Otterbein College - Page 9

amy oconnell · 05-19-2005, 06:02 PM

yeah, little women is going on tour. It's coming to chicago next year. I just a got a flyer in the mail about. I hope sutton and amy stay!

I know Maureen McGovern is..it says so in the flyer.

mezzomom · 05-19-2005, 09:47 PM

Oh, I'm SOOOO glad we saw "Little Women" when we were in New York, although I do think my daughter wanted to disown me during the show. I totally lost it when Beth was dying; not just a few tears, but big heaving (albeit suppressed) sobs. My daughter was leaning over during moments of applause and instructing me to "sniff, hard, now...while nobody can hear you"!!! Despite my *ahem* loss of composure, I thoroughly enjoyed the show.

BroadwayWannabe · 05-20-2005, 05:57 AM

I found it enjoyable, but I did feel that it didn't get the essence of what the book was about. Sutton Foster was great, though! I hope she still wins the Tony!

kegosnell · 05-20-2005, 07:14 AM

Doctor John,

Wow. Congrats on the opening of the new theatre and facility! I will be coming to the Visit day tomorrow afternoon and seeing Jesus Christ Superstar that evening, with my mom. I'm very excited!
About the visit day; I noted that their wasn't much of a time-slot to visit w/ the heads of programs and possibly (for me) have time to tour more Music & theatre aspects of the college. Would it be at all possible to, shall we say, "stray" from the original schedule and do a slightly more personal approach? Or should I try to visit sometime again and do that? I was planning to try to find out once we got there tomorrow... But I thought I might come on here and get an answer. I'm sure it's probably a silly question which I could easily ask once we get there, but I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

Thanks for info. you may have!

Best,

~Kate

doctorjohn · 05-20-2005, 08:56 PM

Kate:

Sorry I didn't see your message sooner; I just read it. I won't be there tomorrow, as I'm on sabbatical this term. But ask for Debbie Byrne, our admissions liaison, and if she's not there, ask to meet Cass Johnson, Director of Admissions. They'll do their best to set something up so that you can see some of the things normally not part of the day. Hope you enjoy the show. And don't hesitate to write if you have more questions.

Best wishes,

Dr. John

kegosnell · 05-20-2005, 10:31 PM

Thanks Dr. John! I'm glad I happened to get online before bed and see your message... *usually* I'm not up this late when I have to wake up @ 4:30 AM. lol.

Thanks again!

~Kate

MTparent · 05-23-2005, 05:19 AM

Hi DoctorJohn,

Just wondering if you have decided to have a fall audition, and possibly change to rolling admissions. Do you know when Otterbein's audition dates will be posted?

Also, are you going to be attending the auditions at the Thespian Festival in June?

Thanks for your wonderful information and your input to this forum!

doctorjohn · 05-23-2005, 09:28 AM

MTparent:

How interesting that you should ask. I'm working on that problem this week. Hope to have an answer by Friday.

As for Thespians, I will not be attending personally, since I'm on sabbatical this term. But Debbie Byrne, our admissions liaison, will be there with two of our students, a junior MT major and a senior BA major, and they will be attending all the auditions. I trust their eyes.

MTparent · 05-23-2005, 07:31 PM

Thanks for your reply! Many of us will be anxiously awaiting your decision concerning fall auditions/rolling admissions and the audition schedule.

doctorjohn · 05-27-2005, 06:11 PM

We made our decision today. Based on interest, we've decided to add a fall audition date on Friday, December 2, for both Acting and Musical Theatre prospects. We understand that CCM has scheduled an MT audition for Saturday, December 3, and we thought this might make it possible for students to do an Ohio weekend. For those unfamiliar with Ohio geography, Otterbein is in Columbus in the center of the state, and CCM is in Cincinnati, two hours south of us on the Ohio River.

