Hello, MT forum! I’m a first year theatre teacher in a rural high school. I have several extremely talented students, but their training thus far has been lacking, to say the least. They are especially behind in dance and vocal technique, since those classes aren’t offered in town. Money is also an issue for most of them.
I’m taking two seniors who I see potential in to the North Texas Drama auditions. It’s unlikely that they’ll be able to go on any other auditions, other than to a few nearby less-than-stellar colleges. Also, I have one junior boy in particular who I believe will get into some top programs. I want to help him be as competitive as possible when next year rolls around.
I have some MT training, but I have a BA in Theatre with, naturally, a focus on education. What suggestions do you have for me to push these kids in the right direction?
1 - Get a copy of Mary Anna Denard's book, "I Got In". It explains everything, soup to nuts, about the college audition process. It will be helpful for you and for your students.
2 - Even if they just know the basic ballet and jazz terminology and have an idea of proper technique it will help with any dance calls they may encounter. If not a teacher, at least research online and find some videos online they can study so they can learn these things.
3 - Vocal technique is tricky - you may try one of the free coaching services mentioned on here to see if they might give an assessment. I think there is one called Searchlighters or something like that? Maybe someone else can chime in if they remember the names of these sites.
4 - you could also have them check with some of the coaching services to see if they take any scholarship students -- it is probably too late for your seniors, but one of them may be willing to take on your junior boy. Mary Anna Dennard is based in Dallas and sounds like you are in Texas also? I would start with her. You can google her by name. Or her business name is College Audition Coach.
Good luck to you and all your students!
Thank you so much! All very helpful.
The site I was thinking of is actually Stagelighters. For a very minimal fee I think they will provide feedback if you post a video to them about your audition material.
You probably already know about these but some lesser known state schools in Texas with MT programs include West Texas A&M in Canyon in the pan handle, Sam Houston State in east Texas, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, and the brand new program at Texas Tech in Lubbock. Might want to see if any area churches have people with vocal training? There are always surprises hiding in small towns. Best of luck! Your students are lucky to have such a caring teacher.
I do know about those, and I’ll definitely be encouraging them to audition! Thank you!
Does anyone know anything about Sul Ross? Some of my kids have expressed interest in that school but I know nothing about their program.
For your Seniors, I would research video audition opportunities as well. There are some programs that will accept based on video submissions. The University of Utah comes to mind but I know there are others. @ParachuteBoy may be able to help on this. Also some schools will waive application fees based on need so it may cost very little to submit a video prescreen and apply and then see if they make the prescreen cut and decide from there on what to do.
Hello, thanks for mentioning me. I haven’t been watchful on here because I’ve been so busy with college and working myself.
Anyway it’s awesome that you are so invested in your students. Teachers like you are what really make a student inspired.
I think I was mentioned because I didn’t have very involved parents or very much money. Now my parents were very supportive just not as intense as some of the ones on here. I also didn’t have a large college fund so I couldn’t get a lot of training and traveling, not to mention the affordability of most university’s tution.
I want to echeo the suggestion of stage lighter. I had some discount and used a coach who is a college faculty so it worked out wonderfully. Their advice isn’t just some little paragraph or couple minute video. It’s a very thorough and genuine response. I used that instead of a fancy college coach.
As far as getting auditions in, maybe consider some sort of fundraiser for a group each year to go to unifieds. I did every one of my auditions except for one local one there. Since I didn’t have the time or money to travel around the country.
After having done the auditions with dance calls, I can say that you only need to have basic ballet and jazz lingo to get by. Being able to pick up choreography quickly helps but that comes from just having done shows. I watched several YouTube videos so I knew what different positions were in ballet which saved me because one audition, I believe for Roosevelt the auditor had said go to fifth position but didn’t explain the details. Also learning to do pirouette helped. Voice lessons are really helpful for me but if kids have natural technique they can get by. Maryanne Denard also puts out free Facebook videos on her page.
Also, speaking of Facebook, join our group. The Company is the name for this years class. It’s just for students but it’s an awesome way to talk to people from programs as well as learn about the process and connect with people. I made many friends last year with our years group.
Any other questions about budgeting to get by and tips for surviving this process when you’re not wealthy and live in a big city and don’t have parents that do 90% of the work. Feel free to ask. It felt very rewarding for me to make it through this journey all on my own.
What an amazing teacher you must be! It is great that you care so much for your students. You don’t mention which state you are in but we did the Southeast Theatre Conference with my daughter last year (SETC). It was an amazing experience for her as a Junior and we will go again this year. It seems to be a great bang for your buck , you have the opportunity to audition for dozens of schools at one time and happens in the early spring (so students might have time to fundraise). It seems southern schools (Louisiana, Alabama, etc) seem to give you a good bang for your money. Best of luck to you and your students.
I second going to SETC with your juniors if at all possible - and seniors, too. If you can’t go as a school group, students can go on their own, but will need an adult/parent to help them navigate. It is an excellent, “concentrated” opportunity to get audition experience, exposure to terrific college programs and lots of learning workshops. When the students audition, they observe a cohort of other students’ auditions - giving them a good snapshot of how they fit in with others auditioning the same year. The conference is also a lot of fun. The 2017 conference will be in Lexington, Ky. It gets moved around geographically from year to year, but is usually the first full week/weekend in March.
There is a TON of stuff online. Message me and I can link you to a list I made of all the online resources I know!
I didn’t realize juniors could go to SETC - that’s awesome! Again, thank you all, great stuff.
Look for a performing arts college fair sponsored by NACAC; they are held all over the country in the Fall. I took my kids as well as a few of their classmates. Most schools seemed to send representatives who really knew about the performance programs, even including some department heads.
One young man had a lot of talent and no training–I introduced him as having “raw talent” and asked the reps what he should do. A few gave him a lot of helpful information and seemed eager to work with him. Others were blunt that he probably wouldn’t fare well in auditions without training. His fabulous voice got him accepted to one of those universities that encouraged him to apply, and they taught him so much. He graduated two years ago and just got his Equity card!