Auditions: I feel like we traveled endlessly. It started with Wright State and BW and Marymount in November, then CCM, Otterbein, and Pace in December, NY Unifieds in January, Shenandoah and then Chicaco Unifieds in February.
My D’s first acceptance was from Marymount. I was OBSESSED with checking that portal. I literally knew within 2 minutes of when it changed. The absolute fear of not going anywhere was over. We will always have a great affection for Marymount for the joy they brought to our home that day. My D and I had an agreement that I could check her emails and portals and make sure that all the details were taken care of. I am so glad we discussed this beforehand and it just became routine. There were so many things throughout the process that I realized needed to be done, or followed up on, or asked about that my D wouldn’t have caught, mainly because I was obsessive about checking things, and she was trying not to obsess. I half-jokingly told her that I would take the responsibility of being stressed and obsessive so she didn’t have to, and she was totally fine with that. At the end of this slow torture of endless waiting and hoping and dreaming, we were in a totally wonderful place, having some really great programs to choose from. She spent a lot of time really digging into each program and learning as much as she could about it. She knew enough about each program to want to audition for them, but not so much that she’d fallen in love with the programs, because she’d had her heart broken before. She narrowed it down to Shenandoah and Otterbein. Both small programs with a very personal feel. And then BoCo came in with an acceptance and a very attractive scholarship that turned her head for a bit. She visited all 3, sat in on classes, saw a show or sat in on a rehearsal. The evening after she had spent the day at Shenandoah, she was telling me what their 2019/2020 season was going to be and filling me on the details of those shows (I am not of the theatre world), and she was talking about these shows in a way that made it pretty clear she really, really envisioned herself being a part of them. The next day, while she was visiting a dance class, I ran to the bookstore and secretly bought a whole bunch of Shenandoah merch to be able to whip out when she made her decision. But she also really liked Otterbein, and it’s only about 2 hours from our house, which is far enough to be away, but not too far to be able to come home more often. In the end, though, it came down to which program she just couldn’t live without. She loved them both, but Shenandoah was really her soul mate.
Final Decision: Really, we’ve always known it was going to be Shenandoah. During the first audition season, we saw Cabaret there and it was the most amazing production I’ve ever seen. We were in awe. And in love.
So, my baby girl is officially a Hornet and we couldn’t be more excited!!