A Hopeful MT Major with little experience

<p>Well here this goes...</p>

<p>I'm a senior in high school in Northern California. I LOVE performing and have what I think is a somewhat good amount of experience. I have been dancing since I was 5 years old and I have gotten to a very high level in a semi-professional company so that part of my triple threat is taken care of. I did three different musicals throughout my last two years of elementary school and my first year of middle school. I'm not sure what happened but after I did Annie Jr. in the 7th grade (I had a solo) I became very shy and not confident about singing. I had taken choir classes in middle school but it seemed to fizzle out. </p>

<p>I didn't have the courage to try theater again until now, as a senior in high school. I'm in Alice in Wonderland at school and I'm planning on doing Thoroughly Modern Millie with my local youth theater. So my dance resume looks pretty impressive but my theater resume does not. I'm planning on majoring in psychology but in the end my heart is really set on theater. I'm probably going to go to Sonoma State University, which isn't really big on theater. </p>

<p>The point is: does anyone have any tips on how I can pursue theater with little experience? Do I have a chance at transferring to a big musical theater school?
Sorry this is long, but any tips would be appreciated. Thanks so much!</p>

<p>Bump…I’d appreciate some opinions. Please.</p>

<p>Briana - you may get more responses after the holiday.</p>

<p>Just so you know, youtube clips are not allowed on CC, so when a moderator sees it they may take it down.
I did not watch the clip, so my advice is based upon your post and would be the same for anyone in your position…</p>

<p>If you want to transfer to a college for musical theatre in your sophomore year, keep up with your dance (at many schools this will be a huge plus in the admissions process), and continue pursuing performance opportunities. This is more about the experience for you than how it will look on a resume. The actual resume is a smaller part of the admissions process at most school. The audition is the main deciding factor. </p>

<p>In addition to continuing with those things above start taking singing lessons, get into ana acting class now or when you are at college. If you are certain that you want to transfer you may also want to consider majoring in theatre at Sonoma if that is an option. </p>

<p>I would not worry about your “late start”. You are only a senior in high school, you have been dancing consistently for much of your life, and you are taking steps to gain experience in areas where you are not as strong. </p>

<p>If you wanting to stay in CA, you may want to contact Fullerton and Irvine. At both programs you wait until after freshman year to audition, so transferring may be less difficult (although both programs are highly competitive, as are most MT programs). Good Luck!!!</p>

<p>KatMT, </p>

<p>Thanks so much for your kind answer! I can’t figure out how to edit my post to take out the youtube link but if I could find a way I would be happy to take it down.
It’s good to know that all hope isn’t lost. I think I just feel bad because everyone around me has pages of lead roles under their belts and years upon years of experience. Majoring in theater is an option at Sonoma, but my family is also not the most supportive about choosing “that type of major”. Maybe if I prove myself at it they’ll change their minds. I will certainly look into both of those programs. Thanks again, very much!</p>

<p>BrianaGrace17 - CSU-Chico also has a Musical Theatre program (it’s a B.A. program) that you should check out. We know several students there who really like it. I’m guessing it would be fairly easy to transfer between CSU schools -? </p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>MTMama, </p>

<p>Thanks for your reply! I’ve looked into Chico’s program before and I’d be willing to transfer between state schools, but I’m opening to suggestions elsewhere for transferring. I don’t necessarily have to stay in California.</p>

<p>Bump…I would love to talk to someone who has struggled with the idea of following their dreams in such a hard field. Any help?</p>

<p>I think you will find that at times everyone who pursues a career in the arts struggles with the idea and the reality of a career in the arts ;). There is lots of discussion on this topic on the Theatre and Musical Theatre forums. If you search through old threads I think you will find lots of advice and support. </p>

<p>Most performers do not make the entire income off of performing, but supplement with other jobs… sometimes in the arts (teaching, accompanying, etc…), sometimes waiting tables, temping, etc… This is the reality. I do not say this to be discouraging – I worked as a performer for 6 years before deciding that I wanted to go to graduate school for Directing… I spent most of my 20s and early 30s balancing performing and directing work with other jobs… at first waiting tables and temping, then teaching part time. Now I teach acting, directing and musical theatre at the college level full time, and direct professionally when I can fit it into my schedule. So, I have been lucky to build a life working at a career that I love. </p>

<p>Some people I graduated from college with (BFA – Musical Theatre or Acting) have followed similar paths to me… some still perform professionally pretty much full time… a few work in TV and Film often enough that they support themselves solely off of performing work… some work in film/ TV production… some work as producers, publicists, agents, managers, etc… </p>

<p>The skills you would learn in a college theatre program are skills that will be useful in many fields that you could ultimately pursue. Majoring in theatre or musical theatre in college does not mean that you will never be able to do anything else if you choose to do so in the future. I graduated from undergrad with people who eentually went to medical school, law school, graduate school, and now work as doctors, lawyers, counselors, education, etc…, some did not go to graduate school, but now work in non-arts related fields… </p>

<p>From your posts on this forum and the Theatre forum I agree with advice that has been given that you may prefer a BA path for college. The BA route would allow you to double major if you choose and allow you to pursue a more well rounded undergraduate curriculum. If you have doubts going into college a BFA path may be more intensely focused than you would like during college.</p>