NET Drama Auditions

College Majors Musical Theater Majors
1

<p>12th ANUAL NORTH TEXAS DRAMA AUDITIONS
COLLEGES EXPECTED TO ATTEND</p>

<p>Thursday, November 17</p>

<p>C.W. Post Campus/Long Island University </p>

<p>Cameron University</p>

<p>Carnegie Mellon University </p>

<p>Cisco Junior College/Big Country Dinner Theatre </p>

<p>College of Santa Fe</p>

<p>Collin County Community College </p>

<p>Drury University</p>

<p>Florida State University </p>

<p>KD Studio Actors Conservatory </p>

<p>Loyola University New Orleans</p>

<p>Marquette University </p>

<p>Marymount Manhattan</p>

<p>McPherson College </p>

<p>Messiah College</p>

<p>Northwestern State</p>

<p>Oklahoma University Weitzenhoffer Department of Musical Theatre </p>

<p>Otterbein College </p>

<p>Savannah College of Art and Design </p>

<p>Southeastern</p>

<p>Southern Methodist University </p>

<p>SUNY Purchase College</p>

<p>Texas A& M, Corpus Christi </p>

<p>Texas Lutheran University </p>

<p>The Boston Conservatory </p>

<p>University of Cincinnati; College Conservatory of Music </p>

<p>University of Evansville </p>

<p>University of Louisiana, Monroe</p>

<p>University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theater </p>

<p>University of Oklahoma Dept. of Musical Theatre </p>

<p>University of Oklahoma School of Drama </p>

<p>University of Southern California</p>

<p>University of Texas at Arlington </p>

<p>University of Texas at Dallas </p>

<p>University of the Incarnate Word</p>

<p>University of the Ozarks </p>

<p>University of Tulsa </p>

<p>Vernon College</p>

<p>Webster University</p>

<p>William Woods University</p>

<p>What a great list of schools in attendance.
There will be 200 very excited actors, singers, dancers and tech auditioners!</p>

<p>Dr. John contacted me to say that he regretably would not be attending this year due to a conflict but was sending Debbie Byrne in his place. He is always a bright spot at the auditions and will be missed.</p>

<p>I want to wish all my students and any others reading this good luck and break a leg!</p>

<p>xxx,Mary Anna</p>

2

<p>This is great to see available in Texas! Could you send more information about how to be involved and who organizes this?</p>

3

<p>This is a consortium audition. Students audition for all the colleges at the same time in one location. It is hosted by Collin County Community College in Plano (a suburb of Dallas). The total number of auditionees is about 200 and the number of colleges attending is usually about 35.</p>

<p>It is completely free of charge and each high school drama teacher in the area is given the opportununity to send 5 of their top drama/musical theatre students.
My application criteria is a bit different because I am an independent private coach. I have 7 students going this year and an 8th on standby.</p>

<p>The audition time is 2 minutes, total. Performers may use the 2 minutes any way they like. Some sing only, some dance, some act only and some do a little of each.</p>

<p>My students typically get many call backs; as many as 18 and as few as 4. Colleges offer firm acceptances and often scholarship money at the call back. Others may express an interest and encourage students to come to the campus and meet more faculty for further evaluation. </p>

<p>It is not necessary for the auditionees to have applied to each college before hand. The college reps have each audtionees GPA and SAT/ ACT scores and their resumes in front of them during the audition.</p>

<p>It is a great way to start off the college audition season. It builds confidence and opens doors. It also starts the students thinking about all the things they want in their college experience.</p>

<p>xxxxx,Mary Anna</p>

4

<p>Thanks so much - this is good information. Our Pre-Area Choir competitions are scheduled for high school students on the same day…many of the same students are already scheduled to attend this year. I would like to know who to contact…do you know?</p>

5

<p>What city do you live in? This is for area high school seniors. Dallas area, that is.<br>
You might contact Collin County Comunity College theatre department to see if they would make an exception if your student is from another city.</p>

<p>Good luck
xxxx,Mary Anna</p>

6

<p>Sounds like it might be restricted to the Dallas area. Our region has a different choir contest schedule at this level of the competition. They compete against the Dallas area at Pre-Area and State Vocal competitions. I will contact the college you mention. Thanks so much.</p>

7

<p>Mary Anna,
Thank you! You have given me more info here than my daughter’s HS drama teacher has passed on. I will have to let D know the time breakdown, as she was planning to do 1 min of her monologue and 1 min of singing, but she is more gifted vocally.
Do you think a 1/2 minute monologue - 1 1/2 minute song breakdown could work?</p>

<p>Thanks again.</p>

8

<p>I think a 1/2 minute monologue is a little short. Could you take it to 45 seconds? That would be better.
And if she is singing, have her sing first. Definately</p>

<p>And remember, they begin timing right after her introduction</p>

<p>They are very striict on the time limit and will cut her off in mid sentence/note if she is 2:01.</p>

<p>There is an accompanist provided, or she could bring her own. She could bring a cd player for karaoke, but someone will have to go in the theatre with her to run it. They do not provide a cd player or person to operate it.</p>

