travis_j_c

That would be great notmamarose! First of all, did he/she like it? Do you think it prepared your kid for thier college auditions?

NotMamaRose

travis, I am happy to help in any small way I can. One thing I love about this forum is how helpful everyone is to each other.
Re: CMU, yes, my D loved it there and found the whole thing (other than the food!) to be a great experience. She and the other MTs and actors had an entire class in auditioning, one in Shakespeare and other styles (which CMU calls "Styles"), classes in ballet and jazz (the straight actors don't take these ... they have a movement class), a drama lit class. a singing class and an acting class. As an MT, she also had private voice lessons with one of the absolutely amazing teachers there. (Students also can take a class in either playwriting or directing. My kid opted not to, figuring she would use her time to rehearse music and dance.) In addition, CMU offers various evening master classes and readings for the kids to attend.
Did it help prepare her for her auditions? Yes, definitely! In particular, her audition teacher worked closely with her students on finding and working on monologues, and my D came home with more than a dozen new monologues in her book. (Interestingly enough, she isn't using any of those for her real college auditions. But they are good to have in her repertoire and the class helped her learn about selecting monologues/what makes a good one, etc.)
The biggest drawback of the program is cost. It is about $6,000 for the six week program, which prices some people out. My kid was fortunate to receive two local scholarships to help defray the cost, or it might not have been possible. Travis, let me know if you have any other questions.

briansteffy

Travis: My S loved BUSTI: I am not a facebook user, but apparently each BUSTI summer class repots where they eventually end up. It's not hard getting into most summer programs: BU, CMU, NCSA. Google a new program - "Flying Swan'. It did not make last year, its first year, but it was our first choice. Looks very good on paper. Not cheap.

briansteffy

double post

briansteffy

MONOLOGUE QUESTION: My son says (according to what he heard at BUSTI) that one should not use a 'narrative' as a monologue. I am puzzled as to what exactly is and is not a narrative. For example (thanks NMR), in Naomi Wallace's 'Trestle at Pope Lick Creek', Dalton, the primary male character, is in prison, accused of killing a 17 year old woman. The scenes shift back and forth between Dalton talking with the prison guard and the incident with the girl at Trestle bridge (she dares Dalton to run with her, faster than an oncoming train on the bridge - she tries and dies - Dalton is accused of killing her). Well, there is a lot of substance between page one and the last page, but at the end Dalton recounts (in the present) to the prison guard what happened at the trestle; i.e., he tells the guard what he saw He stood below the trestle bridge) as she dared the train, discovered that she would not make it, looked at him, etc.; Dalton goes to her body and finally kisses her, as she would not allow it before (Dalton, by the way is 15).
So my son says that this end monologue is a narrative, like Ronnie in House of Blue Leaves. I say, but he is finally telling what happened to the guard, with whom he has had a variety of interactions and discussions. Yes, it's an account of something that happened, but does this make it a narrative?
We need help with this, as we need to either go with this or find something else. Also found a good scene (somewhat drunk, and having it out with his father) in O' Neil's 'Long Journey Into Night', though this character is in his mid-20's. We will look at Val in Orpheus Descending tomorrow, but I am not sure whether this is as good a fit.

letsfigureitout

I agree with notmama and briansteffy. My S attended CMU, and he loved it! It is a non-audition program (you do send in letters and a transcript), so I do not think it is that difficult to get in. However, the students seem to be quite talented, as the ones my son has kept in touch with have the leads in their high school plays and musicals! My son does NOT attend an arts hs--quite the opposite, in fact. However, he has found that working in community theater productions and attending summer programs has helped him feel confident at auditions for college. The CMU program, in particular, prepares you for college auditions. A HUGE focus seemed to be on selecting monologues and preparing them for an audition. I assume that the MT students also work on audition songs. And, at the end of the program, each student does an audition for the faculty and receives feedback on performance. Great practice for what's to come! A few even get offers for admission (although this is probably not a reason to go, as it is a VERY FEW). The first few weeks were very intense for my S--he has never worked so hard! This was the time the students found monologues and auditioned to get in to one of the workshops in addition to homework for the courses. After that, things seemed to settle down a bit for him. He made friends at CMU and has met them at each of the 3 auditions he has attended so far!

KatMT

Brian -- I love Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, and often assign scenes from it in my acting classes. Unfortunately, I am traveling for the holidays and unable to get to my copy.... but in terms of the narrative vs. non-narrative issue.... the question to ask is if the character is recounting the story to gain something form the guard? or is it a dramatic device used by the author to wrap up the play (or for another reason)? The challenge of narrative monologues as audition pieces is that the actor really has to work to find "the fight".... you run the risk or retelling a story for a non-active reason. Within the course of a play these monologues work in terms of dramatic structure. As audition monologues often they will not work because the people for whom you are auditioning cannot see how you would work when you are fighting to get something from another. This is the somewhat silly catch-22 of auditions -- pretty much everyone wants to see how you will work off of another actor, and then we make you act alone.... what we are looking for is how your are able to demonstrate your ability to use tactics, "hear" what the other (in this case imaginary) is saying or "see" what they are doing, and how this changes your tactics... makes you fight harder to win what you want.

