Has anyone auditioned for DePaul?

Times3
Wed, 07 Aug 2013 20:45:16 +0000

Hey, my son auditioned for DePaul at NYC Unifieds, and we remember the process pretty well. It was indeed at Ripley-Greer, and his sign-in time was maybe 1 or 1:30. We got there pretty early so we could figure things out; there’s a cafe downstairs in the lobby, and you have to sign it at the desk before you go up to the floor where the studios are. Sort of a maze up there, and we found out way to the DePaul location, along with a friend of my son’s who happened to be there for the same audition time. It’s a really nice waiting area, and there’s another small cafe on that floor, near the elevators, so you or your parents can grab coffee and a snack. Anyway, we hovered around in the hall till they called in the group auditioning at 1:00, and they went into a studio room while parents waited in the hall. The two auditors gave them an overview of the process and said they’d be split into two groups, one for each auditor.

The actual auditions were in rooms down the hall, and kids were called in one at a time (usually by the previous auditioner). You only do one monologue for this go-round. My son did his and then spent some time talking with the auditor, who was very honest and nice. She said something along the lines of “well, I like your work, but you aren’t the type we’re looking for, so you probably won’t get called back.” At the end of the individual auditions, they took the two groups of kids (again, divided by which auditor they had) back into the audition rooms and did group warm-up stuff, then read off the list of who was getting called back. If you get called back, the process goes on–you do your monologue again, do a cold reading, scene work with a partner I think, etc.–it’s explained pretty well on the DePaul website, so be sure to read it there! My son and his friend were set free, so they took off to find other friends from their summer program and enjoy the rest of the (very chilly) afternoon in NYC. He found it to be an interesting and positive experience despite the fact that he didn’t get called back. I’d say we were there for maybe 2 1/2 hours total.

Interesting side note: the next day he was hanging out in the Drama Book Shop on 40th street, reading scripts, and in walks the auditor from DePaul. She picked out a book and sat down near him (didn’t see him) and he saw she was reading the play that his monologue was from…so he felt like at least he got her attention with his monologue! :D