Have any of your students participated at College Auditions at the International Thespian Festival in Lincoln Nebraska?
Curious about how the process goes? For instance, if my son auditions this summer and a school that is present is interested would he be required to do another on campus or unified audition later in the audition season?
I am trying to determine the benefit of an audition this summer.
Thanks in advance!
My d attended the college auditions at the International Thespian Festival. These are “large room” auditions where the students audition once for all colleges in attendance. They then receive callbacks from schools that are interested in them. Some callbacks result in offers (or implications of an offer) of artistic admission if the student later applies to the school, while others offer just strong encouragement to attend a regular audition later in the year. Some programs are non-audition and offer (or imply) artistic scholarships as a result of the callback, if the student applies to the school and gains academic admission. In general, the highly competitive programs that are in attendance require an additional audition, but there are always exceptions to every rule.
Some students receive more than 30 callbacks, while others might see quite a bit fewer.
I know you didn’t ask this specifically, but, in my opinion, there are huge benefits to attending events like this. The first is that if your son gets early acceptances and interest there is huge power in that. Those early validations can really boost their confidence. If you have read posts on here, you can sense the relief when a kid gets their first acceptance - imagine having that feeling in the summer before you even start auditioning! There’s always this niggling question in the back of their (and our) minds: Am I good enough? That first acceptance, no matter the program, eases that worry and helps to build confidence.
If the feedback and results are not as rosy at Thespian events, that can inform how you move forward. Maybe the monologue or song was wrong for your kid’s type, or maybe it wasn’t rehearsed enough and lines were dropped, or was not sung well. Mistakes, blunders, “failures” are all opportunities for learning. The fact that this event is in the summer will give you all time to adjust if things go awry.
Another benefit of Thespian events is that they’re just so much fun for the kids! They meet people that they will likely be seeing on the audition trail, in their programs, and in NYC. I can’t recommend them enough!
Thank you @zebracocoa and @EmsDad for your response.
This will be his third trip to ITF. This year their high school (Son is Junior, Daughter sophomore) was adjudicated and selected to perform on the MainStage.
I had a great time last year as a chaperone. Theatre kids are fun! 4,000 plus are a little overwhelming but still very fun!
in general these auditions are also a great chance to test material and shake off nerves for the later audition season.