VISUAL & PERFORMING ARTS APPLICANTS
Let us help you take center stage.
Considering a major in acting, musical theatre, film, design, fine arts, dance, or more?
As a SAG/AFTRA performer with more than twenty-five years of experience in the visual and performing arts and education, Maria is uniquely suited to navigate the complexities of visual and performing arts portfolio admission requirements.
Specialty Arts Services
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Expert Guidance
Distill numerous, complicated requirements for each school into manageable steps with our proprietary workflow process that keep students AHEAD of deadlines.
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Portfolio Curation
Guide and structure visual and performing arts portfolios to fit specific requirements of each school and highlight student uniqueness.
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Artistic Statements
Identify and develop artistic statements that authentically represent a student’s artistic vision and position the student’s match to the program.
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Headshots & Arts Resumes
Provide referrals for headshots and develop and edit professional resumes that shine a light on student strengths.
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Auditions & Portfolios
Provide strategy and preparation for prescreens, audition circuits, monologue selection, live interviews, and portfolio reviews.
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Video Production
Direct and develop video introductions that present students in the best light and reflect their personal stamp.
Why Act One for Arts Applications?
We believe drama is for the stage, not the college application process.
Our anchored approach provides a framework that neutralizes concerns and leads students and families to feeling in control and empowered!
Maria Nicolacakis, MFA
Maria has taught at three of the top visual and performing arts colleges in the United States: Emerson College, CalArts, and USC. This first-hand knowledge of the creative work students develop in the classroom as well as how they participate in their college community, informs the expert curation of portfolios and auditions to ensure a good fit.
Maria provides real-world and virtual opportunities for students to meet with and learn from working professionals across various fields. Building a broad and supportive professional network for every student is essential to Maria’s strategy of sustaining a career with longevity.
Maria knows the application process from all sides of the desk: as a professional, a parent (of three), and as a student navigating her own arts applications twice—for both undergraduate and graduate school.
ARTS BIO
Maria’s professional experience and perspective is broad— having worked in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and overseas, in Dijon, France, where she performed in the world premier of CalArts’ CNP’s production of King Lear. She has played opposite Hollywood veterans such as Frances Fisher, Mimi Rogers, Melina Kanakaredes, and Jean Smart in My Child: Mothers of War at the Hudson Theatre, garnering Stage Raw’s “Pick of the Week.” Her voice over work spans film, video games and television, including multiple seasons on Elementary and CSI:New York. Most recently, she played Anne Meeropol in the globally streamed play, Strange Fruit via The HowlRound Theatre Commons.
Maria is a founding Ensemble Member of the critically acclaimed Syzygy Theatre Group, the first 99-seat theater company in Los Angeles to provide full AEA contracts for all mainstage productions. Maria choreographed Syzygy’s Love’s Old Sweet Song, which received a “Go!” from The LA Weekly, a “Wow” (Recommended) by Stage Scene LA, and the “Critic’s Pick” from The LA Times.
As a solo artist, her first one-woman show, Sacrament, debuted at the Next Theatre, and as part of 15 Minutes of Fem at The Egyptian Arena Theater in Hollywood. Her second, Widow Without You, previewed at Go Solo! and Expressing Motherhood.
A native midwesterner, Maria’s career began in Chicago, where she performed in numerous plays, humored audiences at the ImprovOlympic, and toured nationally in over 25 shows in repertory. Maria is a former dancer, most notably as a guest artist with the New York City Ballet.
From Maria: “I know where students start and where they need to end up in order to launch a successful, sustainable career.”
Service Options
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Comprehensive
Working holistically and comprehensively is the most frequently-used option, and leads to the best outcomes for both students and families.
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Mini Bundles
Small packages are suitable for short-term advising, such as strategizing 8-10th grader course selection and activities, or precollege or transfer applications.
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Hourly
Hourly sessions are best for getting answers to specific, targeted questions, to address an immediate need, or to create a college or career action plan.
Return on investment:
A higher education is one of the biggest financial investments a family will make.
Getting it right saves time, money and stress by helping students avoid the uncertainty, disruption and cost of transferring, changing majors multiple times or dropping out. When students are engaged in the college application journey, they have better clarity and success along their paths, their choice of major and career.
How does Act One help?
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When not with students and families, Maria is in the field touring schools, meeting with admissions officers, engaging in essay writing webinars, and connecting with colleagues in different parts of the world. Maria has done the time-consuming research and costly travel visiting schools, and she brings this savings to you.
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Act One clients experience highly individualized attention and access to the consultant outside traditional school hours. Tremendous thought and analysis go into each student’s trajectory—both as an applicant and lifelong learner. Some students need a gentle nudge, and others more guidance. We work together to develop transferable skills that build optimal school placement, academic success, and confidence. This investment in your talent and future opportunities extends into the classroom, a student’s self-awareness, values, and even time management. In other words, our work together will help you well beyond the application journey!
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Maria is a college professor, so she spends time regularly with college students in their natural educational environment. She is immersed in the modern college world from the inside out. She knows firsthand what goes on in faculty meetings, and what higher ed leadership prioritizes, and she brings this expertise to you.
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Whether college preparation begins in eighth grade or during senior year, the structure and guidance of the Act One process gives students the best chance at finding and getting into the right schools for them. It also empowers students to develop self-awareness, time management skills and goal setting. We take great pride in the fact many students return for college to career consulting.
Act One of your college journey starts here.