<p>My son thought I should not see one of his last local performances this summer so I could start the weaning progress… Needles to say I did NOT… I have seen everyone of his performance since he was 5… I know I will not be able to see all of his performances from here on in but I will deal!! I AM driving to Michigan tomorrow to “see” him tech his first show at college. I decided to forgo parents weekend so I could go this weekend.</p>
<p>I saw a lot of performances in my Ds high school years. In fact, not only for her but for some of her sisters, too. Fortunately, they didn’t all go on to study theatre in college. 
When my D was in college, I saw most of her shows, but certainly not every single performance. I think it’s unrealistic to expect to do that, and, to be honest, at some schools and at some shows, it would be selfish to do that because there are likely a limited number of seats. Since she’s been working professionally, I’ve tried to travel and see most of what she’s done but it’s impossible to see everything.</p>
<p>I certainly know well the desire to see every performance, and we had so many close friends in a long-running Broadway show that also had tours across North America for years, I certainly travelled extensively to visit those friends on tour and ended up seeing the show probably close to a hundred times. I know it sounds crazy but it really was more to visit the friends and the show itself was secondary. Keep in mind also that if your kids end up booking work professionally when they graduate, you likely won’t be able to afford to see every performance! Theatre tickets are not inexpensive even for non-Eq shows. So, I guess my advice is to see what you can, when you can, but it’s likely an idea to keep in mind that balance between being your kid’s greatest fan and also wanting to launch them, even if slowly, into a more independent path.</p>
<p>I wanted to see the school’s shows; I begged to go. But as it was, due to traveling expenses and time, I didn’t see a single show until I was attending school. I would highly recommend it though, give you a feel for the talent, the quality, the audience.</p>
<p>@SongSearcher – You bring up another aspect of school being located far from home, and that’s the difficulty of seeing performances BEFORE enrolling. That was an issue for us as well. Since D applied to 12 schools (or may it was 13, I forget), and all were reaches – either academically or because they were so selective artistically – we said she couldn’t visit until she was admitted. That meant we only saw shows at UMich plus whatever was on YouTube before she made her final school choice. That’s rough! </p>
<p>I have an ongoing beef with choosing college training based on performances, though, for two main reasons. </p>
<p>First, OF COURSE schools with top reputations have amazing performers… even BEFORE they’ve gone to their first day of classes!! These kids were cherry-picked out of hundreds of applicants, so it’s no surprise when they’re great in their FRESHMAN showcases. This tells you exactly ZERO about the quality of training the kids get in college.</p>
<p>Second, it’s hard to know if you’re seeing kids at their best or when they’re being intentionally stretched. Or maybe you’re seeing the third-string performers. Who knows? The very best training might at times involve risky roles, which might result in sub-par performances but GREAT training, plus maybe the very best training programs offer even less-skilled students opportunities to perform and grow.</p>
<p>As to stretching financially to see our kids perform – this summer D was in a show where the minimum ticket price was… $150 (it was Festival of New Works)! I paid, but heck even that was cheaper than the plane ticket will be to see her now that she’s in college. Plus I traveled about as far as one can go in the continental US to see her perform at YoungArts in Miami last year. I combined it with other business, which will be harder for me to do where she’s in school now.</p>
<p>Ah well, we’ll do what we can as I agree that it may never get much easier to afford to see them perform!</p>
<p>It was difficult; I also watched youtube clips but there weren’t enough on there to satisfy me. I settled for a good gut feeling and my instincts pulled through: five weeks into the semester was our first show and it absolutely blew me away! Good thing too, as I could have been really disappointed! Still, I do regret not getting the chance to see their musical, which was the last show of my senior year and I wanted to go for my birthday. :(</p>
<p>As far as my family actually coming to see my shows–so far, I’ve been involved in a lot of random performances, I call them: the twenty-four hour shows, the street performances, etc. So, no, my family has not come to see me in a show since I went to college and haven’t seen any shows on campus yet (mainly due to their schedule not meshing with our show schedule). However, I’m currently involved in a show set for next semester and my mom already wants to buy tickets (but I’m not sure if they’ll be coming…I think we have an audience age limit and my sisters won’t make the cut)!</p>
<p>In short…my family would come to see a ticketed show that I was in. So far, they haven’t seen me acting since high school, which hasn’t bothered me too much. I think it will be much more impressive for when they finally do see me acting two years since! :)</p>
<p>Oh my – didn’t even think about making sure my D is close enough to see her shows. She’s still a soph in high school, so I’ll pray she gets accepted to a school within an easy driving distance.
At this point, I can’t imagine not seeing her in a show. She did professional regional theatre here before she started high school, and of course I didn’t see every performance in an 8-show-a-week 12 week run, but I did see a lot. A lot depended on whether parents could get generous access to house seats, comps, etc.
As far as school plays, if she is singing or has a speaking part, I see every show (and they are typically only 4 performances). However, if she is one of many in the ensemble (this weekend she is currently in Romeo and Juliet as a townsperson) once or twice is enough.
