My NYU Acting Audition Experience

College Majors Theater/Drama Majors
1

<p>Hello!
So, today I had my NYU audition, and I know while I was preparing I read a lot of forums about other's audition and it helped me! So, hopefully someone could find some help from this story!</p>

<p>My audition time as at 9 am and I arrived about 10 minutes early, but the room was completely filled with parents and candidates. There were probably about 70 candidates total. At about 9:10 am, a man came into the room and announced that all candidates could come to him in order to sign in. I am not sure who he was, but he as very very nice! At about 9:40 am, the 70 candidates were brought to the third floor into a very cramped room. He later told us that we were in The New Studio! It was a very interesting space and was painted bright yellow with purple, white, and green accent lights. We were in this room no more than ten minutes when the man announced the four or five auditors that would be auditioning all of us and he then read who would be with each auditor. I was called in with a woman named Molly, I believe. She was very nice and sweet. She was neither overly welcoming nor stand-offish. We had a quick warm-up as a group which consisted of quick stretches and a game of “Pass the Sound”. <strong>Take full advantage of these warm-ups!</strong>
Once this as finished, Molly took the first person in and the rest of us waited outside in the hallway. My group as very quiet (Thankfully! It was a perfect time for me to prepare!) Nobody talked or moved, except for me. I went into the corner and was doing my own personal warm-ups as well as some quiet vocal exercises. I suggest that anyone who goes, to take advantage of that time you have by yourself. The group down the hall was very loud and although it is so great to be able to mingle and maybe even make some friends….remember why you are there! :) So after I felt I was focused and everything I sat down and started running my monologues in my head to be prepared. I was the fourth person to go in my group and I had about 45 minutes out in the hall.
When it was my turn, I went in and they told us beforehand that they didn’t want us to slate…which I thought was odd. She asked me what my first monologue was, I told her than I did it. Then she asked what my second one was. I told her then I did it. After, she asked me to go sit for an interview. I wasn’t expecting so many questions! She asked everything from my favorite plays to my favorite pastimes. She probably asked me 8-10 questions in all…which is a lot in my opinion! Throughout the whole monologue/interview process, she barely looked up from her computer. The guy from the beginning warned us to not read too much into it!
All in all the audition was pretty laid back. Don’t be too nervous!
Personally, I do not think my performance today was my best, so if I get in it will be an incredible surprise! However, I’m not counting on it. </p>

<p>MY BEST ADVICE: Relax. I know everyone says it, but that is what is going to help you the most. If you are overly nervous and twitching with anxiety it is going to be a lot harder for you to be in your body! Take a second and breathe. They really do want you to do well! Take advantage of the time you have in the hallway before your audition, and try your best to tune out any excess noise. </p>

<p>Good luck to anyone who is auditioning soon! :)</p>

2

<p>Some students are fortunate in being so relaxed at college auditions that they enjoy chatting with the other kids. This is perhaps more likely to happen after their very first audition! :)</p>

<p>You have to do what works best for you. One consideration is that if you enter the audition room all loose and smiley from nice interactions outside, this will carry over into your manner and make a positive impression on the auditors. They are judging how pleasant a person you would be to work with as well as judging your potential as an actor.</p>

<p>One well known book about auditioning says that when you are auditioning for a play, it is good to chat with the other audtioners while waiting beforehand, if possible, because you may be reading scenes with these people and the human connection established through even a few moments of chatting will carry over into the audition.</p>

<p>Anyway, it’s good when waiting areas are big enough to provide quiet space as well as social space.</p>

<p>Finding out the first and last name of your auditor(s) is a good idea, so that you can send them a short thank-you note, either via snail mail or email, if you want to.</p>

<p>Best of luck to you, Olivia, and everyone else auditioning this season.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for your response NJTheatreMom.
I just wanted to share my experience and my advice for how I would go about it if I was to audition again. Some people don’t really like to prepare directly before an audition and they may want to chat it up!
You really have to go about it whatever way you feel comfortable. Just make sure you are respectful to the people around you, as well!</p>

