So… I could just pay $100 and take my child to Moonifieds? Now this is in Texas right? So not really feasible for some folks if you don’t want to travel but barring that… I’d say that’s a good deal of its only $100. But…I’m thinking you must have to already be a student with her to sign up…
@toowonderful I agree I would like to know at what level of services purchased do you qualify to attend ? There has to be some threshold
To attend Moonifieds I believe you have to be one of her private coaching students. That is where Moonifieds is listed under services on her website. I do not think there is a minimum number of sessions of private coaching you must complete. You may also have to complete the online prep before starting your individual sessions, but i’m not sure. If you are interested, I would just give her a call. She is extremely gracious and responsive and could clarify what the requirements and costs are.
I believe that you have to do the online prep to be able to attend Moonifieds. Three years ago, the registration fee for Moonifieds was $75. It was great for my daughter. She left feeling less nervous about the audition process and made many friends that she saw over and over again throughout the audition season. It was nice to see familiar faces at auditions.
So you have to have spent at least $699? (For online prep MT) and then possibly private coaching as well?
My interest is purely academic. I had never heard of Mary Anna - or of BFA coaching at all, until I started reading CC during D’s audition season, by which point her schools and audition pieces were chosen
I would just contact Mary Anna directly to figure out what the requirements and costs associated with Moonifieds are. She is very easy to talk to. As has been mentioned previously, she does offer scholarships, including participation in Moonifieds, to some students each year. So you could ask her about that if funds are particularly limited.
Yes, my daughter was a scholarship student. It was a great benefit for this mom and daughter. @Mel2421, you can pm me if you have more questions.
Thanks! @GSOMTMom
Another question- are scholarships based on financial need, talent, or both? There is a VERY talented young lady from my area listed as a scholarship student this year (Moo lists her scholarship students at the top of the page)
@toowonderful - I don’t think there is a set list of criteria for scholarships but I think both talent and financial need are considered. If anyone is interested, I would just contact Mary Anna and ask for more information. She is very responsive and easy to talk to.
First of all, Moonifieds is a great, small opportunity to get early auditions out of the way. We came out with 2 solid offers and 2 waitlists – however I have to say it, if I had to do it all over again – and the program is excellent this is just my opinion: we would not go. It wasn’t a financial decision, the numbers weren’t bad because you get so many schools it is a bargain, plus many of whom do not require an application in advance. In order to participate I believe the minimum 'buy in" is purchase of the video package – which is around $500 and then there was a separate charge to go to moonifieds, less than $300. The video package is excellent btw, none of this is meant as negative toward the company that runs the event – great coach, great organization, this is just my opinion about timing. Even though D came out of moonifieds with offers, they were schools not really on her radar, and I think she could have had equal success if she had auditioned for them later. The issue for us was not the schools that accepted her, but the schools that did not. My d was simply not ready in November – she thought she was ready but in hindsight, the extra work over Christmas break, into January when auditions started made a huge difference with her success. She ended up changing material, she sounded so much better in the winter and had far greater successes than she did early on. Some may say “well be ready” but it isn’t that simple – your child is so busy in the fall with prescreens, applications, audition prep comes a bit later. Although there is no way to be sure, I think D would have had better odds by waiting. The weekend is VERY early in the process, I think the schools that attend are extremely picky in November, it is early in the season. Things also change – one director who auditioned the kids at moonifieds was not on campus 3 months later when decisions were made (granted this was a very rare situation). For anyone going, choose your schools wisely – and do not do “biggies” that weekend – save your tops for later when your d/s is really ready. ps – one thing I did not know going in – although an application is not required to audition for many of the schools (some do require app in advance), most schools do not accept on the spot, so you still have to apply after the weekend to find out the results of your audition.
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@mtmamma2020 - this is why I always recommend the 1st few auditions be schools lower on the list. My D started with the scholarship audition at Muhlenberg (one of her safeties) which gave feedback without nearly as much pressure
We were a “Moo Crew” family but we didn’t do Moonifieds our year b/c of a schedule conflict with the high school fall musical. However, I’d make the case that IF the timing works for you, it’s a great way to save money. There are some families (especially those from the Southwest) that can (and do) use this as their one and only audition trip. Of course, this depends on your personal list of schools and the schools attending Moonifieds – but if those worlds intersect, you can really get a lot done in one place, early in the season. I get what @mtmamma2020 is saying above about being a more experienced auditioner later in the season, so that’s a personal call based on your kid – but really, Moonifieds can be a great early start for a lot of people – especially those of us from the West or Southwest who can get to Dallas easily. (By the way, I’m thinking of starting a campaign to get Unifieds changed from NYC-CHI-LA to Miami, Dallas and San Diego. Fun in the Sun for Everyone!) 
