Emerson Audition Experience for Acting BFA

Decomfortable
Mon, 02 Feb 2015 05:14:47 +0000

So I’m doing the Unifieds Auditions in Chicago, and Emerson was the only school I’m going for that’s technically a Unifieds school. Their audition was at the Palmer House Hilton. It turned out to be VERY different from my DePaul audition I’d had earlier that day.

I went to the Palmer House, found the waiting room, and checked in. Check in involved giving your name, sitting in front of a laptop, and having them take a quick headshot with the webcam (quick, fix your hair!). You didn’t have to bring a headshot and resume to this one, but you could if you wanted to I think. Anyway, once we were all checked in, we were all called together and asked to follow this woman to what I guess was a very small conference room, smaller than your average hotel room. Luckily, there were only about eight of us there, plus the auditor, so it wasn’t too cramped. The auditor was very kind and thorough and gave us basically a rundown of the programs at Emerson and what the audition was going to look like. She said that the audition would start with us performing one monologue, and then she might work on it with us, or she might ask to see our second monologue, or she might just leave the first one alone and move on to the short interview (and they can’t stress it enough: don’t read into any of it!)

I said I would go first, so everyone left the room and she took her place behind her desk. Quick introductions (I worked it in that I was sick), and then I did my first piece. She nodded and said “I think I’d like to see your second monologue.” So I did my second piece for her. She seemed satisfied and commented on how simple and honest the performance was (hopefully that’s a good thing!). Then there was a short interview. We talked just briefly about my voice because, since I was sick, my speaking voice was really affected. She asked me why I wanted college training and what I liked most about theatre in general.

AND THEN, she asked me “Is there anything else you want to tell me about yourself that you think I should know?” I totally was not expecting that question, so I sort of blanked and just said no. Which is probably less than awesome. Have maybe two things you can answer that question with so you look prepared and confident. I don’t think it was super detrimental to my audition, but I would feel better about it if I’d had an answer and hadn’t frozen up.

After that, the audition was concluded, and I could check out and leave. I’m not sure why, but I’m not certain this is the school for me. I like everything I’ve read and seen about the school and its acting program, and the audition went smoothly and I think I did well enough, but I just didn’t get the same vibe I had gotten at other programs. The whole thing felt almost too informal (I had two friends audition for MT there at a different time, and their parents said that the technical theatre interviews were being done in the actual waiting room, in front of every kid and parent who happened to be in there).

It’s all about fit, so maybe this is a sign that Emerson isn’t the right fit for me. Nothing was really a red flag, but I just didn’t get that “vibe.” When it comes down to decisions getting mailed, I’ll give it more thought–I won’t let it bug me in the meantime.