Hello, everyone! Here are the places and dates for the Unified Auditions in 2016:
Pearl Studios in New York - January 23, 24
Palmer House in Chicago - February 8-10
Westin Las Vegas - February 10-12
Westin Los Angeles - February 13-14
Hope this helps. We all look forward to seeing you next year!
doctorjohn
Thanks for sharing! I’m so excited for next year’s group to go through this experience. Unifieds are a blast! BAL, all.
I’m sure this has probably been addressed before, and I’ll go research to see what I can find…but are there advantages/disadvantages to the different sites? We are closest to NYC, but I’m intrigued by Chicago, as I’ve never been there. Also, is Las Vegas a new site for 2016? I’m thinking it might be cheaper to fly there, and there would be less worries about weather than if flying to Chicago. Do the same schools pretty much go to each site? Or would the Las Vegas and LA sites be more West Coast schools? Thanks for any tips/help/advice anyone wants to share.
Just rom reading other’s comments- Chicago and New York seem to have the largest # of schools, but Chicago is theist centralized - with all “official” unified auditions at the Palmer house. BUT- with that said, not all schools doing auditions are a part of “unifieds”. 3 of my D’s 6 scheduled auditions in Chicago in 2014 were “non unified” schools (NYU, Boston and Syracuse). Those auditions were not at the Palmer house
To address the question about advantages/disadvantages of different sites for unifieds, we found this to be the case when our D auditioned a few years ago. We were planning on going to Chicago unifieds but discovered one of her schools didn’t have a dance audition as a part of their Chicago audition, but they did have a dance audition component at their NY unifieds. It was cheaper to fly home > NYC > CHI > home than to do Chicago unifieds and add a round trip flight at another time to that particular school. The added bonus was that she was able to audition for a few more schools and spread them out between the two places. I know it sounds crazy, but the additional roundtrip flight to the school would have cost more. Bottom line, be sure to read the audition info for each school for each location.
Don’t know how this works at other schools - or if it has changed in the intervening time, but when S toured CCM a few years ago we were told that their Chicago unified date was the first to fill up - followed closely by on-campus auditions dates. Back then, 2013, they said those dates were full by early/mid October. Plan accordingly.
@mspamela I went to New York and Chicago unifieds last year, and I preferred Chicago. The Palmer House was gorgeous, and having almost all my auditions in one location eliminated a significant amount of stress. Plus, the energy there was so much more tangible than it was in New York since audition locations weren’t disjointed. Everyone auditioning was staying in the hotel, and, everywhere you went, you could hear kids singing in their rooms and watch people becoming friends. There was a real sense of community. In NYC, it felt more like I was going at it alone.
I might be a little biased, though! I fell in love with Chicago in general and will be attending DePaul this year.
Unfortunately, I can’t weigh in on LA.
Is there a list of which schools attend unifieds in either location?
All of the official Unified schools will be in NY, Chicago and LA. Las Vegas is optional. The list can be found here:
http://www.unifiedauditions.com/universities.html
In order to make life easier for families, many other schools hold auditions on the same dates but at different locations, as toowonderful pointed out.
However, in Chicago, because the Palmer House has so many meeting rooms, several schools who are not members of our group do hold auditions at the hotel. I know that someone has the list of all the schools that were at the Palmer House last year, and I’m hoping they can post it. Be sure to remember, however, that you must check with each school to see what their plans are for this year.
Hope this helps!
…and schools are only on the official unified audition list if they attend all (three?) locations. There are many schools who still hold their auditions during NYC and Chicago unified dates that are not on the list because they don’t go to all Unified locations. You have to look at each school individually to see if they are holding auditions during those times.
I hope I didn’t just make that more confusing!!
Also, I think only BFA programs are officially allowed to audition at Unifieds. So the BA and BM programs may be there, but will not be on the official list. I could be mistaken, but that is what I have been told. This may be why Tisch attends Unifieds but Steinhardt does not. (I think Tisch attends Unifieds???). It is probably part of the reason OCU and BW do not do Unifieds.
I know this is for MT but if I remember right, Fordham was at Unifieds in LA and that is a BA program. And I thought it was on the official list…but my memory could be wrong 
I was told that by the faculty of a BA program. I don’t know if he was correct, but glancing at the list on the link above, they all appeared to be BFA. Who knows in this crazy MT world, though!
Actually I just looked at the Home page for Unifieds and it says “for undergraduate BFA programs in theatre”.
Tisch is a bfa- but is not an official “unifieds” school. At least it wasn’t in 2014. That was one of D’s offsite auditions
Let me clarify. The best way for parents and prospective students to think about the Unifieds is this:
Therefore, the best procedure is to check each and every school’s individual website. There is no substitute.
For example, I just went to the Tisch School of the Arts (at NYU) website. Here’s what they say about auditions in Chicago: “Artistic reviews in Chicago are usually held in early February to coincide with the dates of the Chicago Unified Auditions. However, NYU does not participate in the Unified Auditions at the Palmer House Hilton and will therefore hold artistic reviews at a different hotel. Actual dates for Chicago artistic reviews will be posted by September 1, 2015.” Here’s the link to that webpage: http://drama.tisch.nyu.edu/object/dr_arcity_chicago.html
So Tisch usually holds its Chicago auditions on the same dates as the Unifieds, but in a different hotel. But please note the word “usually”. Until they publish the actual dates for 2016, make plans cautiously.
To repeat, if you’re interested in a school, check their website! If they’re going to be in NY, Chicago or LA on the same dates that the Unified schools are holding their auditions, terrific, it will save you on travel costs. If they are not going to be there, you have choices to make.
Hope this helps.
John Stefano
“doctorjohn”
Otterbein University
I believe that in 2014 NYU had auditions on the weekend (d had a Sunday audition) whereas true “unifieds” continued into the early part of the week. Doctorjohn’s advice is the best- you have to check EVERY school individually. And that is true not only for unifieds, but EVERYTHING in the application/audition process!
Ok so I’m confused about unifieds… If my D is interested in attending them, does she have to first apply academically at each school first?
@theaterwork Yes your D needs to apply first and then select an audition slot, unless you plan to do a walk in.
*Two years ago, Otterbein instructed student’s to not apply until prescreen results were known. Otterbein was the only school on son’s list to give that instruction. Check each school’s website as instructions may change.