I do not know if this helps in terms of the "Trestle and Pope Lick Creek" choice... but hopefully it is a little helpful. I can PM you when I am back.

Good Luck!

briansteffy

KatMT: I see your point - nicely and elegantly said. There is another 'monologue' within the text in which Dalton/actor is fighting to get something from another (mother), though, because the play is so nonlinear and the other so indeterminate, it also may not work well as an audition piece. I am leaving home for two weeks and I told my S that he needs to commt himself to a dramatic monologue before I leave. The O'Neil option is linear and direct. There is much less ambiguity as to the intention of the character/actor and the consequence (imaginary other/actor's tactics) of the action. I'll have him read your response and then let it up to him.

briansteffy

Merging the discussion of summer programs and post 112 of KatMT: My S understood KatMT's above post much better than me because of what he learned at BUSTI. That is one of the values of the summer program. They also inform the student/parent as to whether they can handle a BFA-like load (though less load than a BFA program) and whether they have the passion that it takes. It was expensive, but we do not regret the decision. I think it is particularly valuable for kids like my S, who was relatively new to acting. Another benefit is that my S is in continual communication with the BUSTI kids - even BFA assistants. They advise and motivate each other. HS was a real downer after the five week program.

NOCCA Junior

I attended CMU MT pre-college in the summer of 2006. I was able to go for free (excluding travel cost and a $100 deposit) through the diversity application. And for those of you who think you're not diverse because you're not a minority, a white kid from Texas my year also got the full scholarship (and he didn't know why...) but from what I've heard, it's quite a competitive scholarship. You have to apply through a special application (Yahoo "CMU Summer Programs for Diversity"). Just a thought...

deenierah

travis, i have a friend who did BADA a couple summers ago and really, really loved it. i also know there are US schools affiliated with it-- tufts, i believe.

you should definitely look into applying to nyu for the summer, if it's where you really want to go. i did their HS intensive last summer in the experimental theatre studio, but there's also a strasberg option, and musical theatre as well. i did early elsewhere, but a LOT of my friends from the summer program got into nyu ed for college.

pm me if you have any questions!

iwsact

The Acting program at the University of Utah used to have a very good reputation. However, nobody on CC speaks of it. Anyone out there familiar with it?

Bagel

In regards to Trestle (my $.02 since it's a play I know very well):

Dalton's final monologue is very, very narrative and the one with Gin might be weird without props (if it's the this cup is now a knife bit).

The first time Dalton speaks to Chas at the top of Act 2 is the most active choice if he is dead set on doing something from Trestle. He's talking about how he couldn't imagine killing him (Chas, the guard) but with Pace it made sense. However, it may be a bit intense and off-putting to hear about someone explaining why they'd murder someone in an audition situation! That being said, it's probably the most interesting of Dalton's monologues in terms of giving him lots of active things to play with so even if it doesn't make the cut for auditions, it'd be a good piece to work on.

He should definitely look into some of her other plays if he likes the style of Trestle. I can't recall the ages of the male characters in One Flea Spare (I think they're all adults), but you can find it in the 1996 Humana Festival book.

briansteffy

Bagel: though my S too felt that the 'breaking cup' scene suggests a prop/mime (Chas scene cannot be done without extensive mime), he decided to go with it. Two reasons; the comedic piece that he is doing requires that he sit, so, given his physicality, he wanted a dramatic piece that would allow him to show it; second, the cup, unlike larger physical props, does not have to be seen in the hand - that it is a broken cup that also serves (only figuratively, in the text) as a knife, is treated reflexively, in contrast to a sword or club that is 'so there' that it's presence does not require a voice. Finally, both he and I read so many plays the past few weeks, finding fault with each according to what one should not do - slip into a momentary narrative (few people/characters/actors speak for two miutes without 'going narrative'), presume an object integral to the scene, mime, etc., that we said, 'the heck with it'. Perhaps it will make for a good post-audition discussion. I have never acted and I never read a play before this venture, though I am an academic. If the program is so rigid as to problematize one facet of one monologue from three (the third classical), then I, as a parent with three decades in higher education, am not sure we want that program. He is just a HS senior from the hinterlands. If we are walking on thin ice, please advise. But I hope this is not the case.

Bagel

If he's comfortable with dealing with the cup then I think it's a great choice to offset the other one. (I looked back at it this morning and some of the physical stuff I was thinking of like Gin slapping him can easily be cut without it damaging the monologue.) I think it has a nice amount of stakes without being so intense that it scares the auditors. Best of luck to him with it!

I've been hunting for monologues for nearly 10 years, and some of my best pieces break "the rules" here and there (a bit narrative, etc). So long as you can give the piece an interesting active life, it's always worth considering.