<p>To add my personal $.02 to this thread
…
I have a nephew who went on the Sound of Music Asia tour in 2008; he was cast as one of the Von Trapp children Friedrich, I believe and at age 12/13, had a sweet soft soprano voice, and graceful dance steps. His mother, my SIL, was willing to withdraw him from school, and became a SoM groupie as the six month tour went around Asia. All things considered, it was a wonderful experience for my nephew - to the point where he wants to commit to a life in the theatre, particularly in MT. A real plus to put on his acting resume!
Fast forward to Spring 2011. The sweet 12/13 year old has mushroomed into a 61 gawkish 15/16 year old, with an unstable baritone voice and somewhat clumsy dance steps. He is in a performing arts school and I have no doubt his MT skills will improve (he is currently a HS sophomore) as his body and voice matures.
My point is that his Broadway resume as a kid will have NO BEARING on the roles he gets in the future, including his college auditions a couple of years from now. Even Little Orphan Annie grew up!</p>
<p>I absolutely agree with all the remarks above! I particularly agree with the comments about high quality regional theatre, and the flexibility required for making a life in theatre.</p>
<p>D knows quite a number of kids who have Broadway credits as teens, and although I know very little about vocal growth, in the case of some of the girls I suspect they are physically very close to being who they will be as young women. True?</p>
<p>I also agree that every audition is a fresh start, and view that as both very good AND very bad. I still can’t imagine wanting a life where you have to apply for a job at least every couple months. I simply couldn’t do it!</p>
<p>jbehlend: You could be talking about my S!!! He did a national tour at 8, which was a great experience, but we realized that it did not fit with our family values/dynamics. But, then, he was an adorable cherub with a sweet soprano. Now he is gawky 15 yr old, albeit with an awesome baritone, and is not “castable.” Still wants to do MT, but realizes that it will be a while (years!) til his body catches up to his voice. In fact, we are wondering whether to even include his childhood credits on his resume, because they have no bearing to his current abilities.</p>
<p>I would think childhood credits are still valid in that they show a longterm love of theatre, an experience that implies some understanding of the demands of a tour, plus they highlight connections that could be helpful in a casting decision. But I’m no expert!</p>
<p>We have a S who is finally coming out the other end of that gawky 15-year-old transition, so remember the swan is still in there somewhere. ;-D</p>
<p>Last week I posted a quick response to part of the initial question. This week I would add that I do not believe students that come into good programs with an Equity or SAG card are then typically more outstanding than those that get in without the professional credits. I say this because everybody that gets into top flight programs are pretty much top flight talent all around. Again, a good resume is good - but the audition is the lion’s share of what determines one’s eventual acceptance into a program.</p>
<p>I wonder, though, if professional credits help a student who is applying to selective liberal arts colleges. </p>
<p>My daughter is a high school junior right now, and her older brother is in a BFA MT program. She’s definitely interested in that, but is also considering pursuing a BA at a college with a great extra-curricular theater program.</p>
<p>She keeps weighing the trade-off between pursuing theater opportunities outside of school and focusing solely on getting great grades.</p>
<p>kjgc- When you have some spare time, (which I’m sure is rare) could you please expand upon the idea of what “fit” means? Thanks!</p>
<p>@FrancescaBennett - I’ve seen discussion on other threads about the extent to which BA programs review resumes, and I’m sure it varies by program. Obviously schools where you must be accepted directly into the theatre program (like Northwestern) might consider theatrical resume more heavily than schools where you just gain general admission, but depth of accomplishment in ECs is also a criteria for Yale, Brown, etc.</p>
<p>Even at Northwestern, though, very high stats are the first hurdle to admission, and from what I’ve seen grades are even more important to those schools than test scores. Low grades seem to be a deal-breaker.</p>
<p>I’ve heard top MT schools say that training in the craft during senior year is more important than being in shows, but given plenty of training AND the ability to maintain very high grades, I don’t see where professional credits could hurt in admissions to a top BA program.</p>
<p>Wow kjgc. Loved your post. It’s all “For the love of the game,” isn’t it? Thank you for posting that message. Shared with my D.</p>
<p>I hope that college admission people are smarter than that. This is a generalization, but for the most part to succeed professionally as a child/teen, the family has to either live in NYC or LA, or move there. Most often the child has to be home schooled. At least one parent has to stop working to devote themselves to the child’s work. Scratch beneath the surface of most professional kids and you will find this. Most families of even tremendously talented kids are not willing/able to drastically alter their lives for such a risky endeavor!</p>
<p>Calliene, boy do you hit the nail on the head. </p>
<p>It happens that a girl who we know slightly, because she went to my daughter’s dance studio but is a couple years younger than her, is now cast in a very highly rated prime time broadcast television show, starring every week with a super famous actor. You would totally know this person who I am talking about but I won’t name drop because it’s tacky. She’s also been in several feature movies. (it’s very cool to watch her every week on our TV and we are very proud of her because NOBODY famous ever comes from our wide spot in the road town!!)</p>
<p>But guess how she got there. In addition to the fact that she’s talented and has known she wanted to do this since she was 5 years old, (and simply had a huge amount of luck to end up auditioning in front of someone who happened to be looking for what it is that she is) she had a mother who was in a field where she could easily relocate to anywhere, including LA. (and be very well paid) She had a family who was behind this whole venture, and so, while the rest of the family stayed here, she and her mother packed up and went off to Hollywood and her mother worked in that field, which has a lot of shift work so she could work at night, so she could be available during the day to homeschool in between taking her to daily acting coaching and auditions. So the story goes (according to one of the interviews) they said they would give it X amount of time - something like two years - and if it didn’t happen they’d come back home and go on as before. It happened that her big break came literally just weeks before their time was up. Nobody can know if she’ll stay working and make the transition to adulthood and still work, like Jodie Foster or if she won’t, but I do know, that what Calliene said above is absolutely true. There’s so many potentially talented kids in the middle of the country who will not ever be able to alter their lives in that way, and that doesn’t mean they aren’t talented.</p>
<p>This scenario plays out on both coasts, not just the middle of the country. Wherever you live, kids and teens working professionally require serious sacrifices by their families. Virtually every Broadway kid we know has a family living in two places, and at least one parent who has actively promoted them. Like most of you, we have opted not to allow our D to audition for anything that would interrupt school or involve moving.</p>
<p>Good point, MomCares. We out here in the boondocks sometimes think it HAS to be easier for people who don’t live here than it is for us, but it still takes a profound commitment and sufficient resources even if you live there. We had some friends who moved to LA - not to put their son in the business, but for other reasons - but they found out that it is flat out impossible to get a kid into show business unless they have a tutor, or home school, or attend a private school that caters to kids who are trying to do this and understand that industry has no intention, motivation, or ability, to work around a normal kid’s schedule.</p>