<p>Hi, I'm a high school sophomore and I want to major in either musical theatre or a type of film acting. I'm trying to get involved with college acting theatre programs and internships. I live on the west coast, but I'm interested in going to NYU or University of Michigan. Does anyone have suggestions as to what I should start doing this spring break/summer, including specific available internships, classes, or camps? Thanks!</p>
<p>Look into some summer programs. NYU has a program and UMich has a summer program called MPulse. If you can't travel that far for an extended period of time, most colleges with a MT program will have some sort of summer program.</p>
<p>Otherwise, just find a good voice teacer and/or vocal coach, enroll in dance classes (if not already) and find a monologue coach. You should definitely have a vague idea about which songs you want to do for your audition by the middle to end of your junior year. And once you get about 2 to 3 months away from your first audition date, find something and STICK WITH IT! Something you can do now, however, is start researching more schools. It is the way of the usiness that you will get more rejections than acceptances, and due to the highly competetiveness of these programs, especially NYU and UMich, you need to look at some less competetive ones like Webster, Elon etc... as well as possibly a non-audition BA school. Most MT prospectives have a list of about 8-12 schools. I,myself did 8 (I actually applied to another, but I decided not to go to the audition)</p>
<p>Good luck. You've got a great advantage because you're so far ahead of the game</p>
<p>oopsie, it's great you are thinking so far in the future. That allows you time to plan and to get the training you need to be competitive in auditions.
One thing, though: it might make sense to further refine your interest in either musical theater or film acting, as it would seem to me that college programs in musical theater would be very different in content and approach than would be college programs geared to film acting. I know more about college level MT programs than I do film programs, but I would guess that many of your best options for film acting would be there on the West Coast, at USC or UCLA and such, or even CalArts. (At least, those are the schools to which my D's classmates who aspire to careers in film acting are auditioning/applying!) I also agree with freedomfri in that you have time to really investigate schools and plan an appropriate list that includes good safeties, matches and reaches. (Please keep in mind, though, that any audition school is not a safety.) Best of luck!</p>
<p>Oopsie,</p>
<p>I agree with Notmamarose - but I would take a step further to say:
Do not go into MT unless it is all you want to do and the only thing you can see yourself being happy in. It is a tough business, very difficult to find one's way to carving a successful career. Do not attempt it unless you are clearly decided and fully committed that MT is all you can envision yourself doing. If you do decide on MT, I wish you every grace and good fortune.</p>
<p>I'd like to supplement freedom's above post. I would not go into an audition thinking that Webster and Elon are less competitive than the other schools being discussed. These schools take a very small percentage of the number of people auditioning. I think the only less competitive MT schools are the ones that do not require an audition at all. Then they are only safeties if you are accepted academically.</p>
<p>Ditto Ericsmom - there will be over 400 auditioneers that do no get accepted at Elon this year - and several hundred more that do not make Webster. It is wise to do the research and audition for a mix of schools - and have at least one non-audition program as a serious back-up.</p>
<p>I'd also like to comment on freedom's post. He mentions finding material incredibly early - I personally think that how early you start working depends on how you work as an actor. I did all my auditions at Chicago Unifieds (which are the first week of February) and didn't have my material selected until after January had begun. I'm not suggesting that I think waiting is better, but I made the conscious decision to wait to choose because I didn't want to overrehearse my material and have it get stale. I also knew that I would still be growing immensely as an actor during the end of junior year/summer/early senior year and wanted to have material that showed me off in the best possible light.</p>