4

<p>Im going to audition there for the next year fall 2012. I just wanted to know how early did you start preparing for your auditions?</p>

5

<p>This might differ depending on whether a person is applying ED and auditioning in November or whether they are applying RD and auditioning in January or February but I think it is NEVER too early to start preparing!</p>

6

<p>the summer is a great time to pick out and rehearse monologues!</p>

7

<p>It’s also a great time to get all of your applications done so come fall, you can focus on your auditions and school responsibilities. But yes, as suggested above, now is the time to be honing in on the monologs you will want to use.</p>

8

<p>I would definitely get started early with your preparations! I had a very similar experience at NYU. Everyone was generally friendly and there were a lot of students there that day. </p>

<p>NYU was not my first choice school because of the largeness of their program and because of the studio assignments. But I went in there totally prepared and had a great audition- one that I felt was my best of the entire college audition process. I was not accepted to the program, not even waitlisted, but have several friends who were. To be honest, I was shocked that I wasn’t accepted after I heard about some of the students who were. I was accepted into both the BU and CalArts BFA programs. I personally feel that the fact that there is only one auditor in your audition really slims your chances. At the end of my audition, I had a conversation with my auditor and he asked if I had any questions. And I did. I asked about the possibility of collaboration between the studios and between other schools in Tisch and the school of music. He was immediately defensive and kind of avoided answering my question altogether. I’m not too bitter about my rejection since they weren’t my first choice to begin with. But just know that your experiences and the impressions you leave will differ at every school you audition at. Even if you think it’s your best, it might not be.</p>

9

<p>Actually, it could have been your best audition–but was not what that particular individual auditor was looking for. As you implied, at NYU individual auditors have a lot of power re who is accepted. I personally prefer a panel–even though it can be overwhelming–figuring out whom to look at at what time–there is more opportunity to connect with someone. At NYU, 1 wrong question, comment or phrase can turn an auditor off. Auditioners do not get the benefit of several, possibly different opinions. It would be interesting and helpful to hear others experiences in regards to a single auditor vs. a panel. Thanks.</p>

10

<p>That is an excellent point about a great audition still being great even if they can’t fit you into a program! You just don’t know - the same with any audition.</p>

<p>D had 6 auditions, plus a walk-in that she had no chance of acceptance to (used it as a warm-up). Of those 7, 4 had one person, and 3 had 2-3 people. </p>

<p>She was accepted to 2: both were with the head of the department. One had a second prof there, who seemed to be not really in a position of judgment - he actually was the only person of any who laughed at her comedic piece, and we attribute that to his not really being in “auditor” mode. </p>

<p>The 5 she was rejected from varied in their reactions, but I do know she felt very worried facing just one person, whether they were nice or not (only one was actually harsh). It was only because she had met the single auditor dept head at the school she will go to that she wasn’t put off by him; he’s just an awfully nice person, although he does a very quick sweep through the audition itself and seems to know what he wants very quickly. It took the rest of the day of observing rehearsals, chatting with and being shown the facilities by him to convince her he’d liked her audition, and that was only in hindsight a couple of weeks later (and after she’d been accepted).</p>

<p>My hopes and wishes for all of the kids coming up is that you just go in, do what you can do, and try not to take the results personally. This is a Herculean task and I have no real advice on how to manage it. Before college theatre auditions my D was never happier than when auditioning, either in music or theatre, and she spent a year and a half getting as much audition experience as she could to make herself as positive and strong as possible. Still she found this process very grueling.</p>

<p>Probably the most significant detail where she is concerned is that she did much better and felt much better at her on-campus, private appointment auditions. She found Unifieds to be surprisingly overwhelming. She never did a group on-campus audition, so we don’t know how those would have felt, but she did do two “group” auditions during Unifieds, and they didn’t feel any better than the standard ones. </p>

