with some who have gotten the most incredible training. But I don’t think I would have gotten into a place like Carnegie Mellon if my talents had not been guided by these teachers at New World and certainly by the students I was surrounded by.
McCraney If going to college is important to the artist, then it’s important. But if not, then not.
Getting into a good college theater or music program is painfully competitive. Some take only 12 to 16 students, based largely on auditions. What advice do you offer?
De Pablo It’s a muscle. The more you do it, the more comfortable you get. In the professional world, hopefully you are auditioning every day. The big advice is when you audition, especially if you have time, try to get the material memorized. Get your eyes off the page. Try to connect. One teacher said to me, “When you leave yourself alone, you can be absolutely compelling.” Get out of your own way.
McCraney I auditioned for New World three times. I didn’t get in until the last, and even then it was through a waiting list. The first audition, I was nervous and unprepared. The piece I had had no relevance to my life at all. It was Christopher Durang’s “Baby With the Bathwater.” I found it in a monologue book. I started to write my own pieces then. Even then, I knew work was not made for gay, poor, dark-skin teenagers.
Were your parents supportive of your desire to pursue the arts, a profession where jobs are scarce?
McCraney Most of the time — not about dancing but acting and writing, yes.
De Pablo My parents came from a comfortable reality in South America and they thought every reality was going to be a comfortable one. You want to go to this school — fantastic. They were incredibly kind, but a little ignorance is bliss, too.
Lacamoire They were extremely supportive. My mom especially would listen to the teachers, who would say your son is special, your son is doing things that other people can’t. She never said to me, study dentistry instead. Somewhere in there she was concerned and wanted to make sure I had a backup. She never really pushed it on me. In high school my mom would drive me to all my gigs because I couldn’t drive.
As students enter the professional world, what are the challenges and how do you overcome them?
Lacamoire You are in the business because you have to be in the business, because there is a need to perform, communicate, express yourself. It’s such a hard road. There is so much rejection. The means are meager. You have to share a plate of spaghetti with someone because you can’t afford it yourself. You continue on because there is nothing else you want to be doing. You have to have that drive. You are allowed to get to a point where you get exhausted and you can’t anymore. If you get to that point and there is rejection, if there is still nothing else you would want to be doing, you keep going. But you have to figure out what are you not doing to get gigs. Are you not strong enough at jazz? Get a jazz teacher. Are you not good at reading music? Once you stop learning, you are dead.
McCraney “The only thing new you bring to the art is you” — Alvin Ailey. Know yourself, your true desires, your limitations, and your capacity for change.
Interviews are edited and condensed.
A version of this article appears in print on August 6, 2017, on Page ED14 of Education Life with the headline: Star Pupils. Order Reprints| Today’s Paper|Subscribe
Interviews by LIZETTE ALVAREZAUG. 1, 2017
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