<p>Hello - my D was in much the same spot as you, although she came to it a year earlier, so she had a bit more time to catch up. She had focused intensely on music since she’d been a young child, and the skills and experience she had from that definitely translated to moving into theatre. That, for example, answers arwarw’s question excellently. My kid spent 12 hours a day for 6 weeks straight rehearsing competitive summer marching bands, many summers in a row. If that doesn’t compare to rehearsing a play with a set group of people, I don’t know what does (except for the sunburn).</p>
<p>What you did before you decided on theatre is easily described as part of your artistic path, and it will be meaningful. One thing that my D also was able to say was that she was a theatre fan, freak, geek and all of the above, from when she was 4 years old. She read, listened to, saw (on stage and on film), studied, talked about and breathed theatre, acting and film. Even though she loved music and was good at it, theatre was just waiting inside of her, ready to bubble up at just the right moment. </p>
<p>Her last year or so of HS she did manage to get some parts on her resume. She needed experience auditioning, so she auditioned for everything - as an end to itself. She was in a HS show, a summer show, a couple of community shows. That’s about it, because that’s all there was around here. They were all great experiences, and they let her find out about how theatre works, what different directors are like, and what she is interested in. If she’d had access to some film opportunities, she would have tried them, too.</p>
<p>She wasn’t asked about her “thin” resume at college auditions, but she definitely talked about who she was and what she cared about in the few interviews she had, during her college visits, and in her “why theatre” essays. Be very clear in these things. Remember that there are hundreds of kids who “love theatre” - but many of them don’t understand what it means to study it at the college level. Show people that you do, and your experience won’t matter at all. </p>
<p>If you are not well-versed in theatre literature, the cost of a coach of any kind to help you find monologue material and help you prepare will be worth it 100 times over.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>