Also, in interests of full disclosure, I’ve been an invited speaker at Moonifieds for the past two years, moderating a panel of “alumni parents on the other side” of college auditions – it’s a lot of fun, and I hope to be invited back again next year. The parent panel is just one of a slate of parent presentations that make Moonifieds “value added” IMHO. Last year, there were also parent presentations on financial aid, social media for young actors, “mental management” for actors and more… Hope this helps. Feel free to PM for more info as I don’t check in here as often as I used to.
@Mel2421 Located this from another past thread
Here is a partial list of Moonifieds schools from November 2014:
Final Auditions
Point Park
Baldwin Wallace
Viterbo
Central Oklahoma
OCU
Wright State
Rider
TCU
UArts
CAP21
Pace (may have been a live prescreen, I can’t remember exactly)
Hartt (kind of fuzzy about whether Hartt was there or not)
Live Prescreens
Oklahoma
Penn State
Coastal Carolina
Otterbein
Texas State
I think that there were 20 or more schools in attendance total.
Some advantages of Moonifieds vs Unifieds:
- Only one dance call for all schools. This saves large blocks of time vs. Unifieds.
- No problems with scheduling auditions, you just submit your list and all auditions will be organized for you.
- The auditions are held in November with some schools giving early acceptances and immediate feedback on live prescreens. Positive results, or lack thereof, can help students optimize the remainder of their audition season by adding or subtracting schools from their audition plans.
- The optimized scheduling over 3 days allows students to easily do 12-15 auditions (or even more). You don't have to set aside 3-4 hour blocks of time for some schools, which does occur at Unifieds.
By combining Moonifieds with Unifieds, a student can greatly expand their audition list without missing a lot of school or making lots of trips.
Post edited by EmsDad on April 2
It is my understanding that FINAL AUDITIONS last year at Moonifieds were:
Point Park
Viterbo
Central Oklahoma
OCU
Wright State
Rider
TCU
UArts
CAP21
Pace
U of Texas
Coastal Carolina
Ohio Northern
Montclair State
LIVE PRESCREENS
Texas State
U of Oklahoma
Otterbein
Penn State
College Audition Coach runs Moonifieds. They also offer mock auditions and master classes “available to anyone.” They take place in different cities.
Broadway Dreams Foundation has mock college auditions in Phillidelphia in August with heads of musical theatre programs from Pace, Rider, Michigan and Carnegie Mellon. I think this happens each summer.
Making It On Broadway has a weekend of mock auditions in Cleveland with the audition reps of CCM (Aubrey Berg, head of program), Michigan and Baldwin Wallace.
Additionally, another coach, College Audition Pro, had a summer mock audition weekend in San Francisco with Texas State, Pace, USC, UCLA and CMU last year. Don’t know if it will happen again this summer but you could contact and find out details.
These are all available to anyone who signs up and not specific to any college audition coaching service.
@EmsDad you bring up some excellent points about the advantage of Moonified auditions, but I think most students will have colleges on their lists that will require they also participate in one of the Unified dates and do the combination you refer to. Don’t you? And on another note, this is an example of how these kids are doing so many auditions. In some cases 12 or more. These lists seem to grow each year.
MODERATOR NOTE: Please refrain from directing readers to private college coaching sites, even if omitting the “dot com” to get around College Confidential’s posting rules. This post has been edited to keep the post in compliance with CC’s Terms of Service.
Some of the 2016 schools have been announced for Moonifieds Nov. 17-20:
Baldwin Wallace
CAP 21
Coastal Carolina
Montclair State
Ohio Northern
Otterbein
Pace
Penn State
Point Park
Rider
TCU
Texas State
University of the Arts
University of Arizona
University of Central Oklahoma
University of Oklahoma
Viterbo
Wright State
Not sure which of these are pre-screens and which are final auditions.
