<p>Newmtmom:</p>
<p>I thought I’d bring back your questions from a couple of pages ago.</p>
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<p>Of course not every aspiring MT performer has been performing since birth, or even close to it. My own D started performing very gradually. I know many kids in my area who started performing at a much younger age than she. Performing experience is certainly very helpful if one wants to get into a top MT program, but talent and good training are more important IMHO. </p>
<p>When my D was 12 she performed in her 1st professional production with our local Childrens Theatre. At the time her performing experience consisted of two community theatre productions that were for kids only, the leads in her school’s 2nd and 5th grade musicals, a stint at the end of 2nd grade as a munchkin in a H.S. production of the “Wizard of Oz”, three consecutive “Nutcracker” productions with Cincinnati Ballet, a select band performance, a state children’s choir performance, and numerous dance recitals. I’d known from the time my D was 5 that she loved being in the spotlight. My H and I used to jokingly say that it was too bad that we didn’t live in L.A. or N.Y.C. We thought our D would be a natural on stage. We just thought that since we lived in the mid-west, she’d just have to wait until she was an adult to fulfill any theatrical ambitions. </p>
<p>I laughed the first time we decided to have her audition for Children’s Theatre. The company wanted a headshot and a resume. I couldn’t imagine any child in our area having much of anything to put on a resume. I soon discovered that there were many kids that had extensive resumes at very tender ages. For example, when D was in the 6th grade she did a production with a boy her age who’d already done 18 shows, both community and professional theatre! Other parents at CCM Prep considered my D to be a late comer. I was clueless for a long time about audition opportunities in our area. Apparently my family read the wrong newspaper; we subscribed to the afternoon paper, which never had any audition notices. My D was a 6th grader when we finally figured out how to find out about auditions. By that time she was at that awkward stage when taller girls are too big to play children, but look too young to play teenagers or adults. Amazingly, she was still cast regularly in local community and professional theatre productions. (Of course, she was always in the ensembles. There just aren’t a heck of a lot of shows out there that have substantial parts for teenagers.) Local choreographers seemed to value her skills as a dancer. She was pleased to get cast on the merits of her voice alone for the 1st time as an 8th grader. (We had to be out-of-town when the dance call-backs for that show took place.)</p>
<p>Over the past 7 years I’ve met most of the kids in my area who perform outside of their schools in community and professional theatre and the theatre kids at the local performing arts H.S. Some of the kids from the performing arts school and from CCM Prep have been performing seriously since early elementary school. Others did not begin until middle school or H.S. Some kids have extensive resumes in school, community, and professional theatre. I know a few who’ve done national tours as kids. I have not seen a difference in acceptance into top MT or drama programs based on the size of the student’s resume. The differences have come from talent and training. You may be thinking, how could a kid who’s not terribly talented have an extensive resume? In my area, there are a very large number of community theatres. A kid who is persistent and has a modicum of talent can be cast in this town. One does not have to have Broadway potential.</p>
<p>My D’s teachers told her repeatedly as she was preparing for her college auditions that the size of the resume and/or the size of the roles performed did not matter. What the auditors care about is that ten minute audition. She was told that her resume would be scanned and that auditors would either think, “Hey! This girl’s training and experience have helped turn her into an attractive ‘package’” OR “Too bad all of her experience and training have not done the trick.” D knew that what counted was the talent she could demonstrate at her audition.</p>
<p>Question 2 is a little harder to answer. Perhaps that’s why no one has bitten yet. As you’ve noticed, most of the talk on this forum centers around the “ivies”. I do believe that they are harder for kids to get into than other MT programs. Part of it is a numbers game. The top MT programs have larger numbers of students auditioning for them. Schools that have achieved a top reputation are simply attractive to larger numbers of students. I do believe that schools a little farther down in the pecking order can be somewhat easier to get into. As you noted, most MT programs are small. Oviously, the more students that audition for a program and the fewer students they accept, the harder it is to gain admission. A school such as Carnegie-Mellon that auditions hundreds and only accepts 10 is more difficult to get into than a school that auditions 200 and accepts 25.</p>
<p>You asked if the “non-ivy” schools are truly worse or if it is simply a matter of reputation. I don’t like the word worse. It has such ugly connotations. Let me state right off the bat that I believe that there are many fine drama, music, and dance teachers at large numbers of MT programs. I do not believe that the “ivy” schools necessarily have more talented faculty or better curricula. Sometimes they do, but sometimes there are equally talented faculty and superb curricula at lesser known schools. What the “ivy” schools have that the lesser schools do not is a heavier concentration of very talented students. </p>
<p>In my own area there are two schools that offer MT programs. One, CCM, is considered to be a top contender. The other is a non-audition program. The non-audition school is considered to have a very fine drama department. The MT program is relatively new at the school. Off the top of my head I can think of two students who graduated from the non-audition school in recent years who are incredibly gifted performers. They could compete with the best of the CCM students. These two kids are the exceptions rather than the norm at the non-audition school. I attend performances at both schools regularly. The talent level at the non-audition school seems to be coming up, but it is still not in the same league as CCM. </p>
<p>How does the talent level of one’s classmates affect one’s college experience? Books have been written about the subject. The two students I mentioned in the previous paragraph obviously turned out very well trained after 4 years at the lesser light school. One of the students was in H.S. with my older D. Her experience prior to college was not extensive. She had big parts in the H.S. musical every year and she did some semi-professional theatre. She began dance training very late - H.S. She began taking voice lessons her senior year of H.S. I remember her from her H.S. days as a very gifted comedic actress. I felt sure when I watched her perform that she had a great future. She’s now a fine actress and has a phenomenol voice. The disadvantages she will have if she elects to go to New York to make a career are that her school does not do a senior showcase and she will not have a prestigious school name on her resume to open a few doors. I think that these disadvantages disappear after one’s early twenties.</p>
<p>I’ve probably ruminated long enough. I hope that some of the other posters will chime in. The subject of reputation is a sensitive one. I think that everyone who posts on this forum has thought about it. I don’t want to hog the platform.</p>