<p>Is anyone going to be at the Ithaca auditions on Nov. 4th?</p>
<p>Daughter will be auditioning at Penn State on Nov. 4th. But we'll be driving up to Ithaca the next day to see Urinetown. Does that count? :)</p>
<p>If I recall correctly, she's scheduled to audition at Ithaca on Jan. 27th.</p>
<p>SrMoment,
Will you also be able to see the PSU production of Urinetown on Nov. 4? That is closing night. Try not to miss it - it's a great show, and would be interesting to compare the different productions.</p>
<p>I'm auditioning on the 27th! I'm an internal transfer, though, not a high school student, though they don't consider you any differently.</p>
<p>I am on January 27 too! Are you guys morning or afternoon?</p>
<p>Afternoon for me.</p>
<p>Hello Everyone!</p>
<p>I just had my first audition of the season (!) at IC and thought I would fufill my CC duty and tell everyone how it went! </p>
<p>So I got there around 8 and we just sat around and waited (I went with my mom) and talked to some of the other auditionees. I'm from Ithaca, so we only had a 10 minute drive to Dillingham Center where the audition was, so that was nice. At 8:30, a woman explained to us all what the schedule would be for the day, and then had us get some forms. One form for everyone that had general contact info, SAT/ACT, GPA, class ranking, etc...This form also got the resume and head shot attached. Then for BFA MT (which i was doing) you get four forms, to fill out the title/character for your two monologues and title/song for the two songs. Acting auditionees only had to fill out two (monologues only). Then we turned our forms in and had a polaroid taken (even if we had a headshot) and went into the theatre. </p>
<p>Lee Byron, the director of the Theatre Dept. introduced the program. About 1200 kids audition, they take about 65. In the Musical Theater program, they usually have about 600 applicants and they take 12-15 (half girls; half guys). The kids who are accepted go through 5 assessment in the first 2 years and they don't automatically get invited back into the program. When we probed on that, the students said that it is usually because the person is not happy in the program and it is not a big surprise, but is usually helpful in transitioning the student to another school or elsewhere in IC. This is not a "cut" system. IC has rigorous training with good support from teachers/advisors. Everyone in the program takes dance (ballet, tap, jazz, modern).</p>
<p>Then those of us who were auditioning went downstairs to warm-up and the others went to their interviews. We did a quick physical warm-up (nothing to strenuous, I was in a dress) and a longer vocal warm-up and headed back up to the theatre. They announced the order that we would be auditioning (in the order that we signed up earlier in the fall) and sent the first kids out. Meanwhile, a bunch of current students from IC answered any questions we had and told us about their experience at IC. Everyone was so friendly and supportive; it really felt like they wanted us to do well. Everytime people would get called to their audition, the students would clap and cheer. I can't say enough how nice it was, how relaxed. I started to get less nervous and more and more excited. </p>
<p>One thing that was different about IC was that you do your monologues and songs in different studios, for different people. Usually it is songs then over to monologues, but mine ended up being backwards with a little wait in between because they had two acting rooms and only one singing room. The auditors were a little distant, but very pleasant and not intimidating. I had to do one of my monologues twice (they gave me directions), but they did strictly time them (1 minutes for each monologue-they used a timer). I got another chance to warm up a little before my songs, and then I went in, said hello and gave my music to the pianist (sang a few bars for tempo, pointed out the end etc.) That was pretty much it! The students helping to run the auditions (run us back and forth) were very fun and interested in our audition process.</p>
<p>Here are a few other notes that we took about the program itself:</p>
<p>-Strong alumni network (500 alums in NYC, about 80-90% of their grads end up in NYC.
-Very interested in helping current students move into the professional world
-They run showcases of alumni talent occasionally for the students
-14 performances a year; 6 mainstage shows (2 musicals, an opera and 3 straight shows) and alos 6-8 sudent-run productions; lots of additional informal shows; allows for entrepreneurial approach if you want to write/direct/act in additional shows
-Can audition for shows as a freshman
-At the beginning of each semester, everyone tries out for all the shows and so they all know by the second week
-BFA students can spend the spring of junior year in London
-In London you take a 9cred course called Interrelationships focused on lectures combined with walking tours of all the old theaters.
-London tuition entitles them to attend the mandatory 2 shows/week, so they see a total of 30 shows (no musicals)</p>
<p>Well, that is the end of my journey! I know I was really nervous about how exactly the audition would be run, so any specific questions, let me know, I am happy to share my experience. I can truthfully say that I actually had fun at this audition, and (hopefully!) did well!</p>
<p>Katie</p>