Ok so for example B Wallace seems to only offer 2 dates one in nov and one in feb. of course my D has a fall show at school the 2 wknds in nov before thanksgiving & im thinking that’s when the audition is. She also may have a senior recital in feb! Aargh! So… Do schools ever let you audition on another date if you’re desperate or is it just too bad?
No doubt there are exceptions to every rule, but I think that you are pretty much S.O.L. if you can’t make the published dates. However, some schools do accept video submissions (note that some schools only accept them from students who more than XXX miles away from the school).
BTW, B-W offered more than 2 weekends last year:
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Saturday, January 9, 2016 (MTCA students only)
Saturday, February 13, 2016
Sunday, February 14, 2016
Saturday, February 20, 2016
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Saturday, February 27, 2016
Sunday, February 28, 2016
From this web page:
https://www.bw.edu/undergraduate-admission/conservatory/auditions/
My S chose to not participate in his fall musical for this very reason (same show schedule as your D), knocking out two college auditions in November. Is there any chance your D’s school double casts the show and would allow her to list a college audition date as a conflict?
Maybe but she goes to an arts school so not being in it is normally not an option so yes she may discuss the possibility of double casting
It has been posted here that BW has audition in Dallas at “Moonifieds”. But that is for College Audition Coach and Dave Clemmons students. The dates are November 17-20.
@theaterwork I would take a quick breather. You can’t really schedule auditions until you have all your applications in and prescreen accepts in hand. Perhaps you can make known that you will need time in December - late February for auditions. Try to organize now by all known conflicts. We didn’t start auditioning till January. Have others at the art school gone through this process? If not you can educated them.
@theaterwork - my S also went to a PA HS and was expected to be in fall musical. We were quite surprised at how “out of touch” the faculty/counselors were regarding how much the intensity of the MT college app/audition scene had morphed over the last ten years. We met with faculty in late spring (or summer??) before senior year explaining our expectations for the approaching audition season. They were not particularly happy, but got the message. S was required to audition, but listed his conflicts and was not cast. Those fall auditions were very important (became his top two choices when all was said and done). Not sure it means anything, but S got into some excellent programs while some of his classmates were scrambling in the spring to add schools b/c there outcomes were not as positive. Of course, there are MANY students on CC who participate in their school productions and do very well with acceptances. Our S knew that adding a musical rehearsal/performance schedule to the mix would make him way too stressed - and ill-prepared during the critical fall ramp-up - and was willing to take the disapproval of the HS “powers that be” to be as successful as possible in auditions. In the long run, the musical didn’t really “miss” him, and he could be satisfied that he was as prepared and rested as the crazy process allowed. Know your kid. Know your family situation. Communicate openly with the HS faculty - you may be surprised at their understanding. Do what’s necessary.
My S chose to do a community show in late fall/early winter that prevented him from doing any fall auditions. I told him he had to give somewhere and he agreed to give up all spring shows. He started his auditions at Unifieds and finished with two on campus auditions (he cancelled a third on campus audition). He would not have been able to handle the amount of multitasking and good health needed to juggle a show, school, other commitments, and auditioning. I’d say know what your child can do and encourage them to work within their limitations.
My D is another who finished a performance run the first weekend of November and then was not in a show until late spring, timed nicely so that her mind and body was occupied while waiting for results, but so that she still could visit accepted schools. It worked well for her and took away some of the madness of the process.
While she was glad she was in that fall show, she actually had to postpone one audition she would’ve liked to have scheduled for that first weekend in November, and she at one time expressed a bit of regret and doubt that she should’ve even been in that show.
My son also had to ‘opt out’ of the winter play in favor of auditions. Participation was required as it’s an auditioned class & not an extracurricular. He was able to act as asst director, so he was involved but didn’t need to be there on show weekends. He learned a lot working in that capacity as opposed to onstage, which was an added bonus.
I tried to get my D to not do shows her spring semester because I thought the auditions would be stressful enough … but her community youth theatre got the rights to Heathers … and there was no stopping her. Enough of the Seniors were auditioning for programs so the Theatre Director made two casts - one with auditioning Seniors and the other without. She worked to have their rehearsals/tech weeks to not conflict with college auditions. If your child is serious about pursuing a MT degree, they may have to forego being in a show. I will tell you that the college audition process was extremely difficult … the hardest part was the application/prescreen process and then trying to get all the callback auditions scheduled to not conflict with each other. I know it sounds nuts, but one of my greatest achievements is to help her schedule 7 non-conflicting auditions at the LA Unifieds … not an easy task!
Agree with Emsdad- if you can’t make an audition date- the school will just say “too bad”. (Unless they have video auditions, which a few schools do.) My D did 3 professional shows in fall, winter and spring, and she auditioned for 18 schools on campuses and at Unifieds. One of her directors gave her a weekend off to travel to BW, (since she had it listed as a conflict when cast) but we were able to fit all the other auditions in (it was very intense and I am amazed I got it all to work). If we had to do it again, I would have had her not do the Fall show so she could have fit more on campus auditions in on the front end.
@japbmom I’m still trying to figure out how to add “successfully navigating college auditions” to my IT resume. I have a sense of pride about “surviving” the process. LOL