I coordinate the musical theatre program at JMU. So, I can give it from our perspective
. I would also be happy to put you in touch with incoming freshman and rising sophomores who can give the auditionees perspective.
I do not think it is particularly formal process. We try to be as well organized as possible, but relaxed. We want each student to fee comfortable to do their best work. We try to see no more than 35 - 40 auditionees on a given audition day.
Auditionees are broken up into groups. Each group has two current JMU students who act as escorts, answering questions, and making sure that you get where you need to be.
The dance portion is separate from the singing/ acting portion of the audition. Depending on what group you are in you may dance or sing/ act first. The dance is a jazz combination, and is broken into three consecutive sections.... easy, intermediate, advanced. Auditionees choose how many sections they feel comfortable learning and presenting. The beginning section is designed for students who have had little to no formal dance training, the intermediate section is designed for students who have had dance training, but may not consider themselves dancers, the advanced section is designed for students who consider themselves strong dancers. Dance is only one part of the audition equation, and students have been accepted into the program who have only completed the easy portion of the dance audition.
The singing/ acting portion of the audition happens at the same time. Auditionees come into the room one at a time (with a current student escort to act as a page turner) and can choose to sing their two songs or do their monologue first. The singing/ acting portion ends with a brief interview.
Let me know if you would like me to put you in contact with current students for their insights on the process.
Kate
College Confidential is dedicated to providing the best free college admissions information available on the Web, through our many articles and this discussion forum.
