It's a little after 9 a.m. on a Monday morning, and students at the inaugural National Music Theater Institute semester are already hard at work - acting scenes, singing numbers, delving into characters, analyzing their own work and assimilating feedback from their teacher.

The 10 undergrads are gathered in the basement of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's Rose Barn for their first class of the day, which is music theater scene study. One duo starts things by performing something from the Stephen Sondheim-John Weidman "Assassins," and then another takes on a scene and song from Kander and Ebb's "Cabaret," and on it goes. They staged these same scenes the week before and have worked on improving in the interim.

While the other students and teacher Alexander Gemignani sit in gathered chairs and watch with focused attention, Daniel Baron strums a guitar as he begins a sequence from "Assassins." Positioned behind him is a framed photo of Jodie Foster. His character, you see, is John Hinckley in this musical about various people who have tried to assassinate a U.S. president. Actress Lily Lancaster bursts in as Squeaky Fromme, talking dreamily about her "Charlie." They spar, jabbing at each other's fixations and versions of reality. Then they dip into what sounds like a sweet love ballad, but "Unworthy of Your Love" simmers with darkness.

After they complete their scene, their audience claps. Teacher Gemignani - who happens to have played the Hinckley role on Broadway - gives them some feedback. He says they have taken "a big step forward from last week."

He offers them advice, including that they should keep in mind the escalation of the scene - where the peak of the argument is and how they are building to that point.

Gemignani asks questions, too: Why does Baron think that Hinckley asks Fromme to read an inscription on his prized Jodie Foster photo? What is the objective in this scene?

They respond. By the end, the actors each have goals to work on for the following week: she to make stronger, bigger choices, and he to dissect scenes moment to moment.

This kind of in-depth work is emblematic of the NMTI. The O'Neill describes the program as being for high school grads, undergrads, and post-graduates "seeking a launchpad into the music theater profession," and it certainly offers them a chance to learn about all aspects of this art form.

The new music-theater-focused program reflects the design and intent of the O'Neill's long-running drama-based National Theater Institute.

NTI Artistic Director Rachel Jett, who leads NMTI as well, says, "We're applying what has been true at NTI for 45 years - the work ethic and rigor of the program - and just offering some special skills."

The program's scope is impressive. Classes range from music theater history to acting in song, from composition to choreography. Toward the end of each week, the NTI and NMTI students - under the guidance of professional guest artists - work up a scene over the course of 15 hours.

At the end of the semester, they will collaborate on creating a piece, just as the NTI students do. This semester, the results will be presented in public performances on Dec. 12 and 13.

What the new program has brought to the Waterford campus has been significant.

"It's beautiful because it's new life here," Jett says. "We hear singing as we walk through. The music's playing. The lights (are) on in the dance hall that's brand new; it's just gorgeous at night - or driving up in the morning, and seeing (the students) in their ballet class."

She sees the combination of NTI and NMTI as a wonderful marriage.

"I now can't imagine the community here any other way," she says.

These programs, of course, train undergraduates in all aspects of the theater, but they also open them up to wider possibilities by giving them more experiences. As a junior double-majoring in theater and English writing at St. Mary's College in Indiana, Maria Welser anticipated she'd become a playwright. But now, after coming to NMTI, she says, she's exploring different options.

"It's not that I don't still want to pursue playwriting, but I realize that the love of performing, which is how I got involved in theater, is still very strong and something I want to try to pursue," she says. "But last week, I also directed, which was just an amazing, phenomenal experience and the first time I've ever directed."

As NMTI has gone past its midpoint, Welser reflects on the experience.

"It's been phenomenal. It's unreal," she says.

At the same time, she says, it's difficult. She went in with the idea that "I was going to all of a sudden become so incredibly great at X, Y and Z and it was going to be rainbows and butterflies. I feel like if that would have happened, it would have been an incomplete experience because some of the best moments I've had are moments where I've found frustration in the rehearsal room or frustration with myself because those were moments for me to rediscover who I was as a person, who I was as an artist. ... It's one of those things where, without the struggle, the success wouldn't mean as much."

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NTI accommodates 30 students each semester, and NMTI will, too, although for the first year, the numbers are being kept smaller. (Part of what has allowed for the creation of NMTI is the O'Neill's construction project, which is adding dormitory cottages, along with a rehearsal hall and a laundry building, to the campus.)

The schedule is demanding, with participants working from 7:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week for 14 weeks. As part of the program, they spent two weeks in New York City, learning all about theater and seeing shows that often featured or were created by NTI faculty members.

Jonathan Bernstein - a New York-based director and writer - is NMTI's artistic associate, and he has taught at NTI since 2012. The NMTI teachers are, he notes, working theater artists - "people who are out there doing it, so that the students get the benefit of people who have recent experience and know, on the ground, what the climate is like."

He says the hope is that NMTI students are "just inordinately wise by the time they leave. ... You just crave progress, you crave enlightenment and illumination of all sorts."

For student Welser, one of the most exciting times has been when she got a second chance to do a scene in class after what she felt was a disappointing performance the week before. After a lot of work, things were different. Instead of feeling she had to actively show everyone she could act, she says, she "was living truthfully in the moment."

"I wasn't ready to go, like, accept my Tony, but toward the end of it, when we were talking and working with our teacher, he did something that unlocked something special in my acting," he says. "It was a moment where it's one of those silent victories, where you think, 'Oh, my God, I just did that and didn't think I could ever do it.'"