Although we are not changing to rolling admissions (for reasons that I outlined in earlier posts), we will tell students who audition in December their status: accepted, in consideration, or not in consideration. Because we take so few students (typically 4 men and 4 women in MT, 4 and 4 in Acting), we are unlikely to accept more than one or two men and one or two women in each degree program. (We must reserve space for those auditioning for us later.) But we will keep a larger number than usual in consideration. Those students will be notified of our decision in mid-March, along with the students who audition for us in January, February and March. The rest of the students will be released, and although that is a painful message, we hope that it will allow students and their families to make better plans for the remaining auditions.

B.F.A. Musical Theatre Audition Dates
Friday, December 2, 2005
Saturday, January 28, 2006
Saturday, February 4, 2006
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Saturday, March 4, 2006

B.F.A. Acting Audition Dates
Friday, December 2, 2005
Friday, February 24, 2006

National Unified Audition Dates
New York, Sunday, February 5, 2006 (please note we are only in NYC on Sunday; other schools will be there on Saturday)
Chicago, Monday-Wednesday, February 6-8, 2006
San Francisco, Saturday, February 11, 2006
Los Angeles, Sunday, February 12, 2006

I'll also post this on the audition thread and over in Theatre as well.

I'll be offline for a couple of weeks. My wife and I are going to Australia to visit our son the bassoonist. He's been studying at the Conservatory at the University of Sydney this year, doing a performer's diploma (after finishing his MM at Indiana last June), getting ready for professional auditions next season. He's playing a recital on June 6, and we're really looking forward to it.

Best wishes to all.

MTparent · 05-28-2005, 07:36 AM

DoctorJohn,

Thanks so much for considering parent & student input, and scheduling an early audition in December. It really helps with the planning! Also, we appreciate that you plan to give the December students immediate audition feedback. No one likes to be rejected (ouch--I hate that word) to a desired program, but it's alot better to know right away, then hold out hope for months, and then be disappointed anyway.

You are truly a gem, and are much appreciated on this forum!

Have a wonderful trip!

BiGismama · 07-15-2005, 10:59 AM

Doctorjohn,

Did it turn out that Otterbein reps were not able to attend ITF in Nebraska? Otterbein wasn't listed in the blue college auditions booklet the kids were given and my daughter mentioned that none of those who auditioned with her (Wednesday) seemed to be able to locate an Otterbein callback list for that day. Wondered if the reps were only able to attend some of the audition sessions? Thanks

brown101 · 07-15-2005, 02:23 PM

Dr. John,

I have a question regarding song selecton for the auditions. Since we need 16 bars of of a ballad and 32 of an upbeat, what would you consider "Why god why" from Miss Siagon (just the verses and chorus, not the bridge which is certainly upbeat). It seems to fall kind of in between being a ballad and upbeat and therefore am not qite sure whether I would sing 16 or 32 bars of it. Thank you!

brown101 · 07-15-2005, 06:24 PM

Additionally Dr. John, I just read about your new policy of admissions that is similar to rolling admissions in that you will notify the students of being accepted, considered, or not considered. My question is, will the auditioneers be notified right after the audition, a week from then, or how exactly will this work?

doctorjohn · 07-15-2005, 08:40 PM

BiGismama: I don't know why we weren't listed in the blue college auditions book. We should have been. Reps were there on Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately, we didn't have someone there on Wednesday, which is why the students that day couldn't find a callback list. As you know, however, we don't make offers on the basis of the very brief auditions at Thespians, so no one (except us) lost out. Please apologize to your daughter and ask her to pass along this information to her friends. Certainly no slight was intended.

brown101: I would suggest using "Why God Why" as your ballad, and therefore doing 16 bars. Try to find something lighter in tone, even comic, for your up-tempo.

As for our new policy, I'm not entirely sure how it will work, since we've never done it before and the faculty hasn't had a chance to work through all the issues. But I don't see any reason why we couldn't get the letters out within a week. We definitely will not post results immediately. I do need to point out that we're only promising to provide this immediate feedback to those auditioning in December. However, if it works, and if everyone likes it, we may continue it.

Thanks for the questions, everyone.