<p>Choosing Monologues was by far our hardest venture when my D was auditioning this past year! She is going to Emerson in the fall and we were looking to also get a coach like the previous post. It is a great way to be presented with material that is not overdone and to have a second opinion (a very good one at that!).</p>
<p>Like the previous post mentioned, you must read, read, read plays!</p>
<p>Thanks for mentioning that, MegsBenns. Other people have mentioned MCA (mostly on the MT forum, I think) and heaped praises on them.</p>
<p>Glad it worked so well for your daughter.</p>
<p>I just got back from Stage Elements Summer Institute at U/Minn and I’m now even more in love with the program.</p>
<p>We were coached for our scenes by current or alumni students and they were some of the brightest, smartest, well-prepared, confident people I’ve ever met. We also saw a show with a cast of BFA-students and each one was fantastic. The faculty that I worked with were all stellar.</p>
<p>Needless to say, I’m in love. Though not too in love to be unrealistic. But really, this program is wonderful and INTENSE.</p>
<p>Hello all! I am a rising senior(YIKES!) It’s really nice seeing all these new faces(usernames?) yet the familiar ones as well.
I’m sure you all know already(as those who are or know fellow actors) just thinking about the auditions, applications and rejections makes a person hyperventilate with excitement. And I must say, I am very VERY thankful for this thread. I am also applying and auditioning for a crapload of schools next year and this has definitely helped me with my choices.
Please keep writing everyone. I am reading religiously and taking notes. If there are any other links to similar threads please pass them to me. </p>
<p>Oh, and parents I am jealous of your children. My parents aren’t too involved in my college ventures and to see such dedicated parents makes me a bit green. But I can say them not having much say does help me make decisions for my own. </p>
<p>Good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>My D went into every audition on her own, and afterwards, I realized that she was one of the only kids in there without a parent! It just never occurred to me to go in with her!</p>
<p>The whole audition process was a wonderful experience in terms of building self-reliance and self-confidence, IMO. Before my D got any of her decisions, she said that she was glad she went through the process, so even if she didn’t get in anywhere, it would make her feel better about getting a BA knowing she had given this a shot. </p>
<p>She also found that there was camaraderie among the kids at the auditions and that the auditors generally were not intimidating. </p>
<p>One bit of advice is not to judge how you did by how much time the auditors spend with you. She did not get in the schools where the auditors had her do extra stuff, but did get in the school where they did not ask her to do anything more than her prepared monologues (though other kids at this school were asked to sometimes).</p>
<p>I had a long talk with my grandpa and I am off the hook for NYU. It was easier than I thought because he didnt realize how expensive they have become. haha Then I emailed the head of housing at UNCSA and he told me I would be able to stay in the college dorms so that isnt a problem anymore. They are back on my list near the top.</p>
<p>Knowing the risk, my list in order of preference is Juilliard, UNCSA, Mason Gross, BU, Suny Purchase and Uminn Guthrie. I might still add CMU but they will not be near the top because of the mt thing. Im glad someone understands, Fishbowl, although we have different reasons. haha</p>
<p>Now the big problem I am having is that I think I might be over researching. I have spent days looking up everything I can find about each school and I am getting less and less enthusiastic about some of them as I go. If I dont find alarming blog posts, I find examples of what I think is terrible looking work by students in shows. I also keep finding bad demo reels, bad headshots, badly formatted resumes and amateurish looking web pages by graduates! Who the heck is advising these people on that??? I have been warned that NO school graduates 100% brilliant actors, but some of this stuff is ridiculous. Am I wrong to expect to see professional looking material from students and graduates of the tippy top schools? I am having thoughts of cutting down to even fewer schools or just saying bunk a BFA altogether.</p>
<p>Sorry to be so negative. Is anyone else starting to feel that way?</p>
<p>Hi again tenyearplan,</p>
<p>You are going to find instances of terrible work–whatever your definition of that might be–at every actor training program in the world, no matter its prestige. You are also going to find instances of terrible work at every theater throughout this country. Every actor, no matter their training, credits or status is capable of terrible work. It’s just a given. Acting is special alchemy and sometimes all the ingredients don’t come together. Other times, of course, it does. Especially in training, there has to be room for both error and failure.</p>
<p>I used to think, before I went to drama school, that they taught some kind of magic at the “tippy top” schools. Now I know that all they can do is pass on skills, a way of working and hopefully a way of thinking about acting that will be helpful to those with talent. Finding the right school for you is figuring out if the artistic values of a training program match what you want to learn. You can only really learn that by visiting a school and getting a first-hand look at the students and faculty in action. There’s some online evidence of atrocious work from the program I went to, though I know it’s not representative of the depth of the training or everything the program’s graduates are capable of.</p>
