Melsmom

I was kind of hoping mine was at least a little general, I was going for the 60's theme, no huh?

songanddance

We felt that way especially about the Ithaca auditions. Prior to the auditions in NYC there was a presentation for parents and students - presented in a very negative way, pointing out minute details, early hour classes, consequences of being late twice, cut-backs, being un-invited if
"you don't seem to be growing sufficiently in acting skills", and, basically,well if you still want to come here go ahead and audition! Even though many places may have some of these rules - and they did seem to be more stringent here - I think it is counter-productive to present them right before auditions.
Then they had warm-ups for everyone ,but since they went in alphabetical order many of the students auditioned one to three hours after the warm-ups - so why warm up? Anyway, by the time our d's audition took place
she was both discouraged by the speech and UN warmed-up...

nytheatermom

Of course this is the right thread to put in all our audition "grievances" from other schools, but I can't resist mentioning how U Miami at NY unifieds was so pressed for time that at a certain point they decided to have 2 auditions at the same time, each with one person. One person was presumably the drama or voice person; the other was the dance person.

My daughter got the dance person. When my daughter asked her a question about the school (specfically about summer opportunities), she said that she had only been there for a few months and didn't know the answer but she was sure there were some. This was one audition where my daughter rejected the school.

songanddance

Wow - did those auditions take place in the same room? Even if in differernt rooms that's not enough people conducting the audition.
Speaking of the right thread - I think acceptances - where's your d planning on going? Does she know yet?

nytheatermom

She is going to Uarts (broadwaywannabe)

songanddance

Wonderful. Congratulations! Our d has a friend from school who will be
going there and she's a very talented singer. Our d is considering going to Montclair. We like the sounds of the MT program there. We'll visit that school this Friday again.

Sporti2005

PSUCAT (i hope you're still here....)

someone mentioned a while back that they thought their D's voice "wasn't right" for PSU's program -- is there a type of voice they more typically accept?

also, in terms of physical type, is PSU sort of an "all shapes and sizes to a certain extent" school or is it more "you need to be skinny"?

your honesty is all the posts is MUCH appreciated. i'm auditioning at NYC unifieds and know very little about PSU's program!

psucat

Sporti2005-
Hey! I still exist and check the board every once in a while!
To answer your questions...
I'm really surprised that someone knew what the typical "PSU voice" was...because I didn't even know that there was a type! Haha. One of the greatest things about my training was the focus and attention paid on my belting AND broadening my soprano range. It doesn't matter what your strength is coming into the program, or even auditioning, because whatever your weakness is, they will strengthen right away. Therefore, everyone leaving the program is able to belt, have a wide soprano range, sing classically (we sing 2 classical pieces every semester in our Voice Juries), MT rep, Pop/Rock, etc. They don't accept JUST belters, or JUST sopranos...if you lean towards one area of your voice in your audition, they will typically work with you to see the potential. My class, for example, was split--half of us were primarily belters, and the other half sopranos. It was fun to see the amazing growth within the first semester after everyone started working on their weaknesses. Now, everyone is extremely versatile--the classically trained soprano can belt up a storm and the belters are considered soprano 1's! Aww, I'm proud of my class ;o)
To answer your second question...PSU is DEFINATELY an "all shapes and sizes school". If you came and observed the student body of the MT program, you'd see that we have a wide range of diversity and versatility amongst the students. In fact, not one girl in my class looks remotely alike...we all have our own uniqueness to us. Maybe they planned it this way, I don't know )

I hope this helped, please feel free to email me!

shellipearl

Anyone auditioning at Penn State Jan 20th? Has anything changed this year in terms of the auditions or still the same with the interview following if they are considering you? Also does anyone know anyone who accepted the BA in acting when they didn't get into the bfa MT and if so do they like it or is it hard to not have the same audition opportunities for the musicals that the Mt kids have? My d is auditioning for both (they require 2 separate auditions, they don't use your MT monologue for both). We are thinking about the theater BA as a backup but I'm not sure she'd be happy that way as she is an excellent singer and dancer but I thought a backup was a good plan and she could reaudition again her freshman year if she wants to (yes risky). The school told me that they had a boy who went this backdoor route this year and loved the BA program so much that he did not want to do the BFA MT audition again.

rglick

My D is auditioning on Jan 20th. I believe you are called for an interview if they are considering you. I heard this from someone that auditioned there earlier this year.

nate

How good is there program? I mean is up there with Cincinnati and Baldwin Wallace? Because that's what I heard and i'm deff interested in the program.

bdwaymom

Nate,
While I don't care to compare each school with others, PSU is a highly competitive program with a wonderful faculty and great reputation. My D will be graduating this May and has had the most amazing 4 years imaginable. She has had the opportunity to perform in MT shows there each year, of course, but also has traveled with the program on recruiting tours across the country, has performed at the Orange Bowl and Outback Bowl festivities the last 2 years, has been given the chance to attend master classes in NYC each year taught by current Broadway performers (Victoria Clark, Brian D'Arcy James) and will be particiapting in the senior showcase next month. About half of her class alone already has their equity cards and all have performed professionally in the summer. 2 of the students left for a year, one to be in Movin' Out on Broadway, the other to do a National tour of Oklahoma, but both felt that it was important enough to go back and finish their degrees at Penn State. The more you research, the more you'll find that it's well worth considering as a top flight BFA MT school.
Good luck with your endeavors.

nate

Thank you for the info!

MizMoya

I am a senior in high school an planning on auditioning for the musical theatre program at PSU (I absolutely love it there). I know I'm supposed to call and set up an audition time, but can anyone give me any tips on what to say in that phone call? I'm so nervous!

clover25

MizMoya,

Don't feel pressure about the phone call. Just be polite, introduce yourself, say you are interested in auditioning for the program and ask to set up an audition time with them (and possibly campus tour/ tour of the facilities or something if you are interested). Make sure you have a calendar in front of you in case the date/time you were planning on isn't available- that way you can easily tell them what other days you can do it. Also, if you haven't applied to the University yet, get that done asap because they will probably ask if you've done that yet- so that way you can tell them it's already under control! All of the faculty are very nice, and remember they want you to do well!! (Just as much as you do

Obviously the phone call has nothing to do with their decision to accept you, so just be polite and professional and it'll be no big deal!