Hi. New here and trying to sort all of this out. D intends to audition to a handful of schools for Musical Theatre. About three of the schools she is interested in will be at Unifieds so I suppose that takes care of those conlflicts but in looking at the Audition dates for several of her top choices, she has conflicts with EVERY one of the dates! Choir competitions, Fall Plays, Thespian Festival, etc, all on dates when her top schools are auditioning. I don’t know what to do! Does she not particiapte in school activities that she excels in and enjoys in order to audition for a degree that she may not even 1) decide to pursue or 2) be accepted into? Thoughts? Anyone else with this issue?
My S went through the MT process this past year. He did not audition for his high schools Fall play and gave up show choir outside of school so he could focus on his auditions. I know many students who had to give up something in order to audition. It’s just a matter of what is your D willing to give up in order to make this happen? These are difficult choices…
You do have to prioritize and that can sometimes mean making difficult choices. Our D chose not to do the Fall play at school. And she did not audition for All State Choir senior year due to conflicts with auditions. But she was able to do some other shows and still do a lot with choir. It’s a balancing act. And a leap of faith when they want to pursue this passion.
My mother is fond of saying, “We all make choices in life, and then we get to live with the results of those choices.”
Every year I advise my students not to do their school shows during audition season. Some listen; some don’t. I know lots of people choose otherwise, but I feel like, if you’re going to audition, you may as well give it your full attention for the whole season. And I’ve already told my own kid that she should not plan to do her show when her audition season rolls around.
My kid did 6 shows senior year- it was crazy busy, but I don’t think she would change it. Are conflicts with performance dates or rehearsals? There was one acting BFA (Rutgers) that got crossed off the list b/c their callback weekend was the same as her spring musical. Other than that, we made it work. One good thing about the “official” portion of Chicago unifieds is that many auditions are on weekdays rather than weekend - which could help. I directed a show that ran the weekend before uniifeds. My mom/kid drove the six hours- arriving Saturday evening to be ready for her 1st audition - which was Sunday morning. I flew in EARLY Sunday (leaving the final show and strike to my music director - and owed her BIG TIME) and met them at the hotel to head to 1st audition! ( and it was for the school she ended up attending!)
These choices are personal. I get the idea of preparing for and focusing on the audition etc - but a lot of theater kids just aren’t really themselves if not performing…
Welcome to the crazy world of MT auditions. From your comment it sounds like she is still on the fence about pursuing MT as a major, especially if she is just planning to audition for a few schools. Most girls who are really committed to pursuing an MT major audition for anywhere from 15 to 25 schools on average. It’s just the way it is with these very competitive programs that accept such small numbers. It’s a demanding undertaking and unfortunately sacrifices often are required. My daughter skipped both her Fall and Spring productions and took break from choir in the Fall but happily was able to return in the Spring. The commitment of time, energy, preparation, actual audition days and travel made it impossible to really commit to anything else pretty much from October through March of her senior year. She was able to squeeze in a local professional production of A Christmas Carol because most of that happened during her winter break between applications and prescreen time and audition time. It was hard for her to miss out on some of these opportunities, but her long term goals and dreams took precedent. But if your daughter is really not sure this is what she wants to do, it would be a shame for her to sacrifice things that are important for her during her last year of high school. Ultimately it is up to her to weigh her priorities and make choices.
Thank you all for your thoughtful responses! It gives us both alot to discuss and consider…not that we aren’t spending every waking moment discussing this already, right?! Reading through these forums has been a very helpful tool in preparing for this season of her life!
“Does she not particiapte in school activities that she excels in and enjoys in order to audition for a degree that she may not even 1) decide to pursue or 2) be accepted into? Thoughts? Anyone else with this issue?”
There WILL be conflicts. Many of them. My S was in show after show (some overlapping) his senior year. However hIs list was shorter and more manageable so he was able to manage around the conflict. D1 had a direct conflict (a show weekend) with Guthrie callback weekend. She was able to send in a videotape rather than attend but it was NOT the preferable way of doing a callback! D2 is scaling back her school activities in order to avoid some of the conflicts. For example, she was a national qualifier for speech and debate sophomore year and will not be joining this year. There are tournaments nearly every weekend from October - March and she feels it will no longer fit from a timing standpoint. She is also debating dropping HS shows entirely given the protracted rehearsal schedule and commitment - especially in the Jan-March timeframe. She does attend a PA HS 1/2 days so would be able to do some of her PA shows but those rehearsal schedules are truncated and the directors more accommodating with conflicts for college auditions. I agree with @sopranomtmom - your D will need to make some very tough choices this year.