<p>I had a teacher who said there’s no such thing as brilliant actors, only brilliant acting. Talent is only the potential to do the latter. Integrating the myriad skills you learn in drama school is difficult, and often takes a few years out (and working consistently) to become a completely functioning actor. Also, regarding reels and websites–generally, to my knowledge, not a lot of training time is devoted to how to develop those tools. That’s usually learned on-your-feet in the industry, perhaps shepherded by agents or managers or the actor’s own initiative. So, I wouldn’t judge a program by a graduate’s promotional materials.</p>
<p>Finally, I still think you’re giving Carnegie short shrift simply because they have an MT concentration. You should seek out alumni, if you can, from the straight acting track and ask them about their experiences to see if they match up with your fears. (UNCSA, by the way, also does its fare share of musicals and regularly accepts students with musical theater backgrounds. The dean, Gerald Freedman, is equally noted for his direction of musicals as he is for Shakespeare. The two can coexist…)</p>
<p>So I am expecting too much? No offense but I think I saw some of that atrocious work you are talking about from your old school on Youtube. I am probably being overly judgemental and reactionary, so sorry. I found a blog by someone I think was in your class and she made it sound like a place I would want to go. She is the one that got her nose broken in a movement class freshman year. I wasn’t alarmed by that because it sounds like it was a freak accident that could have happened to anyone. She seems like a cool person. Too bad she stopped writing after sophomore year. I wanted to hear the end of the story! </p>
<p>I know they do musicals at UNCSA. What I have found about that is that they break the class in half some terms and do two different shows. There is a play going on at the same time as the musical so that’s no big deal. Like this year, half the seniors did Saint Joan one term while the other half did some Shakespeare based rock musical with a lot of hiphop dance. My biggest concern with that is that I have been in dance since I was 4 and I am pretty accomplished but I am a so so singer. I wouldn’t want to be stuck dancing in the chorus of the musical when I could be in the play just because of that. It’s probably no biggie.</p>
<p>They ALL have things I don’t like except for Juilliard. Most of them not having those things is probably because they are so secretive and there is no way to know. I wonder if Annabelera got punished for saying so much on the mt group because that is literally all I have been able to find! haha</p>
<p>I don’t want to TOTALLY judge a program by the graduates’ promo materials although I think it is somewhat important. To me, it indicates what kind of real world preparation they have had. I see a big difference between what the graduates of UNCSA and Mason Gross show vs. the others.</p>
<p>Nice post, gc03. We all need to remember that this is not a linear experience (nor is life in general) and that we can’t put the ducks in a row in advance.</p>
<p>I’ll put in that what I’m learning about the theater life is how powerless the actor usually is. I feel for actors who have to do their best in inferior plays, productions, films, etc. I feel for actors who generally must do what they’re told, take work they’d rather not do (for the experience, or merely for the paycheck), and do it all with a smile so they don’t get a bad rep. Everyone has experiences like that, but for the rest of us would be like applying for a new job every day, or every week, in a business world where everyone talks to each other and has hundreds - or thousands - of candidates for every position, every time.</p>
<p>My D came home from rehearsal tonight after a long lesson in humility and having to put up and shut up with the director’s decisions. She kept her mouth shut and conducted herself with dignity, as far as I know. It’s not like it hasn’t happened before. This is only one of a million times she’ll have to do this, and she’ll have to be ready for this as a big part of her theater life.</p>
<p>If she wants guarantees, she’ll have to hurry up quick and start her own theater company. And put on a lot of one-woman shows, so she doesn’t have to deal with people she doesn’t like. And win the lottery, so she won’t have to worry about satisfying audiences, either, to sell tickets. Learning to live with uncertainty seems to be an enormous priority to anyone entering this world. Tenyearplan - I respect your journey and drive. But try to be ready for some surprises along the way.</p>
<p>OK, back from the library with the most recent load of plays! I feel for the librarians, and the interlibrary loan drivers - we’re giving them a lot of work lately. But that’s our job right now - reading, reading, reading. She has guidance from several sources, fortunately. She’s very excited! And as a lifelong English major, I’m enjoying it, too.</p>
<p>Greetings! I am the parent of a rising junior who is planning to apply to colleges as a drama/theater major in Fall 2011 (so that makes her class of 2016). Although she is our 4th child to go to college, her path is so different from her siblings’ that we have no roadmap. Child #3 just went through a year of conservatory auditions for classical performance (it was brutal, but she did end up with her first choice program.) </p>
<p>I swore I would begin reading the Theater/Drama Majors section as soon as #3 graduated, but needed a breather. Today I read through a reams (are there reams on the internet?) of posts on this portion of the site, absorbing as much as possible. But I still have a lot to learn. I’m not very conversant in the ways of theater or how it’s taught, so I’m a bit behind where I was with my music-daughter, whose pre-college career was more clearly defined by institutional standards and mentors. In other words-- I need help! So thanks in advance for any advice and pointers.</p>
