2013/2014 Theatre/Drama Audition Stories

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
21

<p>Just got home to VA from a morning audition at Hartt. Got there at 8:15, talked to students from the school and other applicants for the first hours while parents were in the info session. Got a really good vibe from the people in the program. They really love the faculty and were very nice and down to earth, very grounded. I had my audition at around ten. There was about 6 acting auditioners and a whole load of MTs, I’d guess around sixty. The audition itself went well, the auditors were, in Nomester7’s words, “poker-faced”. After the audition I got lunch with my friend from BUSTI who goes to school there and saw Chicago, the MT’s show playing this weekend. </p>

<p>Overall, I really enjoyed the day and LOVED the vibe I got from the school, students, and faculty. Now comes the waiting, but they said we would receive a decision most likely by the end of the year but for sure by Jan. 15th. Crossing my fingers!</p>

22

<p>Josh - I totally met you yesterday before we went in to audition!!! I’m the girl from Long Island who was in the green dress. I totally agree with you when you say the auditors were poker-faced. I’m glad your audition went well. :)</p>

<p>I posted this in the MT thread and I’ll post it again here:</p>

<p>HARTT AUDITION - ACTOR TRAINING</p>

<p>So my dad and I got a little lost trying to find the performing arts building (we’d both never been to Hartford, and who knew that there would be an Asylum Street and Asylum Avenue right near one another?!) but we still made it there by 8:30. I was one of the first Actor Training people there, but that actually isn’t saying much because there were only about 6 AT kids who were auditioning, including me, which I thought was strange. But I guess it gave me a better chance of standing out, since there was less competition.
My dad went to the parent’s info session and I was left alone to wait til my audition time at 9:30. I started talking to another auditionee, and I discovered that our Shakespeare monologues were from the same show (Love’s Labour’s Lost - not an overdone show, I thought, but the fact that he was doing a monologue from that show too made me kind of nervous). </p>

<p>Three or four current Hartt students approached us and asked us how we were, if we had any questions, and basically made us feel really relaxed and welcome. All of the students were SO nice. I can’t say that enough. They knew we were nervous out of our minds and tried to reassure us in every way possible. They also told us a lot about the school, even things that I didn’t already know, such as the fact that they have semester juries, but more as an evaluation - no one gets cut from the program. A lot of them said that they picked Hartt over other schools because of the friendly, family-like atmosphere. AT only has 10-12 kids per class, and spending four years with these people, plus going to London together junior year, creates a really special bond. They said that MT accepts around 25, but the family atmosphere is still present. Also, they told us that they have a senior showcase in NYC and that the faculty can get individual showcases in LA if students are interested.</p>

<p>My audition was at 9:30, the first of the day (and probably the school year, since this was the first audition day -eek). I walked into the room and there were two men sitting behind a table: Alan Rust and Bob Davis. They asked me how I was, where I was from, which monologue I’d do first, and then told me to begin. (The woman who signed me in told me that I had to do my contemporary monologue first and classical second, so I didn’t have much choice.) They immediately asked for my second monologue, and right after I finished Alan asked “Why did you choose this monologue?” The question caught me off guard and I kind of panicked and said something that wasn’t at all what they were looking for. They then asked what I was looking for in a school, if I knew anyone at the school, and if I had any questions, then they told me I could go. No adjustments or anything. Overall, it was really short, and I honestly had no clue if they liked me or not - poker face the whole time. I’m mad at myself for screwing up the interview. I feel like I could have left a bigger impression on them than I did. And I had a really good answer prepared for why I want to pursue this career, but they never asked. It’s out of my hands now, though, so I’m trying not to worry about it too much. </p>

<p>After I left the room, all the students asked how it went and assured me that I probably did great (they were SO. NICE.) They even waved at me as I drove away. </p>

<p>So that’s my story. I know I’m supposed to find out before January 1, but I remember kids in past years finding out around Christmas. Any thoughts on when I could hear?</p>

23

<p>My son was accepted EA last year and he got his letter around the 3rd week of December.</p>

24

<p>My son auditioned at Hartt yesterday for MT, and I agree the students helping out were wonderful.</p>

25

<p>@Dramamom - I just wanted to pitch in, seeing as I’m a current UArts Acting student who has helped out with the auditions before. You said that admissions told you you’d hear in 3 weeks? That may have changed for this year (the last time I helped out for auditions was last year), but we’ve always told people auditioning for the theatre dept that they will normally hear in 2-6 weeks, although on rare cases it might be longer.</p>

26

<p>My D had her first college auditions at our state thespian conference this past weekend. I realize most kids probably won’t be participating in this type of audition, but I do remember seeing some discussion about thespian conferences last year so this may be of interest to someone.</p>

