@AnxiousNovice - yes, she stated her son auditioned via video submission. Crossing my fingers you hear good news soon!
@CaMom13 Thanks. Sorry to have asked a question already answered. I seem to always be a day behind in reading the posts and I should probably wait until I read everything before posting!
@AnxiousNovice. It was a video sent mid December (see post #2034 pg 102). It seems they may be finally getting to the videos. I’m hoping for good news for those who are waiting.
Seeking advice from the parents here. My daughter did not have a lot of success with her MT prescreens (she passed 1 of 11 and had several acting redirects). She ultimately wasn’t accepted to her MT prescreen pass school. She applied ED2 to NYU, but didn’t get accepted. She did audition for several schools that don’t require prescreens. She also applied to 3 schools with BA Theatre programs and is waiting to hear from them (Muhlenberg, Oberlin and Connecticut College).
Now for the good news! She has unexpectedly received 2 BFA acceptances for acting: Hartt BFA in Actor Training and Illinois Wesleyan BFA in Acting (prescreen redirect). This weekend she was (once again) redirected to acting during the callback segment of her University of the Arts MT audition. Waiting to hear from Emerson BFA Theatre and Performance (also a MT prescreen redirect), University of Miami, UArts, University of Arizona and Marymount Manhattan (digital audition).
D is excited for her BFA acting accepts, and isn’t upset they aren’t MT. The problem is that we are really flying blind here as to the quality of these acting programs. We only researched MT programs! I know Hartt and Illinois Wesleyan have great MT programs, but don’t really hear about their acting programs.
How should we evaluate the acting programs? What questions should she be asking?Do coaches work with new families this late in the process just to help them work through the options before May 1st? She doesn’t have a coach but she could really use some help from someone that is familiar with these acting programs to help us compare, especially if she gets any other acceptances.
@AZMom…yes!! @StanfordAI2019 My complaint has NOTHING to do with POC being cast. My complaint is that the trend away from having both belters and soprano characters in shows is what is hurting sopranos like my D.
Nowadays, ingenues, character roles, and villains are all more likely to be belters. No one is currently writing for sopranos. If you go back and actually read what I wrote, I said, while I applaud the trend of having people look diverse on stage, I do not applaud the trend of having everyone sound alike on stage. The “sounding alike” is something I will be glad to see go away. I have been around the theatre world long enough to known that having all characters in a musical be belters IS a trend. Historians will look back upon this time as “In the early 20th century, it sucked to be a soprano”. I have my graduate studies in musical theatre performance, and have sat through enough MT history courses to be able to see how this will play out to future generations.
I am sorry you mis-interpreted my post. As you can see from responses above, others actually did read and understand what I was saying. I really wish you would not have responded in such an accusatory tone. You don’t know me, and to mis-understand something and respond so harshly and publicly on a board that is generally nothing but caring and respectful is kind of crap…just saying…
@QballMom - congratulations! That’s wonderful! There in an Acting Major forum here as well, you might try searching there for both programs.
http://talk.qa.collegeconfidential.com/theater-drama-majors/
Also @actorparent1 has an Acting major at Hartt - I am sure she can tell you a lot about her D’s experience there.
@CaMom13 Thank you so much! She is so excited. I will check out the theatre forum and reach out to @actorparent1.
@WDWMom You do not know me or most of the audience members and YOU decided to acknowledge the casting of POC’s as a desperate attempt. Your words! I never accused you of anything. I shared the impact of your words! With that said, nothing about your post was caring. To add, you cannot discount or invalidate how I feel. How non-caring and non-empathetic. Thank you.
PS - I was going to reply privately but you chose to continue this publicly!
I think it’s best if we can all just move on from this right now. This process is stressful enough and while I’m all for a good debate, I don’t think this is the forum at the moment. It’s simply not productive.
@PNWdrama – yep. I scanned over these messages. Looks like a lot of miscommunication. Everybody is ‘really’ on edge right now. I had heard March is the worst, but we are all really feeling it.
