<p>Thanks so much for your thorough post. I really enjoyed reading it. I also had a question..</p>
<p>If I would audition at the Unified auditions, am I not allowed to audition at the schools again? I know there are quite a few schools at the Unifieds, so I'm not really sure how that works.</p>
<p>any info would be great-amy</p>
<p>aspiringactress1: No it hasn't been asked before. All freshmen and sophomore MT and Acting majors who are not working on a mainstage production are required to audition for workshops, directed by juniors and seniors who have completed the Directing class with an A or A-. These are small-cast 30-minute plays which get four weeks of rehearsal, a performance in front of the department, feedback from the Performance Faculty to the director, another week of rehearsal, and then another performance for the public, with a talkback session led by our directing teacher. Most of our students find the experience incredibly valuable, and almost all do one or two of these in their first two years.</p>
<p>4KidsMom: I'm glad you had a good time with us. I haven't had time to work on the answer to the "backup" plan, but I will try to write something in the next week or so.</p>
<p>I'm off to NYC tomorrow with the seniors in the showcase. We're performing on Monday and Tuesday night, along with the MTs from Baldwin-Wallace and the MTs from Penn State (their first time with us), and the ACTs from CCM. Hope to have a report for everyone later this week.</p>
<p>Amy:</p>
<p>The Unified auditions are the equivalent of an on-campus audition, so there's no need to audition at each of the schools. I don't suppose you're prevented from doing so, but people are likely to wonder why you want to.</p>
<p>Hope that helps.</p>
<p>Yeah, that helps. I guess I was just kind of confused about the whole thing. Do you know about how many audition at the Chicago site?</p>
<p>Amy:</p>
<p>It's difficult to tell, because the auditions are private. Unlike Thespians, which are mass auditions with callbacks, at the Unifieds you have an individual appointment with each school. In three days, we saw about 75 people. But not everyone auditions for every school, and last year there were 40 or 45 schools represented. My guess is that there were around 200-300 students auditioning. But again, it's hard to gauge.</p>
<p>Thanks drjohn, they (the workshops) sound very interesting.:)</p>
<p>doctorjohn:</p>
<p>can you tell me more about the thespian audition in Lincoln. My D will be auditioning there in June and her sponsor is stressed out right now due to state conference duties :)</p>
<p>Ok - EdTa posted the information about the audition process in the last couple of days and I just hadn't checked...sorry.</p>
<p>But, in your experience, how many schools come to Lincoln, and do you believe it is a valuable experience?</p>
<p>Thanks....and hope NY was great.</p>
<p>illinisue-</p>
<p>We will have 5 of our students attend Nationals in Lincoln in June. I think having the opportunity for colleges to see students' there is priceless.</p>
<p>illinisue:</p>
<p>I couldn't agree more with wct. The "rising senior" auditions and portfolio reviews are attended by at least 40 colleges. For the students, it's usually their first real college audition, and it's a great way to test the waters and get past the nerves. For us, it's the first chance to see some of the most talented students we'll see. And while relatively few of us make offers on the basis of the 90 seconds or so we get to see, it does give us the opportunity to encourage the students we're interested in to come to campus or to one of the unified sites to audition for us.</p>
<p>Even if the auditions weren't part of the experience, I'd encourage students to attend the festival. Dozens of high schools from around the country and many from abroad attend, and the feeling in the theatres is electric. For many, it will be the best theatre experience they've ever had.</p>
<p>Thanks Doctorjohn. She attended last year, but being a sophomore didn't pay a lot of attention to the audition process because she was in call backs for Ragtime (wasn't cast) which took up a lot of her time. We'll see how it goes :)</p>
<p>Doctorjohn--I'm writing this to you on the Otterbein thread because I know you've been instrumental in compiling and updating the Big List. I've been thinking about Cal State Fullerton as it appears on the Big List. It's not marked as either non-audition or a selective program. I'm thinking maybe it should be marked as a selective program AND a non-audition program. It's unique in that there is no audition for lower division coursework; however, at the end of sophomore year, the students are juried and very very few of the kids who are on the MT track actually wind up in the MT program for upperdivision work. They will be juried at the end of junior year, also, and may once again face being cut. This makes CSUF one of the most selective programs out there for graduating with a degree in MT. I see a lot of southern California students going this route and I don't believe many of them realize the odds.</p>
<p>mtmommy-</p>
<p>I could be wrong, but if you do not get on the BFA track at CSUF you can still graduate with a BA in theater.</p>
<p>Going along with the theme: Changes to the Big List.....U of Central Florida actually has a two-audition process. I believe they are the only school that requires and audition and then you may get a "call back" for a second audition. Therefore, I definitely think it needs to be changed to a Selective school.</p>
<p>Wct--You're right that students that don't get into the MT for upper division still get to graduate with a BA in theatre, but I think the list is misleading because it's supposed to be about MT programs.</p>
<p>Lynnm--OU also has a two-audition process, beginning with a video or in-person audition and then the student is asked to come to campus for the audition.</p>
<p>I definitely agree that UCF needs to be changed to "selective" status. That was the only college my dd auditioned for based on comments from directors and other students who were already in the program. They were convinced she'd get in without a problem. My dd was rejected after the callback, but was offered both BA in Theater Studies and BM in Music Performance (although the music department audition was totally separate and through the music department).</p>
<p>She is now juggling with which program to take, but would like to take the new dance minor at UCF, which is going through the theater department and the Brian Vernon, who conducted the dance audition for the BFA is heading up the dance minor. Since my dd had already performed for Mr. Vernon twice (once at the BFA audition and second at the callback), she e-mailed him and asked if it were necessary to go to the dance minor audition. He answered that they were being very selective in all their theater/music majors and that she would have to be seen yet a third time for a minor!!!!</p>
<p>Their program is getting bigger and bigger and they are definitely being more selective.</p>
<p>Doctorjohn mentioned Florida Thespians as a place to be seen. I highly recommend it for juniors, not seniors, necessarily. My dd scored Superior Ratings in both monologues and musical theater song on the district level in her junior year and qualified for the state competition. Because she was doing Anne Frank at the time of the state competition, she decided to forego thespians to do Anne Frank. She scored Superiors again this year, as a senior, but was told it was probably a little late to get the full benefits, so she decided it wasn't worth the time and money (as she was also involved in a lot of school activities at the time).</p>
<p>drjohn - I am participating in the National IE competion at national thespians and might also want to use the song I'm performing for the college auditions - are the colleges going to also be watching the IE's? Would you recommend NOT singing the song I am already performing, or does it not really matter? Just wondering as I plan for Nebraska...thanks!</p>
<p>aa1: </p>
<p>I've never seen the IE's, and I'm not sure we're even allowed to watch. (I can check on that.) But in any case, I see no problem with using the same song for the IE's and for the college auditions.</p>
<p>MidgetMom:</p>
<p>Is it possible that there are two Thespian conventions in Florida? The one I recommend that seniors participate in is held in Lakeland in November. Auditions are set up specifically for seniors interested in attending college theatre programs. (These auditions are entirely separate from the competitions.) I have gone to the conference for two years, and called back students who then auditioned for us either on campus or at the unifieds, and did well.</p>
<p>Actually, I have no idea. I know my dd went to the districts and was eligible for the state conference in the spring. But, she goes to a small, private high school that doesn't have a big theater department (actually, it's reduced to a few drama classes), and their Thespian group is very small (maybe 5 total). 99% of my dd's training has come from private lessons, and other outside sources. I now realize that my dd missed out on a lot going to this school. If only we could turn back time.......Fortunately, my younger dd just got accepted into the PA high school and she'll be in the loop for everything.</p>