<p>Do we just sort of hang out until its over? My S isn't attending unifieds so we'll be at each school, just wondered what I'll be doing besides breathing into a paper bag (this will be only while he's not looking on the outside I'll be a pillar of strength LOL)</p>
<p>Many parents consider themselves a sort of walking coat rack, or a sherpa.</p>
<p>Many schools have special tours or sessions for prospective parents. You will also find that the other parents are fun to talk to. There are always a couple of ones who will remind you of Mama Rose in “Gypsy” and you can tell your kid lurid stories about them later, hoping that you will get a “Gee, Mom, I sure am glad you aren’t like that.”</p>
<p>You may meet the same parents again and again as you make the rounds.</p>
<p>I have imagined myself toting his stuff around lagging behind him. My S won’t be any fun he sorta goes inside himself before something this big, gets mentally prepared. I prefer to be distracted when I’m nervous but he’s different than I am in many ways.</p>
<p>I am not a parent but both my parents had different things. My parents actually make me super nervous so I wanted them to stay away a little bit in terms of the actual day. My mother works outside the home as a lawyer and brought stuff to read and basically set up shop in the waiting room or cafe with her blackberry, and she had an office in Chicago close by the Palmer House so she did that. My dad only came to one with me and he read an entire book, a really long one. I saw a lot of parents with a thick book. I will tell you Michigan, Elon, and BW are long audition days. BW they separate parents from kids, if I recall correctly.</p>
<p>At Unifieds in NY, my son wanted to go to his auditions by himself, so we just said “Bye” and went off to be tourists. He was grateful.</p>
<p>Buy an iPad. Subscribe to Netflix. :)</p>
<p>I attended LA Unifieds and one school audition, and my wife attended the rest. Bring a good book! Basically, you follow them around and then watch their things while they are in each part of the audition, entertaining yourself by talking to other parents. At The BoCo audition I attended on campus, they had a couple of students outside the dance audition, pretty long audition - 60-90 minutes, and they shared their experiences with the parents, which helped pass the time. Btw…that dance audition was tough, so I convinced my son to take a shower in the locker room right there (bring a towel, although it seemed only the boys were really sweating) so he would be fresh for the rest of the audition. The singing and acting auditions were run very efficiently and were very quick. At Unifieds, some schools had recent graduates as hosts to talk with the waiting students and parents, and there’s many other parents of my son’s friends, so we all sat and talked outside the audition rooms.</p>
<p>Yep, as people have said, prepare to do a lot of schlepping and sitting. I carried the emergency bag with everything from spare shirt to scripts to cough drops, energy bars, and bottled water. Internet access is key–we had at least two instances where we needed to look something up online and couldn’t get wifi, so the smartphone saved our necks. I dragged a little notebook with me everywhere to take notes during the information sessions–very useful later on. At least one school (Otterbein) had a parent info session in another building while the kids were auditioning, which helped diffuse some of the nervous energy. Last but not least, I got to know a lot of parents, and picked up even more useful information from talking to fellow sufferers during the waiting-around times. It’s kind of like CC only in real time and in person!</p>
<p>You are a chauffeur and a sherpa. You get them there and you carry all their stuff. You sit in the room and talk to other parents, and you hope you’re not the same as that parent who talks incessantly about how WE auditioned at the best programs and that this is a safety audition (as if, first, you as parent are actually auditioning and second that people can’t see through your trying to brag about your kid - news flash to that kind of parent , we ALL think our particular child is talented). And the one thing you DO NOT do is talk to the MT faculty for a given program. I was specifically warned about this by my D’s audition coach. You let your child handle the interactions with the faculty. Sometimes schools would have general sessions for the parents where you could ask questions about the school and program, but don’t seek out individual faculty to try and sell your child. I also tried to kind of walk around campus a bit just to get a feel for each place.</p>