@QballMom I can answer some questions about Uarts. Acting and MT are in the same acting classes for the first two years. They hold general auditions at the beginning of each semester and both are cast in musicals and straight plays. My MT child was in a few straight p[ays and some of her acting friends were cast in musicals. Your major doesn’t matter. Uarts is one of the top 5 dance schools in the country so your D can take as many dance classes as electives as she can fit into her schedule. Philly is a hugely diverse and arts rich city. There are many opportunities to perform outside of school and make connections for the future. Having said all of that, it is expensive. They tend to give very large scholarships (arts and merit) which can be bundled. Most students move to apartments after the first year and that yields tremendous savings. This may seem like a small thing, but my D was also accepted to a better school in another large city and the apartments rents were insane and would cost more than the dorms. In Philly, most kids pay bet 600-800 month in rent (dorm is 1,000 a month plus $500 for food). I am happy to answer more specific questions via PM
@WDWMom @nanamama I can certainly see why the comments might have been offensive. One thing I have learned as a mature white woman (and some of the lessons were hard-learned) is that it is not my place to tell a POC what is offensive or not. Your truth is your truth and I know that sometimes people make comments that are subtly racist without understanding why. It doesn’t matter. What matters is that we continue to talk about it so we can all learn to be more sensitive and perhaps change the way we see things. I am always interested to know why something I said was construed a certain way. I WANT to understand, because my background alone is not going to give me insight and change my behavior. I think this thread is a good conversation. You can deny all you want that you didn’t mean offense, but acknowledge that someone thought it was inappropriate and learn from it.
@PNWdrama I agree - I come to the forum for some stress relief and although this is confidential - some of us have probably met at auditions - I can honestly say that every parent I have come into contact with has been nice and respectful - we are a great group of people - I can’t say the same of some sports and cheer parents I have met along the way - and sometimes in the heat of posting we may misspeak - but let’s not parse each other’s words and try to infer malintent. We need to support each other through this process - nobody out there gets this - we are all we have - let’s try to get along.
@QballMom COngrats on your D’s Acting acceptances. Very exciting. Based on her initial applications, it sounds like she does have a love for musicals too. I suggest you spend some time researching schools where the BFA acting also allows for training in singing and dance (possibly via a minor, electives, whatever.) We noticed some schools (like CCM and Ithaca and Emerson) are very siloed without much opportunity to crossover. Others spend more time together (like Viterbo). Finding the right mix without having to cobble together everything on your D’s own (for voice/ dance training) might make sense. Hopefully people of the acting page can help guide you.
Best of luck.
@QballMom @BeBop1 Doesn’t UArts also have an MT minor that Acting majors can audition for during their first year? This gives them access to the private voice? I think I remember that fact from our school research: @BeBop1 is this correct?
Sometimes when you’re trying to get from point A to B you step on someone’s foot, even if totally unaware, someone yells OUCH! Are you the person who says sorry or looks at them with disdain for being hurt?
@WDWMom your response is very condescending, you said “…others actually did read and understand what I was saying.”
I understand you feel defensive towards a strong accusation and nobody wants to be accused of something like racism or bias, but it happens and often unintentionally because it’s built into our society so deeply. People of color are constantly having to weigh whether to say something or just move on. I hope everyone jumping to her defense or telling everyone to move on realizes you’re asking someone who feels hurt to just take it because it was a mistake. Maybe it’s a good opportunity to stop and listen to why she was hurt by the post, and how it could be misinterpreted.
There are absolutely people out in the world saying they don’t have a shot anymore because shows want diverse casting. Just the other week Broadway Girl heard an actor (waiter) telling a girl in NYC for college auditions that he doesn’t have a shot anymore because he’s a white guy and she called him out for it. It’s in the air whether you are aware of it or not, so I think that’s what contributed to the course of events here.
The parents and students on the Acting thread will be happy help with any questions you have. I tagged you on the thread below.
@QballMom , I replied to you on the Hartt thread, but also wanted to mention that both Hartt and UArts have accepted students days which are very helpful! Hartt has one on Sunday, March 29th and Saturday, April 4th. If possible, I would recommend the April 4th one, because there are two performances that day. On Saturday afternoon, there is a student-run production of “Anne Frank”, and in the evening, there is a senior production of “In the Soundless Awe,” which would be great to see because it’s the seniors, so you can really get a sense of the kind of work that Hartt acting students are doing. Also, if you can come up on the Friday or stay till the Monday, you can ask for your daughter to sit in on acting classes, so she can get a sense of what it’s like to be in the program.
UArts also has an accepted students day called Admit One - hopefully they sent you info on that. My daughter was accepted to UArts in her year, and really enjoyed Admit One. They have tours of the school and mock classes so you can get a feel of what it’s like to go there. Even though my daughter ultimately chose Hartt, she liked UArts too! As they say, in the end you can only pick one!
@MTdreamin It was true. I think they still have it but not sure
@actorparent1 , @BeBop1 , @MTdreamin, @rickle1 Thank you so much for all of this helpful information and support. I truly appreciate all of these in depth responses. I am feeling far less stressed now.