<p>Hi, </p>
<p>My T has been admitted to Rutgers Mason Gross for Theatrical Design. Does anyone have any feelings about this school. She was deferred from Emerson and is still waiting to hear from Muhlenber, Ithaca, Purchase, etc.</p>
<p>Since Rutgers is a state school for me the numbers work, but I would like to hear if anyone has any opinions.
Thanks,</p>
<p>BEST OF LUCK to all auditioning this week-end. You PSU people sound like you have a re-union style week-end going - what fun!
Break a Leg! ... (except for Soozievt older d)</p>
<p>Braodway 32 - You GO girl!</p>
<p>mbe,
It might be more helpful if you posted on the Arts major page. There is a theatrical design thread started there I believe.</p>
<p>Is anyone else going to be at Otterbein this Saturday?</p>
<p>Monkey, I'm Lisa dad. We won't be able to attend the breakfast; we have to go home after the show. But we should see you and bdwaymom at the show. See you then!</p>
<p>mbe-
Rutgers (Mason Gross) has an excellent reputation as a drama school. I would think their design program would be very good.</p>
<p>mbe - I posted a private message to you</p>
<p>My best friend's son attends Rutgers. He is more of a pre-law type, but has friends involved in drama. From what I hear, they have a huge theatre endowment and a wonderful program.</p>
<p>jennysg,</p>
<p>Sorry to take so long to respond, I've been very busy.</p>
<p>My son did audition at Arizona on the 21st, although I didn't get to go so I can't tell you personal observations. His reaction was that while it is a very big university, which he doesn't like, it's a small program, which I believe accepts less than 10 students a year, so he liked that. He also liked that the theatre, the music and the dance facilities were all close together, kind of like a Fine Arts section of the campus. He thought the facilities were very good and the people all friendly. They put on 2 musicals a year and the Theatre Dept. puts on several plays, so it seems like there are ample opportunities, and the curriculum looks well balanced between the 3 areas. Given the comparative cost between it and the other schools that he likes, if he's accepted, we will give it very serious consideration.</p>
<p>I don't know anything about design, other than it is much in demand at many of the theatre schools. I have also heard that Mason Gross is highly selective. Don't know the breakdown by department, however, and that info is very hard to get. I have tried a few times to get some true stats and the way the info is given out, you cannot figure them out. But sometimes it is not that relevant anyways, as your kid might have a whole different niche than the stats would indicate. You can call the department, and ask how many kids apply to this program each year, how many are accepted and how many end up matriculating, but if the program stats are combined with another venture, it may not be indicative of the true percentages.</p>
<p>Thanks Cato...we are visiting the campus on Monday.</p>
<p>Hi all!</p>
<p>I just finished my last audition (NYU) until April. Now begins the longest March of my life. </p>
<p>I found the whole atmosphere wonderful. The other students I talked to were really nice (though I felt like it was one of the least talkative/most shy groups I've auditioned with), and the guy running the auditions (Steve, an alumnus) was hilarious and really put people at ease. I found the information session to be informative but concise, and the whole session very well organized. </p>
<p>I used a monologue for the first time, which was interesting. I think it worked out for the best-- sometimes new means a fresher energy and a freer performance which I hope is what happened. </p>
<p>Has anyone else been thrown off when they got a response from the auditioner? It was only the second time the auditioner had laughed out loud, which surprised me. I find most auditioners give little indication of how they're responding to your performance. </p>
<p>I really liked the interview portion-- they asked good questions and I felt very comfortable answering them. I also started to cry when I was talking about my drama teacher! That was unexpected....</p>
<p>Was anyone else at NYU this week?</p>
<p>*--R</p>
<p>HEY!!!
I'm in New York right now--I auditioned at Steinhardt today.
My audition was alright--i forgot the words to one of my songs, but hey it was kind of funny.
I love it there so much i could burst</p>
<p>Were you at Steinhardt or Tisch?</p>
<p>Has anyone had the experience of auditors behaving unprofessionally during an audition? My d, who has auditioned for years, was shocked by the behavior of the auditors at a recent college audition. She ranks this as one of the worst experiences of her life. I believe that her observations are correct due to what I experienced
myself.
First there was no hospitality table, no greeters or greetings, no signage and no place to sit. When we made our introductions the woman in charge merely stared. When we asked a question it was answered by an auditioner and a mom sitting on the floor. There's much more, which has to do with inconsistencies and misinformation, but that bothers me considerably less than the attitudes of three of the auditors and the lack of a welcome.
