Gender In Musical Theatre

austinmtmom
Fri, 25 Mar 2011 10:25:35 +0000

It is so sad to hear the stories of kids who have no acceptances at this point. I wish more people understood what a strange process this is. So much if it is type and fit. You can have all the talent in the world but if are simply not what the school is looking for then it doesn’t matter.

My D is a quirky type. We knew that going into the process and it’s why she auditioned for the number of schools that she did. Thank goodness some of them were looking for her type because she got a lot of rejections along the way. She received a very wonderful email from the head of one of the programs she applied to who told her that the faculty loved her and thought she was wonderfully talented, but she just didn’t fit into the class they were building. Seeing the class that school did build, I totally get it. But at the time it was harder to really see that.

It doesn’t do much for the kids in this audition cycle, but for anyone coming up - no matter how good you are, no matter how much training you have had, no matter how successful you have been up until now - PLEASE find a couple of non-audition safety schools that offer a program that you would love to attend and apply to them! If you can find one that is rolling admissions and apply in the fall so you have that safety going into auditions season, all the better.

The are non-audition BFA programs, and programs where you start out in the BA and then audition in freshman or sophomore year. There are BAs that look very similar to BFAs. There are so many options out there beyond what is talked about on CC. Start exploring them now. And find programs that are right for YOU. You may not take the path that other might choose, but if it gets you to your destination then what does it really matter.