<p>My son was with his high school theater group at a regional program for one act plays and theater classes. There were auditions for various colleges, many are on the main list on this site. Most of the kids were not really prepared as they would be for their official auditions at the colleges. My son had some call backs but really did not do a great job. Do these unofficial auditions carry much weight with the schools or do they only go by their official school auditions. His theater teacher encouraged them to do the auditions for the experience, but I am afraid that a less than stellar performance here would be held against them in the long run. I had discussed with him that he should only audition if he was really well prepared but the teachers seemed to think the experience would be good even if they weren't fully prepared.</p>
<p>That's an excellent question. Did the teacher present these kids to the audition panels as kids who he thought had talent & were using the auditions to build experieince? Or did the panel think these kids were really polished? That might make a difference. Did any kids receive contact from any of the schools, encouraging them to complete the admissions process?</p>
<p>Were the auditions intended to be auditions for admissions purposes or just an audition experience in more of a "masters class" environment? If the latter, I really wouldn't worry about it. What grade was your son in? When did this occur? If your son was not a senior and this did not occur just recently, well that's even more reason not to worry.</p>
<p>He is a senior and this is going on this week. Some of the schools did do interviews with the kids they were interested in. Four or five of the schools are schools he has formal auditions with later in the next few months. I don't know if the purpose was to get experience and some feedback, or if the schools are using these auditions to try to find kids who they think would do well at their schools.</p>
<p>Is this the Thespian Society state convention?</p>
<p>Impalanut,
Since you live in Florida, I am guessing that your S is attending the Florida State Theatre Conference. I know that it's going on this weekend because my D is in attendance doing a preliminary audition for the SETC auditions in March. The best person on this board to ask about how much weight the Florida auditions carry is All4FSU. She is the director of Student Services for the School of Theatre at Florida State University. I know that she is in attendance at the Florida State Theatre Conference. You can send her a Private Message (PM) by clicking on her screen name and following the links.</p>
<p>Impalanut,
I just got back tonight :-) I know we have had several instances in the past in which a student did not get a call back at FTC, but auditioned successfully on campus later. FTC is an opportunity for us to also see students who might not be considering on campus auditions. Those auditions are not the optimal setting in which to see a student's best work. For that reason, the students called back still have to attend an on-campus audition as well so we can see more than 60 seconds. I wouldn't worry about a performance that was not his best hurting his chances later for a variety of reasons. (Not the least of which is the fact that those auditions go so fast it's hard to make a lasting impression and the auditors don't even have time to take notes.)</p>
<p>It is a good experience though. It allows a student to see how he or she reacts to the stress of a college audition and perhaps make adjustments before the on-campus auditions.</p>
<p>Best wishes!
Michele</p>
<p>Thanks for all the replies. I feel a lot better now. Once I get a chance to talk with my son I am sure he will see it as a positive experience.</p>