It was a very frosty situation.
Because there was no place to sit I left and collected my daughter after the audition. She was, uncharacteristically, a wreck. What saved her from crying was the fact that the dean and his wife, who had been watching the performers, came to talk to her afterwards. She said they were very pleasant folks. Thank God, for them.
This experience is doubling upsetting considering the expense of attending the audition.
Sunny</p>
<p>The one audition that my son felt that the auditioners really showed how tired they were of the process, was at Harrt. They were well over the time for the morning auditioners when the afternoon group arrived which we were in, and it was a long, long day. I think they were cutting things short with the last kids in the afternoon, and could no longer show much enthusiasm or even interest. I did hear rumbles of this. However, though they have been a bit short, I don't think they took it out on the decisions, as my son and couple of others in that last batch that day did get in. So you really cannot tell. And there are auditons where the smiles, the laughs and the great comments end up with a denial. My friend's son auditioned for Tisch, and had a wonderful interactive audition with the woman who auditioned him. She laughed at his comedic monologue, and made favorable comments for about his song selections. In conrast, my son was auditioned by an older man who was more dour about the whole thing and gave little indication of what he thought. My friend's son was rejected early decision. So it does not appear that you can make any predictions from the behaviour of those auditioning the kids.</p>
<p>Jamimom,
Thank you for sharing your son's experience at Harrt and Tisch. My post was a concern about courtesy. I wish the behaviors I am writing about had to do with boredom or exhaustion. To put it diplomatically, it was as if these three auditors were auditioning for roles on "Star Search." By the way, the other auditors were fine, by that I mean they expressed no emotion.
We had been told that dealing with certain people in this drama dept. is a "challenge." so we should not have been surprised, but we were!
I doubt very much that my d will be accepted at this school and I doubt she would want to go a school which treats any performer so discourtesly.
I would very much like to hear if anyone else has had a similar experience.
Sunny</p>
<p>h should you be accepted.</p>
<p>Having gone through the audition marathon with my son, I can really sympathize with your daughter and you. I can tell you that the disinterest the auditioners showed really went over poorly with my son as well. He did not even want to go on the tour of the school, which he had not yet seen and we were stuck in Hartford for a few hours because I had dropped off some kids who were looking at Trinity. He was sure he didn't have a shot in the world of getting in, and so why should he bother since they clearly were not interested in him. And we had gone over this very type of scenario already, but when it happens to you as an auditioner, the reaction can be very primitive. Something they need to learn as they audition for jobs, I am sure, as you just cannot be so picky in this field as to take the attitude of those auditioning you as a factor, at least in the beginning if you want to take full advantage of whatever opportunities may come your way.</p>
<p>jamimom,
Yes, it is important for a performer to have a tough hide, after all this is a profession of rejection, but there should be a certain amount of courtesy meted out in the process.
My older d had an audition with several of the biggest names in the business and she was treated with remarkable deference even though she wasn't hired.
She thinks this behavior has something to do with a need to feel important at the expense of the auditioners. Whatever the reason, according to her its just not professional.</p>
<p>I'm sorry about your d's audition experience. The fact that the dean and his wife made an effort to talk to you is encouraging, though. They must have been impressed! My d only had 1 audition, so I don't really have the experience of multiple auditions. They were very nice at NYU, as I'm sure your (other?) daughter found. (You have 2 into theater, I take it!) I know you probably don't want to mention the name of the school on CC, but I'm curious as to which school it is. Before making a judgment on the school based on the auditioners, you need to find out: do current students at this school like it, and are they getting good training? That's the key, I believe. It would have been more encouraging had the audition been more "friendly", but it is a relatively minor point in the grand scheme of things. Just my opinion.</p>
<p>rossji
The college process itself is stressful. Its notched up several times for these kids. I think they are all remarkable. I am not even talking about their talents or ability. I am taking about persistence. They have a dream. They are pursuing it despite the low odds of success. They work very hard. So it seems to me this kind of effort should be acknowledge, if not with accolades, but with courtesy and respect.
I decided to go back and read some of the older posts about auditions and it appears that many of these auditioners have had less than ideal auditors. Some of the stories shocked me. I guess I am naive. I understand grumpy, tired, and even bored being a real possiblity, but not anything else. Reading these posts made me curious. I wondered if anyone was accepted to a school where they had a difficult audition experience. And did they go there.
The school we went to has a fine reputation which is why the experience was startling. I wish I had read the posts earlier because I would have been better prepared for a greater range of behaviors and varying sorts of hospitality.</p>