<p>I’ve gone back and forth on coaching - I think it is helpful, but I’ve decided as a parent not to break my heart over whether my kid got “enough” or the “right kind” of coaching. </p>
<p>I do believe professionals in any kind of activity, particularly teaching professionals, have something to bring to students, to help them build skills and develop their potential. My kids have had teachers in many subjects, obviously, and in the arts they have had music teachers, visual art teachers, dance teachers. In sports they have definitely had coaches and gained a lot from them. But at this time, academics, music and sports are different from theatre - you can’t audition for a conservatory program in music without several years of private lessons; you can’t jump into Div I sports having only played one season. In theatre there is room for a novice, because by definition the programs (every school we talked to, from the top to the unknown) say they are willing to consider, and often prefer, potential over experience.</p>
<p>But it makes sense for these kids not to work in the dark, of course (ha ha, I guess that was a theatre joke?). The problem we’ve had with theatre coaching is as wineguy says - in many areas there just aren’t a lot of teaching professionals in this field, or even performing professionals who are willing to teach. We looked all over, even were willing to drive, but there were very few people that were either available, or that I trusted would coach her in an honest and caring way.</p>
<p>My D has been fortunate to have some wonderful theatre mentors of various kinds. Probably her best resource has been the directors she knows, plus people who work in forensics and know college theatre enough to understand that perspective. She’s gotten some good feedback, and I do think she’ll do better in her auditions because she’s had their input.</p>
<p>Coaching has been helpful to give her perspective on her choices of monologues, a “fresh eye,” so to speak, by someone who has seen many people audition and perform. But everyone we’ve spoken to (and this article mentions it, actually) says that the purpose of helping a student prepare for these auditions is to help them be direct, and honest, and show who they are, not how “well-trained” they are. </p>
<p>I believe a kid can show this even if they have never been professionally “coached.” I agree that coaching for any other purpose is a mixed-bag at least, and likely detrimental, as UV said above. Just as with academics, I haven’t wanted my kid to be “polished” in such a way that she is not bringing who she is to the application/audition process. She needs to be where it is right for HER, not where she can somehow work herself in as an image of what they supposedly want.</p>
<p>I may sing a different tune after her audition process is over and we have the results. I’d like to think that I will continue to believe that she will get what is right for her, and I won’t regret that she didn’t have some kind of hot-shot coach that “promised” results. I wouldn’t have felt that way about academics, either. D didn’t do as well as she wanted on ACT - she got some good advice, found some strength in herself, studied, and did much better. That’s about how I feel about the help she’s gotten with her monologue prep. And if she doesn’t have the potential they’re looking for at the very well-selected group of schools she’s auditioning for, then she will go to one of the very well-selected group of non-auditioned schools and get a great education with an excellent theatre major.</p>
<p>I think that’s about all we can hope for, can’t we?</p>