My S will be a freshman in HS this fall, so thankfully we are still a few years out on this. Sending good wishes for those of you starting the application/audition process!
Can you audition at Moonifieds without applying to the schools first?
@5stlpals - for the most part yes, you can audition for schools at Moonifieds without applying, but there are some that require an application be submitted first.
For those of you who have gone to Moonifieds, do you need to plan on staying the whole Thursday through Sunday or can you tell Moo that you can only do Friday and Saturday (or whatever)? Are some of the schools only on certain days so then you would just miss out on those if you left early? We always spend thanksgiving week out of the country so are wondering if we could leave from Dallas on Sunday or would need to wait and go on Monday. I think she’ll probably say we could leave whenever we want but I am just wondering how much we’ll miss out on if most people stay the whole time. Do auditions actually start Thursday? Thanks!
@ourturn2 - You don’t have to attend every day of Moonifieds, for instance, we left on Saturday at 5 pm. There are Master Classes with some famous department heads on Thursday night and the year my d did it there were auditions late in the afternoon on Thursday with one school. On Saturday night they have a fun party, but we skipped that to head for home. D did not miss any schools that she was interested in by skipping Sunday, that year every school that held auditions on Sunday also held auditions on Saturday. However, I assume that the schedule of which-schools-do-which-days and the list of schools varies year-by-year.
Note that if you have a lot of schools on your audition list and you skip Sunday, then you could end up with a jam-packed schedule on Friday and Saturday (and there are typically a lot of great schools at Moonifieds). Six auditions in one day may not seem like all that much spread out over 8 hours, and for some kids it may be a walk in the park, but it can really take a toll by the end of day 2, especially if things don’t go well at one or two sessions. My d definitely felt some significant pressure due to the level of talent and level of preperation up and down the audition line at Moonifieds, which seemed to her to be significantly higher across-the-board than the average talent level at on-campus auditions.
Thank you so much @EmsDad - you are truly one of the most helpful human beings ever and I appreciate the info! You also raised an important point we have been discussing at home and that is the fact that the competition at Moonifieds is most likely going to be top notch since presumably all the kids there will have been properly coached and prepared. Bottom line is if everyone is at the top of their game, will you stand out? I don’t know the answer to that one. We know several students who have attended and their results differed greatly. One year, one student we know got an offer or advanced to the next level for every school and another student was declined by all and they were the same gender and had similar training/prep levels. Does that mean anything for us this year? Nope. The fact is the talent level is high every year so do you throw yourself in there and hope for the best or try to look better by comparison at on campus auditions or unifieds where there may be more of a range of skill level and preparation? Any thoughts from those who’ve gone? I’d like to think the judges are going to see you as an individual regardless of the group of fellow auditionees that day but I just don’t know if that’s the case. I just keep thinking about the one big dance call in particular - how hard will it be to get noticed if you have a more advanced group overall? Thoughts? Thanks!
The dance call at Moonifieds is not just one large group. The kids are divided up into several groups (randomly, not by ability) so they don’t just get lost in a huge group. Also, any kids that are really good, REALLY good, at tap will do an extra dance call to show that ability to the auditors.
The year we went to Moonifieds we were not in a rush to leave (we were driving) so we actually offered to trade audition times with kids that were worried about making Sunday flights. Moo’s staff was very good at rearranging the schedule to accommodate everyone. Also, before scheduling the entire trip we were given the option of whether or not to do Sunday auditions, as a lot of kids were not able to do them.
You mentioned the bit about everyone at Moonifieds being at the top of their game so I’ll tell something that happened my kid’s year. There was a school at Moonifieds that had never been there before and they were auditioning kids for a callback. The first 4 or 5 kids they auditioned all got callbacks in the room when they auditioned, then my kid went in the room and didn’t get one. Neither did the next several kids. Well, the ones with callbacks were on cloud 9 telling everyone that they had gotten them and my kid was pretty shook up and went immediately into an audition for one of our top choice schools with a real blow to confidence. My kid was struggling to hold it together for the next few auditions while watching a few kids celebrate. After a couple of hours we were told that the school doing the auditions where they gave the callbacks to a few students, realized that the level of talent was much higher at Moonifieds than they were anticipating and that they had decided to withhold their decisions on callbacks until they had seen all auditions that day. Later that day they notified my kid of a callback.