This article is circulating among San Diego right now. An interesting read.
“Isn’t it 2021? University of Michigan’s Theater Department is still catering to white, wealthy, connected kids.
Not long ago, three youth theater industry professionals formed a college admissions coaching team operating in San Diego, California simply called “Trifecta.” Touting superior expertise in the college admissions arena, the team consists of Tamlyn Shusterman (dance), Karyn Overstreet (voice), and Shauna Markey (acting). These three women have all been associated with the widely-known San Diego Musical Theater and have had their hands deeply entrenched with it’s youth program. As a coaching team, these three reportedly charge roughly $15,000 to walk students through the college admissions and auditions process. This year, they have held the hands of their very first group of students through the process, and recently, per their social media accounts, three of those students were accepted to the University of Michigan’s Musical Theater program— something that’s just about unheard of.
A little background: Michigan’s Theater Department has been called the “Harvard” of programs and is known to be cut-throat. This year, they reportedly had 1,800 applicants, and only selected 20 to get that golden phone call. Here’s the problem with the above San Diego scenario, and why parents across the nation are starting to rumble: out of all of California, there were only three selected to the program— all three San Diego “Trifecta” students. Really? All three students are white, upper-class, thin, leading-lady/man types. It just so happens that Tamlyn Shusterman is allegedly an alumni of the school, and the three SDMT professionals often host educators from UM to speak and give youth classes at San Diego Musical Theater. You can probably see why many parents are outraged. It seems like the trappings of some very unethical behavior.
Ask any theater parent, and they will most likely say this is just the kind of behavior that coincides with the typical “community youth theater” experience leading up to these college admissions, and that they’re just used to it. If you have the money to throw at the theater programs, if you have the money to line the director’s pockets by taking private lessons from them, if you’re white, if you’re thin, if you’re the typical leading-lady/man type… well, you get the picture. It goes without saying that talent can get you far, but money and privilege sure can seal the deal.
Supposedly, a screenshot of the first Zoom meeting of the newly admitted Class of 2025 University of Michigan Theater Department students showed extremely minimal BIPOC. Like, less than five. Surely there is more to the story, as there’s just no way that the department heads can be so clueless in today’s climate. Or, can they? Could they possibly be former theater kids that benefited from the perks of being one of the elite when they themselves were coming up, and now just continue to feed right into the same classist, racist “good ol’ boys” college society? Given the recent USC admissions scandal, one would think that these days, any money exchanging hands would be a no-no. One would also think that the department heads would have been a little smarter with their selections, at the very least, to avoid the raised eyebrows and wagging tongues of parents, educators, and professionals across the country, much less the organizations and activists who are currently working so hard for social justice. University of Michigan, we’re disappointed in you.“