<p>I grew up far more a sports person than a theater person and one of my two children is a sports kid rather than a theater kid. To me, losing in sports contest is not at all like not getting cast or being rejected from a school. It does not have anyone’s judgment attached to it. A more similar analogy in the sports world would be not making a team. My son recently experience that not making the JV high school basketball team. That feels the same because it has someone’s judgment attached to it.</p>
<p>skewl we know someone who’s very happy, and getting lots of opportunities, in the Rutgers BA. She just couldn’t afford the BFAs she got into, hated being stuck in her home state…and has, instead, felt very comfortable and challenged there.</p>
<p>ActingDad, I agree.</p>
<p>Just to drag the metaphor out, I would say that a theatre person sees each performance like a game, match or race in sports. They certainly analyze how it went as much! I think for them (or us, for any performer) even though it seems like doing the same thing over and over there is such a wide dynamic of how things go, what kind of reaction you get, and how you put things together as an individual. It’s very exciting!</p>
<p>Yes, trying out for the team is a lot more like auditioning for a play or a program. It’s a good way to help understand what these people go through.</p>
<p>Gwen are the BA Rutgers classes taught by the same Mason Gross teachers or is it a different group of teachers?</p>
<p>Not to get too off topic but ActingDad - if you or your child thinks not being admitted to an audition college has a judgement attached then you’re in for a sad life. Auditioning rarely is a “judgement call” it’s more of a “fit” or “too many of your type” or “you look like the kid in fifth grade who beat me up all the time” or any other random reason for rejection. It rarely is a judgement on your ability, most of the time it is quite arbitrary, which is why a kid can get rejected at one of the “lesser” schools and be admitted to one of the “top” schools. There is little rhyme or reason, and certainly nothing that you could pinpoint. (On another thread someone said the Sutton Foster was rejected from CMU and somehow she succeeded!) </p>
<p>Rejection in an audition is neither judgemental nor personal; it is not a statement on your ability or talent. That goes for college auditions or professional auditions. It’s important to remember that or you will become a very depressed actor! Sorry for going off thread but I thought this was an important message to get out there.</p>
<p>Words to live by AMTC!</p>
<p>So important to remember AMTC-- I think ActingDad means ‘the feeling of having been judged’-- especially for these young kids, in this very unique situation, where they’re not auditioning for a specific role. </p>
<p>shacherry I don’t know if the Mason Gross teachers teach in the BA program at Rutgers. I do know this young woman has had plenty of performance opportunities.</p>
<p>^^I definitely took ActingDad’s remarks to mean the same thing, GwenFairfax. At one of my son’s auditions, the auditor said “I like the work you’ve done, but you probably won’t get a callback, because you’re just not the type we’re looking for.” He really had a hard time believing this. Teenagers (even “theater kids”) as a species tend to believe that everyone is looking at them and judging them. And learning how to be resilient through this process has, for us at least, turned out to be a huge benefit. </p>
<p>Not to drag out the sports thing, but we’ve been through that too…and I am relieved that there’s been way less of my son second-guessing every little mistake, etc., after auditions than there used to be after every loss in a football game. (And absolutely no blaming losses on the refs!) :D</p>
<p>Re: Rutgers BA - My son was rejected by Mason Gross, but accepted (as a state resident) into the School of Arts & Sciences. Although the Theater major at SAS would seem to be completely separate, the department link took you directly to MGSA, suggesting that the Acting classes were taught by the same faculty (even if different sections). When we took the regular campus tour, our student guide was a Dance minor in SAS, who took her classes at MGSA.</p>
<p>I am hoping we get more clarification on Rutgers BA. Maybe this is a phone call I need to make tomorrow. Do you get the sense the BA is a performance degree or is it bogged down by lots of history, etc, liberal arts requirements? Rutgers could be a front runner for my D if the BA has a performance track and she could also take dance. </p>
<p>Gwen, would it be possible to ask the Rutgers BA student to contribute to this board? I am quite sure many of us would be interested to hear about her experience!</p>
<p>Thanks guys. Stagemum that is just what I see when I look on the website. There is no listing of Theater faculty on the SAS Rutgers website. </p>
<p>Skewl let me know what you find out.</p>
<p>That’s my point Gwen, if your kid thinks it’s a judgement on them or their acting or whatever they will not survive in this business. And there are plenty of situations where they will be auditioning for a “general” audition, not a specific role - summer stock, showcases, workshops, to name just a few. I think the kids might not feel that way but their parents do!</p>
<p>If it is not a judgement on their acting or on them, then what is it then?
I too will tell my kid it is not a judgement on them, but let’s face it, of course it is. If there is no specific part they are casting and not looking for just a certain “type”, then I would have to believe they are judging your acting, how you look, how you sound, how you dress, how you carry yourself, how confident you are, how well spoken you are, how witty you are, etc. etc etc.
It is very personal.</p>
<p>In a way you’re right, Mommy5, but as someone who’s done all too much judging of young artists in my time (in a different art), I can say-- it is far too subjective to be taken very seriously. This is true in any art, but especially in acting, where an anxious young person is spending 3 minutes in the room, doing a monologue. (Not a dialogue, not any of the listening/reacting that’s required of an actor on a stage.) </p>
<p>In painting, in writing, the judges can look at work over and over, discuss it, etc. And still, wonderful work gets passed over all the time. So yes, it’s very personal, and of course they suffer-- and it’s horrible as a parent to see your child suffering, all because that child has a real love of his or her art! And the more they can remember how fallible and human their auditors are, the better off they’ll be in the long run. (So hard for them to see this, at this age!)</p>
<p>Yikes AMTC – you’ve spun my post way beyond anything I said or meant to say. </p>
<p>I did not mean to suggest that a rejection was a “a statement on your ability or talent.” All I was doing was comparing the differences between losing a sports contest and not being cast or being rejected from a school. In losing a sports contest, the result is not based on anyone make a decision that is anything about you as a person. Judgment means, among other things, “an assertion of something believed” so when I said that being rejected from a school or not getting a part in a show has someone’s judgment attached to it, all I was saying is that someone was making an assertion of a belief – we prefer someone else for the school or part. IMO, that feels very different to most kids than losing a sports contest. Of course, it does not mean your child should treat that as judgment of your ability, talent or aptitude though its human nature to feel some of that at least with respect to college auditions.</p>
<p>I think the point is that you have to let care and worry associated with the judgement go and move beyond it. Acting is a field that will require a person to learn that in order to have inner peace.</p>
<p>ActingDad - I think I am quite ornery today and that is coming out in my posts. Perhaps I should not have posted today at all! I just feel that it is important that kids and their parents keep the rejections in perspective - it means very little and is a blip in their life. It is not the end all/be all for their future.</p>
<p>Mommy5 - Of course they are looking for a certain type - they type of student who will round out their ensemble of actors for any of the possible roles for the next four years. If they currently have two senior males who are balding and can play older, fatherly or grandfatherly roles, they are paying more attention to the incoming auditioner who can take those roles over. If they already have an overabundance of leading men or women they will be looking for less of those, or a student auditioning who can play a child is a very valuable type. Every school is putting together ensembles to work with those student actors who are currently at the school and believe me, they know exactly what holes have to be filled. It is NOT personal.</p>
<p>The message that is being hammered home to my daughter and her classmates is that each audition stands alone, no rehashing or second guessing. You do your best, you walk out and that is that, it is completely out of your control and you should only worry about the next audition. That may help in the long run, it did help my son at Unifieds as my daughter was there to remind him after each one.</p>