<p>I’m inclined to guess that the quieter, more private auditions did help her nerves, but of course she was lucky they happened to let her do that (due to travel needs). She certainly doesn’t expect that to be the norm for her career. Those two (the only ones she was admitted to) also were several weeks after Unifieds, so perhaps she had developed some perspective and maybe simply performed better.</p>

<p>I could wish her auditions had been more chronologically spread out, or more on campus, or whatever, but I still can’t say that anything would have changed her experience. Again - love your monologues (which she did), prepare well (which she did), and see what happens.</p>

11

<p>For those that auditioned early decision…
Please answer these questions.

  1. Did they ask you to redo your monologues a different way?
  2. Did they ask your opinion on studio placement?
  3. What questions did they ask?
  4. Did you get in ?</p>
12

<p>Hey MOMMY5</p>

<p>To answer your lovely questions :)</p>

<p>1) They did not ask me to redo either of my monologues a different way. For reference, I did Uncle Vanya by Chekhov (Sonya) and The Curse of the Starving Class by Sam Shepard.</p>

<p>The auditor’s reaction to Uncle Vanya was “lovely” and he said I should be cast in Downton Abbey, much to my amusement. His reaction to Curse was some light laughter and general signs of amusement. Just by the way- the auditor was the nicest man I’ve ever met.</p>

<p>2) They did ask my opinion. The only studio we talked about was Experimental Theater Wing, because I had directed produced etc a somewhat experimental musical performance about human trafficking at my school which really got the auditor’s attention. </p>

<p>3) They asked me a bazillion questions like what types of shows do I like doing, am I doing one now (yes, we discussed the message of it), what was my favorite character to play and how did she relate to me (it was Lenny from Crimes of the Heart, we discussed that a bit), what studio was I interested in (experimental), why I want to do theater, what’s the theater department like at my school etc. I said that I didn’t know what my “artistic identity” was and he was really intrigued by that and said that that was what college could do for me.</p>

<p>4) Yes I got in, and I’m going there in the fall in ETW! :)</p>

13

<p>Just wanted to post a brief description of the difference and similarities for my audition.</p>

<p>1) I arrived LATE much to my distress (FAIL, that SF Traffic!). But Chris Anderson, the admissions guy, was super nice and did not make me feel bad about it whatsoever. Also, I was recovering from being hit by a car and I had a cane and he kindly brought me a chair.</p>

<p>2) There were about 40 people in there including parents, but when the group was called for musical theater over 2/3 of the people stood up for that (Thanks glee for making it easier on us straight actors! LOL) In the end there were only about 8 acting candidates.
note: I was somewhat prepared for a musical theater audition but somehow that didn’t show up on their registry (my bad) and I also had a bad leg and didn’t reaaally want to be in musical theater so Chris Anderson just said don’t worry, do a straight acting audition.</p>

<p>3) My group was full of adorable chatty people and I didn’t feel bad talking to them at all because this was my 7th audition and I was over-prepared. I was not nervous due to the cheery attitude of the auditors and my companions and a HEAVY dose of pain medication due to the getting hit by a car thing… (probably shouldn’t have said that) Anyway, the accident was a cause of much merriment for the man who ended up being my auditor and he asked me if it was funny yet, to which I said “Well honestly, yes a little bit.” We were very giggly which was refreshing.</p>

<p>4) The auditor already knew the monologue and was pleased with them because as he said, if he heard one more monologue from You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, he was going to kill himself. The monologues were Sam Shepard and Chekhov (when in doubt, go with a smart play, even if you feel like it might be a little too overdone, you can always go with something slightly less popular by a good renowned author. For example I did Uncle Vanya as oppose to Three Sisters, and Curse of the Starving Class as oppose to Buried Child.) He said “lovely” to Uncle Vanya and he laughed a little at Curse. He did not make me redo.</p>