<p>In the end you’ll read a lot, talk to other parents, and just be there to provide your child with any support you can. And you’ll have a bonding experience that will be a blessing to you . I got to do two auditions with my D, and the conversations and sharing we had during those were worth ten times what we spent on the trip. So as the dad of the parent pair, I would tell other dads to make sure you do these trips. You won’t regret it.</p>
<p>All of the above is true but I particularly liked speaking to other parents, walking the campuses with them and in LA I had one dad take me on a tour through the highlights of LA. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I had been there numerous times, he was so proud to show a New Yorker the beauty of LA. (Of course my daughter had a conniption when she found out - “You got into a car with a total stranger?!” Oh, I hadn’t thought of that.)</p>
<p>I must add that some kids like to talk about auditions when they’re done, but many others do not. My son is one of the latter. It drove me crazy that after spending so much time organizing the audition and getting him there, he was monosyllabic in terms of filling me in about how it went, when I was dying of curiosity. </p>
<p>So, if your kid is like that, be prepared to deal with it. He or she is in charge of the artistic end of this process, and aftermath is part of that. Then you can be completely shameless about eavesdropping on cell phone conversations with the coach, teacher, friends, etc. </p>
<p>I now understand that the auditioning students simply CANNOT TELL how the audition went, barring a major disaster like ripping their pants or something. As so many people on CC have explained, sometimes the audition that they thought went over like a lead balloon, resulted in an acceptance, and the really fantastic one where they thought they really bonded with the faculty, might end up with not getting in to that school. So even if your kid wants to chat and over-analyze every moment they spent in that audition room, it will not necessarily correlate with the final result.</p>
<p>The Question of this thread is exactly why we opted to do Unifieds in Chicago (could have driven to NY…) Being in the same building as the auditions was key-- All my son will need to do is take an elevator up/back from the room. I can relax in my room, and not feel like I have to lurk in the hallways.</p>
<p>Granted, I’ll be at some on-campus auditions, and I expect my son will be telling me to take a hike. That’s where my book will come in handy.</p>
<p>After all that has been said here, I no longer feel bad that I’ll be in the hotel room working during unifieds. D tends to talk 100 miles a minute when she’s nervous so I’m usually there to say “uh huh”, “oh”, “ok”. Her auditions are much harder on ME! So, um, yeah, me not being around is a good thing, although I would like to meet other parents. That’s always fun!</p>
<p>We found the most challenging time to figure out what the parent was to be doing was in the “getting ready for audition time”, not the actual audition. Our D was glad for us to accompany her to make sure she got to the right place at the right time and to guard her “stuff”. But – we did have to find a process for the “getting ready for the audition”. She needed her space to shower, get dressed, vocalize, stretch, practice monologues, or whatever she needed to do without me in the room. At Chicago Unifieds, thanks to CC, we had gotten a room on the Executive Floor so I was able to go to the lounge, grab a cup of coffee and work, read a book or socialize which allowed her time and space to prepare as she needed. On- campus auditions sometimes were a bit more of a challenge because we didn’t always have an executive lounge available- so those days usually resulted in me sitting in the hotel lobby or going to fetch food or drink for DD. It’s just important as the parent not to get offended or defensive if your child wants to kick you out of your room for a little bit. I’m sure every kids’ process for getting ready is different. But just recognizing DD needed an hour of alone time prior to leaving for auditions made our days run pretty smoothly. (It also meant I got up an hour before her so I could get ready and then get out of the way!)</p>
<p>I’m going to have to work a bit also while at Unifieds with my D. However, I also would like to be able to chat with out parents and hope to meet some of you.</p>
<p>vvnstar, that is a great idea about giving my D some alone time to get ready. I’ll hopefully see some of you in the lounge!</p>
<p>I went on most of the on campus auditions with my son because it was easier for me to rearrange my schedule. Unifieds and a couple of others, he was stuck with both parents. We went to the info session and/or tour if there was one, but mostly we’d make like a tree and get out of there (to paraphrase Biff). We’d walk around the campus, talk to other parents, grill current program students. One thing about this field is you see a nice diverse range of schools, which we found to be interesting. He did NYC Unifieds and had some other auditions in New York on the same weekend. For those, we got in, did any requisite parent stuff, then walked around Manhattan. </p>