While she was doing professional theatre, I did meet many parents of the adult actors who flew in from all over the country to see their child. I imagine I will definitely do the same thing.</p>
<p>I’m lucky in that my D ended up at the closest school she applied to! It’s only a 4 hour drive. So not only have I been able to see all of her performances, but I’ve been able to see most of the shows the school of theatre puts on (musicals and dramas). I get to see her while supporting her friends and I’ve gotten to see some amazing shows (most of which I haven’t seen before!). It’s one of my favorite things to do and I really do feel lucky that it worked out this way. But had she choosen to attend any other school… I would have been in much the same situation as others due to the distance and cost.</p>
<p>I’m in Texas and my D’s at school in SC. But I went to both shows she was in freshman year as well as the freshman cabaret. I have already gone twice this year to see shows even though she isn’t in them because I love the productions and I enjoy supporting her friends. I saw “Boeing Boeing” at Atlantic Stage Saturday and was so glad I did - what a great show! I can only do this by being super flexible with which airports I fly in and out of and being happy with whatever flight times the name your own price feature gives me at Priceline. Yes it stretches my resources but I think it has been worth it.</p>
<p>Hello from another Texan with a MT student in South Carolina who is learning so much about the ins and outs of creative travel so that I can have the opportunity to see and support the wonderful work at the school my son attends. I leave next weekend to catch closing weekend of Boeing, Boeing at Atlantic Stage. Foregoing the rush and insanity of move in weekend for DS’s sophomore year allowed me to schedule a trip in late September. I got to see Iphigenia (and boy am I glad I was able to see that show) with my son and spend some really quality time with him since he was relatively settled in to his new routine. Like austinmtmom, I so enjoy the productions and have great fun supporting the kids and the department. I will be headed back the second week of November to see Anything Goes, which my son is actually in. It is interesting to me that this “seeing shows whenever you can whether your child is on stage or not” seems to be the norm at my kids school. I know of many parents who are planning trips to see Anything Goes whose kids are not cast. However, at least at their school most of the department is involved in the show in one capacity or another. It is pretty much expected and from what I have seen the kids wouldn’t have it any other way. Now if austinmtmom and I could figure out a way to share an airline seat we would be in business!</p>
<p>We are SO looking forward to seeing “Anything Goes” while we are at Coastal Carolina for D’s audition on the 12th! Hope I get to meet some of the great CC parents while we’re there!</p>
<p>Hmmm… maybe I need to take another stab at using Priceline for airline tickets! We use them constantly for 4* hotels at amazing prices, but the last time I used them for airline tickets D and I had FIVE stops for a flight halfway across country (our trip took a full 6 hours longer than my DH and S who traveled on regular tickets) and after that I swore them off.</p>
<p>I use them a lot for hotels with great results also momcares, but have not tried them for flights-too chicken! Their site says they can book you with a max. of one stop for the name-your-own-price flights, so at least maybe that has changed since you used them. I’d be interested in hearing from someone who has bid on a flight.</p>
<p>Great news about the one stop max on Name Your Own Price flights! That must be new since when last we used them (in 2000), when we had a flight with stops in San Francisco, LA, Las Vegas, Cleveland and Chicago (IIRC)… all en route to Milwaukee! D got to add a lot of states to her list of places she’d been, but otherwise it was a very long day. ;-D</p>
<p>I use the name your own price feature all the time. Have never had more than 2 stops to get to SC, which considering you CAN’T fly nonstop from Austin to Myrtle Beach isn’t a big deal at all. And almost every time I have just had 1 stop. Last time I used the feature I saved enough to pay for my rental car and hotel, which I also booked through Priceline. Happy travels y’all!</p>
<p>tracyvp - There will be lots of parents at Anything Goes on November 12! You can send me a PM if you want to set up a time to meet but sjstxmom and I will definitely both be at that evening’s performance.</p>
<p>As a freshman MTO at Ball State, I really do want my parents to eventually see a show here so that they can see what the department has to offer, but I dont expect them to make the trip until I am actually in a show. I expect them to come to my freshman showcase, but I think too many parents kill themselves over making it too everything and feeling bad if they dont. Just a student perspective :)</p>
<p>JakeRoku~your perspective as a student is ever so valuable! Thanks for adding to the discussion. I happen to be fortunate that a necessary business trip is going to take me through at a time where I can see a show that my son is not in and support the department. Normally, I have to choose. There are parents who are not able to travel to see shows for numerous reasons, and that has to be hard for them and for their student. To me, the theatre the community seems to be sensitive and supportive of both parents and student actors who are not able to travel. In my opinion this is one of the many unique and special things students learn in a theatre program–how to be kind and supportive when dealing with a variety of individual circumstances that are often a hard reality. In the end, this means a stronger ensemble. In the future, this means graduates who will have a life skill that many do not have that will translate to whatever they choose to do in the future, theatre related or not. Again, thank you for reminding us that it can be hard and that we should not have expectations about what is the “right” or the “wrong” thing to do.</p>
<p>Tracyvp~I’m with austinmtmom! Would absolutely love to meet you and am happy to see if we can work out a time to get together. There will be a bunch of us there. My husband and I will be in from he 10-14th. Just give a-mom or I a shout.</p>
<p>While touring schools regarding vocal performance programs a couple of schools told us that they stream their performances on their website for parents to view-- one said they broadcast them over their radio station (available on their website). I don’t know whether that only referred to recitals and concerts. It would be great if the same thing could happen for musicals, plays, and operas (maybe it does at some schools?)-- Not sure about rights issues, but there might be a way to charge an online fee. It seems that with all the available technology today there should be ways to let parents see performances from afar. I realize the schools need to sell tickets, but there are many people who would like to be there who cannot buy tickets-- and I would think those who could afford the trip or who live nearby would buy a ticket and go in person anyway.</p>
<p>I am trying to put transition money away for my d and if that means I don’t see her perform this year she understands. Post graduation will be costly even if she does get a supplemental night job. She will need to continue voice, dance and acting lessons in NYC, where she would like to move after graduation. I can’t see not helping her transition when I have paid an enormous amout of money to date. Of course I don’t have endless pockets so at some point, she is going to feel a tug on the rug.</p>
<p>Very smart move checkbook! We are doing the same as I know that even my older children who majored in more “stable” areas needed a little help to get started.</p>
<p>showgirlsmama, I would be very surprised if schools can get permission in the licensing process to broadcast actual shows online. And if they’re doing it without permission, shame on them!</p>