<p>5) He asked me at least 15 questions ranging from what characters I like to play and how did they relate to me, what was my theater department at school like, what kind of shows do I like to do… it all resulted in Experiment Theater Wing being put down as my first choice. This was mostly because I had created, produced, directed etc. a show about human trafficking and the sexual exploitation of children at my school and it was kind of experimental. It was indeed what I wanted to do, so that was good. </p>

<p>Important moment in the interview: He said that was I was saying was unique because as oppose to me trying to prove what a great actor I am, I was telling him that I wanted to create theater with a social conscience. (This is what made me feel good about it)</p>

<p>6) We left on a super good note, the guy was incredibly nice and it was like we were old friends. I am super amazed and happy about this because it was in STARK CONTRAST to all of my other auditions. NYU was a rare gem.</p>

<p>The Verdict: Accepted!! I’m going there in the fall in the Experimental Theater Wing. Woohoo!</p>

<p>Please let me know if you want any more specific information :slight_smile: and GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE. A note: I was REJECTED from SEVEN, count them, SEVEN THEATER SCHOOLS, so it just goes to show, you only need one acceptance, and it could be your top choice! Gosh the admissions process is so weird…</p>

14

<p>Hi guys!
I’m applying as a transfer student to NYU Tisch for drama and I have a few questions!
Hopefully someone can help me out:)
I’m wondering if 1) I have a good shot at getting in, and 2) what some good, unique monologues are that might be helpful to look over and 3) how to prepare for the audition process.</p>

<p>Okay, so my stats are:
-transferring at the end of my freshman year of college with a 4.0 GPA in the Honors Program for my university.
-55 credits (all A’s) (credit from AP classes, dual program college and high school credits, etc.)
-lots of extracurriculars (news broadcaster at radio station, student government, etc.)
-high school gpa weighted of 4.1
-rigorous high school classes (2 AP Classes, the rest all honors classes)
-ACT composite: 28
-good amount of theatre experience on my theatrical resume</p>

<p>is the artistic review and the application judged 50/50 to decide if you get in or not, or is there part of the overall application that is more heavily weighed? Thanks!</p>

15

<p>Hi extremely hopeful, your grades and everything sound terrific, but ultimately it comes down to your acting chops, and the ability to execute in your audition on that given day. Monologues are tough to recommend because I don’t know your acting style. READ PLAYS. Lot’s. That’s the only real way that you can find a monologue that suits you as an artist and as a person. You should be able to relate to the monologue in some way, and you should be able to see yourself playing that role, if not then, sometime in the near future. As far as plays, some great writers: Tennessee Williams (great monologues), Arthur Miller, Sam Shepherd, and of course Chekhov, Inge, Shakespeare. Hit me up with any questions.</p>

16

<p>Ugh, I wrote a reply then it disappeared.</p>

<p>Okay, start again.</p>

<p>Don’t underestimate the importance of the audition.</p>

<p>Since you are aiming for somewhere very competitive–NYU Tisch–you should have an “audition coach” to help you. Especially if you don’t know much about auditioning. This “coach” can be anyone who can tell the difference between “good” acting and “bad” acting and can give you advice on how to improve.</p>

<p>There is lots of information and advice about auditioning–books, websites, etc. There is too much to put into one forum post.</p>

<p>We can’t give you any “unique” monologue ideas, because if they come from us, they won’t be unique. NYU Tisch requests two “contemporary” monologues, and then gives a definition of “contemporary” as anything from the turn of the 20th century, that is 1900. I think you should start by reading plays by your favorite 20th and 21st century playwrights, especially the lesser known and lesser performed ones. Looking at lesser known plays will help you find a “unique” monologue. Ultimately, you are going to have to choose which are the right monologues for yourself. But always be sure to follow all the instructions of the school. NYU Tisch does say that certain people “may” choose a classical for one of their monologues, but this instruction seems so “begrudging” to me that I am pretty sure they really prefer two contemporaries.</p>

<p>KEVP</p>