<p>There were approximately 35 participating colleges/universities/conservatories. Of those, about 10 were in-state schools. There were maybe a dozen others from surrounding states. The remainder were from all over the country. A few were what I’ll call acronym schools: AADA, AMDA, NYCDA. Some of the higher profile colleges (those that are mentioned on these forums more than some) in attendance were The New School for Drama, Oklahoma City University and the University of Oklahoma, Roosevelt University, University of the Arts, University of Evansville, and our own University of Northern Colorado. </p>

<p>Prior to auditions, my D had applied to and been academically accepted to her first choice school and her safety school, both in-state. A third in-state application is pending. All three were present at the conference, although the safety school did not participate in the actual auditions, as they are a non-auditioned BA program. I believe they were there just to hold workshops.</p>

<p>The auditions took place on the second day of the three-day conference. There were five sessions, each an hour and 15 minutes in length, with about 30-35 kids per session. The last session also had kids who were applying for tech. D was in the third session, the first after lunch. They were taken as a group into a room where all the representatives were seated and they then performed their pieces in alphabetical order, so she was near the end. She said there were slightly more people auditioning for MT than acting, but I don’t know if that was the case in every session. They were told callbacks would be posted at the conclusion of the session, but it took a bit longer than that. She had to go back to check 2-3 times before most of the lists appeared. Some schools posted one list for all and some had separate lists for acting and MT. My D received 25 callbacks and was one of eight in her session called back for acting by her top choice school.</p>

<p>They were encouraged to make contact with every college that had called them back, so the final day of the conference was spent going from booth to booth. For those she knew she wouldn’t apply to, she had hoped to stop by just to say a quick hello and thank them for their interest, but every representative wanted to go into detail about why their school was the right one for her (needless to say, there were a few she wasn’t able to get to). Again, most only described their programs, but a few actually gave her feedback. A couple of them said her monologues were “thoughtful” or “well thought out,” not sure of the exact wording, and one added that she was different. Another not only told her she’d had a fantastic audition, they also said they were very impressed with her grades.</p>

<p>Before this weekend, my nerves were frayed and my anxiety had reached a fever pitch. None of this was turning out the way I’d been imagining. I’m afraid I might have the most stubborn, headstrong child of all. I had always assumed she would apply to MT programs because of her strong dance background and lovely voice, and she wistfully said she would like to, but was concerned her lack of formal vocal training would hurt her, plus she waited so long to start choosing and preparing her monologues that it seemed there wasn’t enough time to also seek out and learn songs and record all the various cuts she would need, so she’s going for acting only. She has no intention of applying to 12-14 schools. I’ll be grateful if she ends up with half a dozen. She refused professional coaching, prefering to work only with her drama teacher. I hoped to take a family road trip to Chicago Unifieds (not a good flier)–she has her heart set on New York. Fortunately, my sister is willing to take her. Right now it’s looking as if all her decisions have been good ones so far. After she called me and told me about her callbacks, I was bursting with so much happiness, excitement, pride–and yes, relief–I have to admit, I cried a little bit after I hung up the phone. I’m starting to believe it’s all going to be okay.</p>

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<p>Theatreguy321. Yes U Arts said 2 to 3 weeks and it ended up being 2 weeks. They seem to be moving quickly this year. Great for us since we got good news. :-)</p>

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<p>momoftheatre, glad there has been good news to hear!! We’ve all had the frayed nerves, even if they are just giong for BA programs cause they still have to complete apps, resumes’ etc. Even more frayed nerves when auditions are involved.</p>

29

<p>My D and I braved the weather last Friday (Columbus is a 4 hour drive from where we live) in preparation for her Otterbein audition on Saturday. It was her third audition but her first for straight acting as opposed to MT. We arrived around 9 and she filled out papers while the MTers were dancing. Overall there were only 19 kids auditioning: about 3 of the 19 were boys and about 3 of the 19 were acting (not sure how many of the MTers put down that they would consider acting though). There was a short information session for everyone, and then the kids were broken into two groups while the parents trekked across the street for a general school presentation. My D was nervous about having to audition in front of the other kids, but calmed down quickly when she realized how nice everyone was. When her group was done she was allowed to go to lunch (the MTers had to take a music theory test), but ended up talking to other auditionees and current students for quite a while. After lunch we arrived back at the theater for her interview. They had her rework her Shakespeare monologue and do a third monologue. Her resume shows a lot of musicals, so they even found a song she’s using for Mt auditions and had her sing! She absolutely fell in love with Dr John, the other students, and the program.</p>