<p>By way of introduction: my daughter has a long history of performing, having studied classical music (instrumental) and participated in theater most of her life. She became serious about acting at age 9 when she was cast (for looks, I’m sure) in a small speaking role in a major movie. As a non-stage parent, I was fascinated but also wary of the culture on the movie set for the 6 weeks we spent there, so I did not do a lot to facilitate an attempt at a child film career. She has mostly done independent shorts and student films since then, as well as a good deal of community or quasi-professional theater. Her voice isn’t really MT quality, although she has done MT. As a sideline, she is a singer/songwriter (does not plan to study that in college); she also does acrobatics as an enrichment. For college, and for her career she wants to do straight acting, film and theater. Her look is more “interesting” than classically beautiful or cute (she has large features). She has looked older than her age since about 12, which makes her hard to cast right now. She’s not going to as many auditions as she used to, but rather focusing on acquiring knowledge and skills. </p>
<p>For the past year she’s been working with an acting coach, a young woman who trained in Australia and England, who has been helping her with diction (IPA), and other skills. She also takes classes at a local “Actors Center”, a for-profit organization run by a man who is also a manager to some of the students at the school. When my daughter auditioned for him last year, he immediately offered to be her manager, praising her talent. For all I know, he says this to everyone who walks through the door so they will enroll in his school, but when I asked him this jokingly he denied it. In the year she’s been with him, only a few auditions have materialized, and no jobs. However, she finds the technique classes very valuable so she has attended throughout the year. She is also spending her second year in a 3-week session at <a href=“mailto:St@ged00r”>St@ged00r</a>. Last year she felt the classes she took at the camp were excellent. Last year she was cast as Tit/Hyp in Midsummer, which was a great role for her because she loves Shakespeare. This year she is the Stage Manager in Our Town and in Players Ensemble. I hope I can interpret that casting, plus positive remarks from her various coaches and directors, as external validation. But the truth is, I really don’t have a clear vision of where she should apply, where is out of reach, where is a safety, where she would be happy. </p>
<p>She believes that she needs to be in NYC or LA to be close to the film industry. We live 90 minutes from New York and 6 hours by plane from LA-- I’d prefer NYC! But is this really necessary? What about CMU, IU, BU, and other colleges whose names I see on this board. I don’t know how to even begin making a list.</p>
<p>Of course Juilliard (where her sister will attend) and NYU are at the top of the list, but I don’t know if she has a chance at either, especially the former which admits so few. Fordham is practically next door to Juilliard, but we don’t know much about the program. She resists the suggestion of local schools (UArts, Temple) because they feel too much like her own backyard. But would they be viable safeties?</p>
<p>Her sister got a huge talent scholarship at IU (which she turned down with some regrets). Would her future in film and theater be destroyed if she moved to remote Bloomington for four years? These are the questions that keep me awake at night, along with: how hard to study for the ACTs or SATs; should I get a more experienced (as in getting kids into US colleges) coach? Should she do a different summer program next year? The one at Tisch, or the one at CMU? Should we look at drama colleges in England? </p>
<p>Sorry to have rambled-- thinking aloud sometimes helps to organize the thoughts. :)</p>
<p>Hi glassharmonica. Wow, sometimes the world of theatre kids and their parents seems so small. From the things you say, I believe my son knows your daughter! If she is who I think she is, they met during a production of a show where he played the character “Bernardo,” and they are both friends with a tall young man named Kyle. :-)</p>
<p>In addition…if she is who I think she is…she is gorgeous, in perhaps a slightly unconventional way!</p>
<p>My son attends Boston University, and he feels that the girl in question is BU material. </p>
<p>Please feel free to PM or email me. Others on this forum know more than I do about lots of things, and I am am sure that they can help you. But it might be nice for you and me to communicate one on one, whether I am right in my guess or not.</p>
<p>NJTheatreMOM, PMing you :)</p>
<p>One thing to remember is that no school that requires an audition (UARTS, for example) can be considered a safety. A safety school is a non-auditioned program, where the students academic stats are at the top of/ above the admitted student range, that is affordable, and the student would be happy to attend.</p>
<p>glassharmonica - If your D is really interested in staying involved in film/television, she might want to look at schools in Austin. The University of Texas at Austin has a great RTF program and there are many opportunities to act in student films. Austin also has a very vibrant independent film community. The HBO film Temple Grandin recently filmed here and the Coen brothers True Grit just wrapped as well. Plus there are always low budget feature films being shot here. Friday Night Lights is currently filming here and the new ABC show My Generation will be filming here later this summer (the pilot was shot here and my D was in it.) </p>
