<p>BroadwayBound, </p>
<p>That is not a stupid question. If you are headed to college this year and are hoping to work in professional summer stock theater, it pays to start learning about this process.</p>
<p>There are a few ways to be seen for summer stock work. Someone's plans with regard to auditions will be affected somewhat by where he/she is located and is able to attend. I believe you will be in Ithaca. </p>
<p>One very good way to audition that covers a lot of bases in a short amount of time (and you aren't going to have much time if in a BFA program), is to attend a combined audition. These combined auditions are where many summer stock theaters all attend at once and you audition and are seen by lots of theaters on one day. The biggest one of these is StrawHats which is in NYC in late March. Another one is NETC which is New England Theater Conference Auditions which are held in Boston. Since others may be reading this, there is also SETC (Southeast) and also the Midwest Theater Auditions, among others. The way that StrawHats and NETC work is that you must APPLY just to obtain an audition slot. You would need to visit their websites in late fall and read about the requirements and deadlines so that you make sure to follow them and in a timely way (there is a bit of rolling "admissions" to it...the sooner you get it in, the better chance...my D applied in early January and the StrawHat deadline is in Feb, on a certain date)...HOWEVER, you are not automatically accepted just by filing an application. Not all who apply get in. It may make sense to apply to both NETC AND Strawhats. I know some people who got into one but not the other. </p>
<p>There are other ways to get summer stock work as well but some of this will depend on your location and ability to get to these auditions. Some summer theaters hold auditions right at their sites (i.e. the MUNY, PCLO, and even some of the summer theaters who attend things like StrawHats also have auditions on site....like Merry Go Round Playhouse, which is in upstate NY). Another way is that many summer theaters hold open call auditions in NYC. Some of the theaters who attend StrawHats even ALSO hold these open calls. Some that hold the open calls do NOT attend StrawHats. My D went to several of these as well as StrawHats. But she goes to school in NYC which makes that more accessible (though very tricky as she can only miss a BFA class twice/semester and then when you get callbacks and all, it can be very hard to fit in). Some theaters only hold Equity open calls, though. As well, if you have an agent in NYC, you might be seen for theaters who are holding agent submitted auditions via appointment (these are not open calls). To find out about open calls, however, these are listed different places such as on Backstage (you can subscribe online) or some are listed on Playbill.com. Those are the various ways that I know of to find out about auditions or the types of auditions that exist. My D has done some of all of these. </p>
<p>I recall a while back that some were asking about StrawHats and how that goes and all and I said I would share that process here, so let me add a bit about that. Again, first you have to get in via application/resume/headshot. I forget exactly how many apply but it may be 1000. They select 750 for audition appointments. Many of these are college students but many already have a degree. These are NonEquity auditions. Some of the theaters attending, however, hire both Equity and NonEquity actors but StrawHats is just for the NonEquity auditions. Many who attend come from all over because as I said, one can be seen by 30 theaters on one day so it is efficient that way if you can't get to NYC or other sites on a regular basis due to school (which is the case for many of you). </p>
<p>The auditions are held over three days. You are assigned a time slot on one of those days. StrawHats puts together a big bound book of the headshots/resumes of the 250 per day that will be seen in order. Each theater that attends has this book for that day's auditions during the auditions. I will divert for a moment because my D's experience was a not the norm. She was assigned for the Sat. auditions. However, her a capella group won a competition and moved onto the Semi Finals taking place at Fordham that same Sat. night (which would conflict with StrawHats callbacks) and StrawHats understood that performance conflicts can arise and they were willing to move her to Friday but could not give her an exact audition slot but promised to fit her in as a standby during the late afternoon. Because of this change, and the fact that the big resume/headshot book went to the printers already, she was in the Sat. book, not the Friday book and so when she auditioned, the StrawHat people announced her name and Sat. time but the theaters were not viewing her resume/headshot for her audition (she knew this ahead of time but was willing to risk it so as to also make her performance and not disappoint her singing group which was also performing a song she had arranged and was musically directing). </p>
<p>Each actor gets 90 seconds to perform a song and a monologue (total). Then, every hour, they post a callback list. Next to your name is a list of which theaters want you to stay for the evening callbacks. Some get no callbacks. Some get a couple, some get many. The callbacks, however, are by individual theaters and so you have to get to each of your callbacks in the evening separately. Before all the individual theater callbacks commence in the evening, there is a group dance callback. So, you can get called back for that too but for that, all 30 theaters watch at one time like the singing/acting auditions. My D did the dance callback. If I recall, you are taught a combination and perform it. Then if you have callbacks, you make the rounds to each of your theaters who have their own rooms for the callbacks. My D attended four callbacks. I'm trying to remember now but I think most of these involved singing and some interview/discussion. For her, she was able to hand out her resume/headshot at the callback since they had not viewed it in the Friday book. She had to make the callbacks without them ever seeing her resume. In fact, the theater she is working for this summer jokes that she was easy to remember because she was announced as the 'the Sat. at 11 girl'! and it wasn't the norm and they thought she was gutsy to do it without the theaters having her resume/headshot in hand. Anyway, it still worked out though obviously the more normal procedure is better for the actor. </p>
<p>One theater offered her a job on the spot at callbacks. Some say they will notify in a few days or a week. Some we know did hear that soon. Obviously there are fewer jobs than the number of those who audition and make callbacks. Two of the four theaters my D did a callback for, she did not hear from again. The fourth theater she had not heard from for a while. By coincidence the artistic director from that theater was in NYC one day, a few weeks later, observing my D's acting class at CAP21 and recognized my D from the StrawHat callback and spoke to her after class. A few days later, the theater contacted her to come to the theater for another callback and interview. She later was offered a contract. So, those are some of the ways it can work. </p>
<p>The open calls are massive with many hundreds. My D did several of those. Usually there was a singing audition and then you can be called back on another day to sing again and dance (variations of this happened though too). Sometimes, there is another cut and a callback later in the day and so forth. She went to several final callbacks. Many at these auditions are people with degrees or just on the audition circuit on a regular basis (like you guys will be after you graduate). She was able to do these as a younger person because she was in NYC. She also did some agent submitted audition appointments and another audition/callback that the director called her in for. So, that's the various processes at work with regard to summer stock work. For those who can travel to places like the MUNY or PCLO, for example, they hold auditions on site and with callbacks there too. </p>
<p>I hope this helps. As you'll be in Ithaca, you may want to look into the Hangar Theater too.</p>