30

<p>My D auditioned on campus for Boston University’s BFA acting program yesterday. The day started off a little strangely but ended fine. Our paperwork and e-mail said the day would start at 9 am and go to 1 pm. We drove up Thursday and stayed at the Back Bay Hilton. I had looked into the best way to get to campus from the hotel before we got there and because I am still recovering from a broken ankle and I walk really slowly, we decided to take a taxi over to campus. We went into the student union and had breakfast at Rhett’s. We ate there when we visited BU so I knew where it was. After breakfast we walked over to the fine arts bldg and it was just 9 am.</p>

<p>And there was no one there! We walked all around and just saw some custodians. Eventually we decided to go up to the drama office and on the way we see a sign saying “welcome to auditions, beginning at 11 am.” Oops. Somehow our paperwork said 9 am and we were two hours early. So we went upstairs and hung out in the drama department lobby. At one point someone asked us if we were here for auditions and we said yes; our email said 9 am. She apologized and said they had changed the times after some people registered and it looked like the info didn’t get sent properly from the dean’s office.</p>

<p>Better early than late I guess and soon it was time to go back downstairs and finally there were some other people there. There ended up to be about 12 kids auditioning. First we all went into the theatre lab, where it is very cold, bring your jacket! Paolo DiFabio, the Assistant Director, and McCaela Donovan, the senior staff assistant, gave a one hour presentation on the program. We met Paolo when we visited the school and he was as impressive the second time around. He’s very intelligent and articulate and a great spokesperson for their program. Aside from discussing the program he talked about how auditions and admissions will go and tried to get the kids to relax.</p>

<p>BU expects to audition 750 kids, accept about 90-100, and yield a class of 40-45. The audition results will be released all at the same time the last week of March or early April. Paolo said please do not read anything into how long students are in the audition room. He purposefully “mixes it up” so waiting parents can’t read anything into it. You can be admitted if you are in the room 9 minutes or 25!</p>

<p>After the talk we all went to the 4th floor where they posted a list of the audition order. My D was one of the early auditions. They said after your audition you are free to go. My D was happy with how her audition went. She did two monologues and then they asked her quite a few questions. Paolo said he was “engaged” with the way her two characters contrasted each other and asked her a question about how the two different characters would respond to something. They also asked her if she reads a lot because she was very well-spoken. (Considering I was worried about how she would do in interviews because she doesn’t like to talk about herself, I was glad to hear this!)</p>

<p>Bisouu asked if it would take the entire time slot for her D’s audition at BU. It depends where you fall in the audition order. It turns out our day was actually scheduled for 11-2:30, so if you were one of the first few kids to audition you would be done by 1 or 1:30. But the kids later on the list would be there the whole time. Hope that helps. Paolo did ask if anyone needed to go earlier to make a travel connection or another audition so if you needed to you probably could request to go sooner.</p>

<p>That’s our day! If you have any questions feel free to ask. BU is a great program and we’d love to be one of the 45. :-)</p>

31

<p>Thanks for the info , dramamom!</p>

<p>Dumb question - what did you do for lunch? Did they give you a break to eat a bite?</p>

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<p>Mountainhiker- food is never a dumb question if your child is like my D! She does not do well when hungry and is not pleasant to be around. I had water, trail mix and her favorite protein granola bars in the sherpa bag. But as far as the schedule went, there was about a 15 minute break after the presentation and before the first student auditioned. No time to eat lunch then. The schedule they posted had approximate times for the students to audition. So you could look at the list and decide if you had time to go get lunch. There is a Chipotle and a pizza place right across the street from the fine arts bldg. We waited until she finished and then hightailed it to Chipotle. :-)</p>

33

<p>Always have bottles of water with you!</p>

34

<p>I just got back from my audition at the University of Minnesota- Twin Cities!
Of course the program is amazing, so it was an honor just to perform for them.
This was a polar opposite from my first audition at Viterbo where I was told flat out that they liked me and would love to have me.
It was definitely more intimidating at the UMN! We arrived 45 minutes early because the roads were really bad. The students who checked us in were super nice, and the other families in the waiting area were fun to talk to.
The program director, Joe Price, came and got me and walked me to the room where one other male faculty member was. They started off by asking questions, and then asked me for my pieces. (Including the 3rd- a character you normally wouldn’t get cast as but would love to play.) They asked me questions about why I picked my 3rd piece, asked me to sing a song, asked for another monologue so I did my Shakespeare, asked for another one, so I did another comedic. Then they were curious about the piece I did that was written over 100 years ago because they had never heard of it (atleast that’s what I got out of it). They wanted me to tell them about the author. Joe Price asked me if he was American and I said yes. The entire 5 hour car ride home I spent saying to myself, “He’s British. Charles Reade is British,” in hopes that maybe I could telepathically put those words into Mr. Price’s head. UGH! They asked if I had any questions, and I asked 2.
The entire audition was probably about 15 mintues, and we headed home right after because I wasn’t feeling well!
They were definitely poker-faced, so I don’t know how to feel about it! Which I guess I should expect. I feel like I did my absolute best at performing, I just hope the interview portion went better than I’m thinking. I guess we’ll see when callback weekend calls go out!</p>