<p>Our son met a lot of kids, and they get to know eachother, they bond, tell war stories, etc. If they’re not talking to eachother, they are doing whatever it is they do to prepare. The last thing they want is their dorky parents hanging around. </p>
<p>We met lots of very cool people from all over the country. While we did encounter a few stage moms (and dads), there weren’t too many. I would sit in the waiting areas/parent holding rooms secretly wanting to see Mitch and Cam from Modern Family waltz in with an 18 year old Lily causing a ruckus with all sorts of theatrics and stage daddy antics. That never happened, but it was fun to dream. </p>
<p>Most of all, we separated ourselves from what he was doing as much as possible, but used the opportunities to learn more about the profession and the different programs. Above all, remember to ENJOY IT! It is a unique experience.</p>
<p>Mitch and Cam with an 18 year old Lily. Classic! That would be hysterical. I’ll continue the lookout this audition season for you!!! LOL</p>
<p>Not to be Debbie Downer, but BE CAREFUL about talking to people. Some of the parents are crazy. Some of the kids are a little psycho too…we saw two instances of kids deliberately trying to sabotage other kids (giving damaging misinformation, for example, which if relied on, could blow an audition). We saw parents and their children trying to psych out other parents and children. We saw kids in tears b/c of what other kids said to them. </p>
<p>I also met some fabulous parents and kids during our extensive travels for auditions. BUT, I tried to restrict my conversations to the parents of kids who shared our coaches (MTCA), or parents of kids we knew from camp (Stagedoor), and thus the people I met were somewhat of a known quantity. It would be so nice to think that everyone out there wants everyone to succeed, and everyone will help total strangers, but unfortunately, that is not the way of the world. </p>
<p>I hope you all don’t jump down my throat for this, but I just caution you to be careful. Some of these people have an ulterior motive. Some of these people are just plain mean. And some are your typical braggerts. Trust me, it doesn’t help your child who is nervously sitting outside an audition room waiting to go in to hear the mother you have struck up a conversation with go on and on about her daughter’s agent, and her Broadway experience, and how she and her daughter are best friends with 2 of the 3 audition panelists. Really. NOT helpful.</p>
<p>My advice is this: arrange to meet up with people you have “met” and like and trust on this forum; meet up with parents who share your coaching team. But the strangers…? Give them a wide berth. And never, ever, strike up a conversation with a stranger (parent or child) with your child in earshot. It’s not worth the risk. Finally, warn your child NOT to take advice from other students coming out of auditions. They will not all be honest.</p>
<p>Hate to burst your bubble here, but better safe than sorry. Be a sherpa, be a rock, and read a book or listen to music. Evil people can look normal. Remember “stranger danger”? Yeah. That applies here. (Okay, cue the 100 people telling me about the perfectly wonderful parents and kids they met outside of audition rooms. Of course. Most of them are perfectly wonderful. But a small percentage are not. And I would hate to see any one of you suffer b/c of that risk. Just BE CAREFUL.)</p>
<p>Thanks for saying that monkey13- I was reading this wondering what alternate auditions everyone went to or since it has been awhile were they looking thru rose colored glasses ?<br>
my D liked me there to hold her stuff but I gave her space and if she was chatty before the audition I would chat back. </p>
<p>While she was in the rooms I mostly listened to the other parents and kids. I pulled out a book or iPad so if I chuckled at some of the craziness -people thought I read something funny. Unifieds is a great place to people watch. While I did meet some perfectly nice people to chat with there were just as many saying how great their kid was and all the stuff they did.</p>
<p>I think that’s valuable advice monkey13. I can see that happening. My D won’t be bothered by anything some other kid says because she has been around some kids who think they are “all that,” and they are terrible. Some of them even had agents. Really anyone can get an agent though. Doesn’t mean much. It’s been our experience that the more kids or parents talk about how good they are, the less talented they actually are!
But I will heed your warning and if anyone tries to tell us a room is changed or something I will check with the school rep to be sure.</p>