Auditioning: the continuous, vicious cycle that requires you to sing, dance and act your heart out in front of a panel of complete strangers.
Sounds great, right?
Most would run fast in the other direction, but actors are forced to embrace this ritual. All performers must go through the necessary and sometimes nerve-wracking auditioning process in order to be cast in a production.
But for University of Tampa thespians, this process is slightly less daunting due to the good-natured professors who direct the productions.
The first round of musical auditions takes place in the Ferman Music Center in front of the director, stage manager and musical director. “I feel like the auditions here are very relaxed as compared to a professional audition because not only do you know the professors, they want you to succeed,” says sophomore performing arts major Ally Hanskutt.
“It’s still nerve-wracking,” Hanskutt says, “but I don’t feel as stressed out as I would if it were somewhere else.”
In community and professional theatre productions, many first round auditions take place on the big stage. At UT, the auditions are held in a much smaller room and are far less unnerving.
“Its definitely a lot more intimate than any other audition I’ve been on,” says UT freshman Kaleb Lankford.
However, Lankford also feels performing for a small group in a room can be even more intimidating than being up on a stage in a large auditorium.
“There’s an added sense of pressure since its only in front of about three people,” Lankford says.
“But at the same time,” Kaleb continues, “its more comfortable to know that you don’t have a crowd watching your every move.” Veteran members of the UT Speech, Theatre and Dance community are known for helping underclassmen feel at home.
“I feel like for the most part the upperclassmen have been really helpful and they’ve made it a lot easier to adjust to everything here,” says UT freshman Elisha Sayed.
Walking into the room, the student is told to stand in front of the panel. For a musical audition, the student must supply their own sheet music to a song of their choice; however, the song cannot be from the musical itself.
After singing about 16-20 bars, the vocal audition is over. For a drama audition, there is no singing involved. Instead of a song, the actor prepares and performs a monologue.
“The only difference between auditioning for a play and auditioning for the musical is that in a musical,” says Hanskutt, “you’re expected to not only act, but sing and dance as well.”
After the first round of auditions is over, the callback list is posted, usually on the door of Falk Theatre.
But call backs are a whole different ball game. These are held on the Falk Theatre stage and all of the actors perform in front of each other.
“At a callback, you’re usually given a dance combination first and then if they want you to stay, you sing a song or two from the musical. For a play,” Hanskutt explains, “you first audition with a monologue and then at callbacks, you only read scenes with other people from the play. No singing or dancing at all.”
For this fall musical’s call back, the students fill the front three rows of seats. A low hum of nervous chatter filling the air until the director, Michael Staczar, calls everyone’s attention.
“It is not my intention to upset you this evening,” began Staczar. With this disclaimer, callbacks for the Fall 2011 musical production of “The Wild Party” began.
“There is little to no dialogue in this show,” Staczar continued. “It is virtually, entirely song. Hence we’ll be doing a lot of singing this evening, which means you’ll be doing a lot of dun dun dunnn…” he said with a drum roll, “sight-reading!”
Groups of four were called up on stage and then paired off to sing a duet. After each run the students watching clapped and cheered them on. That’s the other unique thing about the UT theatre community–it really is a family with a strong support network. Of course, everyone there wants a part but watching the callbacks, you could feel the sense of camaraderie radiating from the audience.
Staczar, like an encouraging father, told the students that the callback “should be a glimmer of what you’re capable of doing in performance.
“Don’t be shy, don’t hold back,” he told them. “You may not get a second chance.”
Senior David Bevis has only positive things to say about the program. He’s been auditioning and landing roles in UT theatrical productions since 2008.
“I think it’s very diverse and it’s full of unpredictable opportunities,” says Bevis, a musical theatre major and a communication minor.
“I feel like I’ve been blessed with opportunities here,” Bevis says, “and that I’ve taken advantage of the resources.”
Because of the high level of professionalism that UT students encounter when going through the audition and performance processes on campus, they are well prepared to go out into the world and audition for professional productions and companies after graduation.
To all UT performers, present and future, “break a leg”.
Sophie Erber can be reached at serber@spartans.ut.edu.