35

<p>Today I had my Guildhall audition in NYC at 9:30AM. First off, I gotta say these guys know how to create the most positive audition environment in the world. There were ten people auditioning today, one other 18 year old, and the rest were in their mid and late 20s. </p>

<p>First, Martin Connor introduced himself and talked for a bit about the program, really emphasizing the selectivity of it and how he’s really looking to see who would benefit from the training specifically at Guildhall rather than any of the other drama schools. He joked around in his speech and really tried to make us feel comfortable. </p>

<p>We then spent the first hour doing ensemble exercises. We walked the space connecting with each other. When the ex-student leading the movement session would clap, we would stop and face whoever we were nearest to, stare at them, take them in, and give them a compliment about one of their features. We then played a game of tag where the only way to not get tagged was to be hugging someone, so it really broke the physical tension of an ensemble that just met each other. After that we split up into two groups and we silently as a group had to make different objects with our bodies. Such as a toaster, a boot, and a Wedding Cake. And the other group had to guess what the objects were. Next we did the same thing again as a full group and the auditors had to guess. We then went in groups of three to bring imaginary tea to the auditors while spilling some halfway and cleaning it up. Finally to end the session, we had to walk to the back of the studio face and take in the rest of the ensemble and fill in these blanks “Hi, I am (blank). I was born in (blank). Today I came from (blank). When I was little I was obsessed with (blank). As a teenager I was obsessed with (blank). And now I am obsessed with (blank). I am here today to (blank).” </p>

<p>We then got a pep talk from Martin before we started individual auditions. By this point, most people’s jitters were vanished, it was a wonderful group of people and we had already formed this connection due to the ensemble work. </p>

<p>I was second to go. I walked into the room. Martin said it was great to see me again (I had done the summer program and had worked with him there). I started my contemporary monologue, and about a sentence or two into it Christian Burgess, the other auditor motioned for me to look directly at him and play my monologue with him. After that, he had me do my Shakespeare and gave me a redirect and I did that. He then asked me to perform my song, which went fairly well. </p>

<p>Next was the interview. He asked where else I was applying, why London schools versus the US schools, how many college auditions I’d been on so far, and why Guildhall. I was in the audition room for about 15 minutes. </p>

<p>After that came the waiting and at around twelve thirty they called us all back in and Martin did another speech about the selectivity of the program and said that there was only one person called back from the session. It was a super nice Swedish girl in her twenties. </p>

<p>Needless to say, it was a big disappointment but not a surprising one as I knew the odds were very slim. Martin afterward wished me luck with the rest of my auditions which was super nice. It was sort of nice to find out today about the rejection rather than waiting and then getting rejected after such a positive audition. But any rejection still hurts. </p>

<p>Afterwards I got tea with my friends from the summer program that auditioned today which was really nice and now I’m off to see The Glass Menagerie. Overall, probably the best audition experience I’ve ever had, just wish the outcome was different ;)</p>

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<p>Josh glad to hear your experience went well. It was after the Guildhall audition last year that my daughter felt that acting was the place for her. It really just solidified her decision. Especially between MT and acting. She felt the same way as you did, that it was the best audition experience (especially before any callbacks) and she felt she learned so much just from that experience. You will tAke that with you to your future auditions! Good luck on the rest of your auditions.</p>

37

<p>Josh, thank you so much for sharing your experience. I’m sorry you didn’t make the callback too, but I’m glad you had such a wonderful experience. Enjoy Glass Menagerie and break a leg in your other auditions!</p>

38

<p>Josh, it is such a useful information, thank you very much! I am sorry you did not get callback. I wish you good luck with the rest of your auditions.</p>

<p>One quick question-- how did students dress for Guildhall audition? My D has her audition on Wed. She felt very overdressed when she auditioned for Cal Arts and I don’t want her to have such a feeling again. She wore nice pants and a blouse (as it was advised here on board) but everyone who auditioned with her was dressed very causally. She brought movement clothes for this trip, just in case. Should she rather dress in them?</p>

39

<p>notactingmom, my impression is that California auditions are much less formal than other auditions. My S just auditioned at UNCSA, and most people were dressed formally. A small handful of girls (two I think) were dressed in very short skirts. THe rest were dressed in nice dresses, nice skirts, or nice pants. Boys were almost all dressed nicely. Shoes of both genders were either boots or dress shoes. I would be very very cautious against dressing too casually for UK schools especially. Anyway, when in doubt, it’s better to dress up than down.</p>

40

<p>My D has only been to one west coast audition and the girls were dressed in extremely short skirts and some were in flip flop sandals. I was surprised at the casualness.</p>