It is very hard for our kids not to do something (shows/band/concerts - whatever it may be) at which they excel! It’s hard for the parents, too. Believe me - I see scholarship money attached to speech and debate champs! AND - they get much needed affirmation! However, the audition process is extraordinarily time consuming and competitive - more so than even 4 years ago when my S began his season. For D2, I am encouraging a great culling of activities in order to focus. My D is talented but so are many, many other daughters! I don’t want her to wake up in March thinking she should have done more.
Agree about not over-scheduling the fall, but if you can get her into a show in March/April, when the wait is happening, that’ll be a life saver.
I think this can be a very hard decision but from almost all professional voice coaches I have spoken with I have heard the same thing - devote your senior year to the audition process. My daughter gave up everything - she went to a very academically challenging prep school and while she danced two semesters she gave up all vocal and acting opportunities. She needed the time and vocal rest to prepare for her auditions. She had been the lead in the musical her junior year and vocally I don’t think she would have performed as well at her auditions if she had been trying to do both. She has some friends who followed the same advice and really feel that even though it was hard to give things up - it was the right thing to do and got them where they want to be. As a professional coach told us -years from now it won’t matter whether you were Shrek in high school. (Unless of course it does matter to you…whether you were Shrek in high school…)
I do think there is also merit to not bowing out of your senior year experiences. After all this is a life passage as well as an entrance into the next phase. But, as with so many other things it’s a very personal decision. And of course my daughter audition for seven programs, not 20 or 25. So that changes the game significantly.
My son wanted to do everything his senior year and he managed to do four theater productions, every choir concert, a revue show, school dances, awards banquets, and more. He did miss State Choir due to a conflict at a callback at one of his top college choices and chose not to audition with a solo at the regional competition. With that said, he was exhausted. Looking back, I wish he would have cut back at least a little bit. His main stage musical at his high school ended on a Saturday night, we flew to Chicago the next day, and did 8 auditions at the Unifieds over four days. I kid you not, he got sick the second he sat down on the plane on the way to Chicago. It was terrible. The first two days of auditions were “bleh.” We called them “practice auditions.” Our hotel room looked like a pharmacy. His body was finished and his voice needed a break. He had simply pushed it too far. Finished Unifieds better than he started and finished college auditions the first weekend of March, with his final high school show the first weekend of April. He was lucky that his theater and choir directors loved him and worked with him when he missed rehearsals! My advice would be to pick and choose wisely AND STAY HEALTHY. 
You hit the nail on the head @MidwestMTMom! Staying healthy is key!
This was so hard for us last year. D attended an arts high school so opting out wasn’t allowed. We tried to squeeze auditions in around shows etc. it was tough but we auditioned at about 12 schools so if more then that it’ll be hard unless you can go to Unifieds for a majority. We did all on campus. It’s like brain surgery scheduling them. My suggestion for a school you’re REALLY interested in…schedule early & not later. I feel like two schools we were at late in the season were just done with the process at that point. They probably already had a majority of the class chosen. so few slots left. One school told us that actually that they had like 3 slots open .
There really is no science. In 2015 my S did not start auditions until Chicago Unified’s. He auditioned for his first choice on their last audition weekend. He also auditioned for another top choice at their last audition, as their very last audition of the season. He was accepted at both, plus Unified schools. I’m sure numbers have greatly increased since 2015, but I don’t believe schools hold auditions if they aren’t accepting students.
This topic comes up every year and there are many differing opinions. It’s very important you make the decisions you are sure you can live with. If auditioning late will cause you to feel your child was cheated out of his/her chance if not accepted, don’t do late auditions. None of our opinions matter if you can’t live with your decision.
Wishing each of you the best this audition season!
Looking long term is the key. Skip the school shows and spend the time auditioning and training for college.
I agree with @bisouu. On CollegeAuditions.org, they already list over 100 upcoming college theater auditions. Expending time and energies for auditions is better spent for pursuing opportunities and scholarships.
I would respectfully counter that keeping an eye on the big picture could be interpreted as - enjoy your life as it is happening… don’t give up on HS experiences before you are done with HS - but that is my own interpretation. As a HS teacher - I have seen a lot of kids get so focused on the NEXT phase, that they forget to enjoy what is right in front of them
I think foregoing one semester of high school performances to forward your career in the business is not a lot to ask of a student wanting to pursue this career. Making these hard choices won’t stop once you enter college and then the real world.
@bisouu - you are correct, if that is what the kid wants. Mine wanted something different. It’s all about choices. In a similar vein, I often have conversations about taking an “easy” academic year senior year for college apps (or auditions) - I disagree with that too. (Perhaps not a surprise as I am an AP teacher ) My kid would say that her extremely hectic senior year - both in performance and academics (she took 4 APs senior year) prepared her well for her college schedule.