<p>UT also has a theatre program that is non audition if your D wants to pursue a theatre degree while keeping involved in the film world. Southwestern University and St. Edward’s University also have non audition theatre programs. Texas State, just down the road in San Marcos, offers a BFA in Acting that is a by audition program. And there is a wide range of theatre opportunities here - everything from Equity to to small community to really out there experimental theatre. My D has done some of everything here and had a blast doing it. To bad it’s her “backyard” so she is headed out of state for college! </p>
<p>Here are a few links if you (or anyone else!) wants to see what’s here:
[Department</a> of Theatre and Dance : University of Texas at Austin](<a href=“http://www.finearts.utexas.edu/tad/]Department”>http://www.finearts.utexas.edu/tad/)
[Radio-Television-Film</a> - Home](<a href=“http://rtf.utexas.edu/]Radio-Television-Film”>http://rtf.utexas.edu/)
[Southwestern</a> University: Sarofim School of Fine Arts: Theatre Department](<a href=“http://www.southwestern.edu/departments/theatre/index.php]Southwestern”>http://www.southwestern.edu/departments/theatre/index.php)
[Department</a> of Theatre and Dance : Texas State University](<a href=“http://www.theatreanddance.txstate.edu/]Department”>http://www.theatreanddance.txstate.edu/)</p>
<p>Best of luck to your D!!</p>
<p>glassharmonica - I am not an expert like some of these people but what I have seen in my research is that location doesn’t matter all that much for tv and film as long as the school has a showcase. UNCSA is located way out in the boonies and I have seen more of their grads doing that than anywhere else. Mason Gross is like 50 miles from the city and I saw where the girl that plays Stabler’s daughter on Law and Order SVU just graduated from there! She would have shot about ten episodes while she was a student. Another one just won a Best Actress award for her work on a web series. CMU is in Pittsburgh and I saw that one of their grads got on a soap opera not long after she graduated in 2009.</p>
<p>Monologues - I have four definites but I want to find a new contemporary comic piece. Finding good ones for girls that aren’t too racy or wouldn’t have to be overdone is hard. My coach should be able to point me in the right direction. I still need to decide what song will hurt me the least for when I have to serenade the audition panel. haha</p>
<p>tenyearplan, thanks so much for that input! So Rutgers and UNSCA are added to the list of schools to look into. About monologues, is it considered to be a problem if they are “overdone”? In the classical music world, the same audition pieces are picked by students again and again, and this is not considered to be a problem because the committee is looking to see how you handle the repertoire, and are generally not interested in novelty. I know my daughter has also had trouble finding contemporary comic pieces for girls, but has tracked down a few.</p>
<p>austinmom, I’ve only been to Austin once, but what a wonderful city! I thought that it was almost impossible for an out-of-state resident to be accepted at UT Austin, but I could be wrong. We will definitely add these to the list.</p>
<p>KatMT, good point. Thanks for reminding me.</p>
<p>I think they expect the classical pieces to be overdone for girls because there aren’t that many to do. Someone correct me if I am wrong. I doubt my Shakespeare will be anything new to them although I wouldn’t do Juliet on the balcony or Viola’s ring speech. haha OTOH, you can find contemporary pieces that are great but less well known that can make a good impression. This comes from my coach who hasn’t done much with BFA auditions but has helped a lot of people for MFAs.</p>
<p>I just wanted to give a word of encouragement to anyone who is reading these threads and getting intimidated by the experience levels of some of the applicants. Do realize that not everyone heads into this process with such experience. And the auditors will treat every applicant with respect and attention.</p>
<p>Thank you! My D really isn’t experienced (in case that hasn’t shown already!). She’s been a devoted wallflower for years, and has a lot of book-knowledge about theater, but has only been on stage a couple of times. This summer she is doubling her resume!</p>
<p>We have the most basic of questions, and we really appreciate the help people have given us. I’ve seen comments about going to college for theater along the lines of “you wouldn’t audition for a music conservatory having only studied the instrument for 1 year,” etc. But I don’t believe the kind of long-term study that is expected in music is considered necessary for college theater programs. Of course my D will audition for a range of schools, and she will also have non-auditioned options. But she has spoken to people in some excellent BFA programs who have been very encouraging to her, regardless of her experience or her aspirations.</p>
<p>What she also doesn’t know exactly yet is what theoretical path she wants to follow. As much as she’s reading and talking to people now, I think that will have to develop as she goes through a program. And most of the ones she is interested in do offer what you could call a “liberal arts education” within theater, rather than a defined conservatory approach. </p>
<p>I think just as people who do not get theater degrees become actors, people who get theater degrees see themselves in the profession in many ways, and at many levels, and their experience evolves over time, just as with other lines of work.</p>
<p>There is room here for everyone - we will support each other this year through this whole variable and unpredictable process.</p>