<p>My students’ audition appointments are all in a block from approx. 3PM-3:45PM. They will post call-backs about 4:30PM Hope to see you all there.</p>

<p>Best of luck to her!
xxx,Mary Anna</p>

9

<p>Wow! What a great opportunity for the Dallas area Theater kids. Acceptances and scholarships right on the spot! Good luck to all participating.</p>

10

<p>Mary Anna,
Thanks again for all the info. She doesn’t want to “re-think” cuts, so she’ll just stick with 1 minute each for monologue & song. But we definitely like the idea to start with singing.
We also didn’t know about the accompanist. :frowning:
So, I may be back here asking you more questions!</p>

11

<p>That sounds great. But be sure it’s more like 55 secs and 55 secs. I would hate for her to get cut off. </p>

<p>Another reason to begin with singing besides that is her strength, is that it is quicker to go from singing to monologue than the other way, and every second counts.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

<p>xxx,Mary Anna</p>

12

<p>Mary Anna,
A couple more questions:

  1. If she goes with the accompanist, will they have a chance to talk beforehand, to discuss tempos, etc.?
  2. If she goes with cd or tape, can I go in with her to start/stop the player? (Probably her least favorite option, as apparently I make her more nervous than any roomful of strangers)
  3. Should she bring headshots & resumes?</p>

<p>Again, I really appreciate your help. Her audition is in the morning, but hopefully we will be there for callbacks and can meet you!</p>

13

<p>She will meet the accompanist for the first when she walks into the theatre to audition. She can very quickly give him/her notes and then take her place on stage and begin her introduction.</p>

<p>I would offer to run her cd player but I won’t be there until the afternoon. Is there anyone else, her teacher or another student who could run it? If not, it will have to be you, mom! </p>

<p>I tell my students to bring 15 head shots and resumes (stapled and trimmed) to have for the call-backs.</p>

<p>Hope to see you at call-backs. I think my picture is still on the “posting pictures” thead (my hair is longer) so look for me</p>

<p>xxxx,Mary Anna</p>

14

<p>Maryanna, this type of audition sounds like a great opportunity for some kids. I’m wondering if you know which of the listed schools make actual firm offers of acceptance at callbacks. It seems a little unusual that they’d do this based on a very short 55 and 55 seconds of viewing a student onstage and with no application filed. </p>

<p>I’m wondering, do you have a child of your own involved in the audition process this year?</p>

15

<p>I couldn’t agree with you more. In fact, I am always amazed that the offers of money come so early in the year.</p>

<p>I can only speak for my own students and I would have to go over my notes and my memeory bank from years past. </p>

<p>I have a student coming over in a few minutes. After he leaves, I will see what I can remember and post.</p>

<p>xxx,Mary Anna</p>

16

<p>The acceptances (as best as I remember) have been as follows:</p>

<p>Floridia State
Webster
Otterbein
Boston Conservatory
U of Minnesota
OU
Santa Fe
Long Island</p>

<p>There have been more over the years, but I can’t remember exactly, so I hesitate to post. I have notes and a memory of these because of the student excitement. Cincinnati called some back, but no offers.</p>

<p>xxx,Mary Anna</p>

17

<p>alwaysamom,
I’m sorry. I forgot to answer your other question about “children of my own”.</p>

<p>I have two practically perfect daughters; one in high school and one in college. Neither has an interest in a career in show business.</p>

<p>Whew!</p>

<p>xxx,M.A.</p>

<p>P.S. I love your screen name</p>

18

<p>I wanted to wish TexanMom’s D and all of Mary Anna’s student the best of luck today at the North Texas Drama Auditions! Break A Leg!</p>

19

<p>Sissy & Mary Anna,
TexanD’s audition was a learning experience! It proved lots of pointers people have given here, esp. about accompaniment difficulty. She chose to go with the accompanist, but had a hard song. She thought he only played a portion of the music written, and she didn’t hear her starting note. So, she “improvised” until she could get her bearings. After that, she did well, but, with a song of less than 90 seconds, there wasn’t much time left! She hasn’t even mentioned her monologue, so I guess that was okay. And, she didn’t get cut off, so her timing was good.</p>

<p>Anyway, even with that, she did get a couple of callbacks. She doesn’t have interest in either school (one has a new music program), and she has her audition at her #1 choice VP school this weekend (not a school on the radar here), so she chose to skip callbacks and try to get to bed early.</p>

<p>She did have a voice lesson this afternoon and was able to discuss this with her teacher, who helped her put it into perspective. Teacher (who did not know D was doing this audition) won’t be suggesting that song for accompanied auditions anymore!</p>

<p>Thanks for the good wishes, and hope Mary Anna’s students have better experiences!</p>

20

<p>Texanmom, sorry to hear that your D’s audition was not a good experience. That’s really disappointing to hear that about the accompanist. Do you honestly feel that it was the song choice? Mind telling us what the song was? I guess this kind of problem is always a possibility with an accompanist but you’d hope that in a venue such as this with SO many colleges involved, that whomever organized it would make every effort to find the best possible accompanist. Best wishes to your D this weekend!</p>