TABLE FAIR, COLLEGE AUDITIONS, AND PORTFOLIO REVIEW!
2025 Guidelines
PURPOSE: The Virginia State Thespian Society will provide a forum at the Virginia State Thespian Festival where students may apply for university and college entry as well as possible scholarships. Space(s) will be set aside where representatives from colleges and universities may meet with interested conference delegates. Virginia Thespians also wants to create a space for deeper connections and conversations between students pursuing information about performing arts higher education and both traditional as well as non-traditional higher education/professional performing arts programs for post-high school training.
AUDITIONS: Students may audition in performance: acting or musical theatre, or in technical theatre. You may audition for both performance and technical theatre. Students who wish to audition will register for auditions on the EdTA Secure Events Open Water portal link on the festival registration site. Performance Auditions will be on Thursday and/or Friday, Technical Theatre interviews will take place Saturday AM, with callbacks on Saturday for both.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS: University and college representatives offering entry or scholarships at the festival will primarily be interested in delegates who will soon graduate. Therefore, only those students currently in the eleventh or twelfth grades may audition. All delegates auditioning must attend the special auditions meeting on Thursday or Friday at the festival, and bring your completed materials. The meeting will be during a workshop session, before your audition.
AUDITION GUIDELINES:
Performance (Acting and Musical Theatre):
Technical Auditions:
DRESS:
TO BRING:
REGISTRATION:
Online Supplemental Materials You May Submit: (This is optional but strongly recommended)
FOLLOW UPS / CALL-BACKS:
AUDITIONS: Students may audition in performance: acting or musical theatre, or in technical theatre. You may audition for both performance and technical theatre. Students who wish to audition will register for auditions on the EdTA Secure Events Open Water portal link on the festival registration site. Performance Auditions will be on Thursday and/or Friday, Technical Theatre interviews will take place Saturday AM, with callbacks on Saturday for both.
ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS: University and college representatives offering entry or scholarships at the festival will primarily be interested in delegates who will soon graduate. Therefore, only those students currently in the eleventh or twelfth grades may audition. All delegates auditioning must attend the special auditions meeting on Thursday or Friday at the festival, and bring your completed materials. The meeting will be during a workshop session, before your audition.
AUDITION GUIDELINES:
Performance (Acting and Musical Theatre):
- The performance area will be approximately 10 feet by 5 feet.
- No special lighting will be available.
- You will have access to one (1) straight-backed chair.
- All auditions will be limited to a maximum of three (3) minutes.
- Acting: Present two (2) contrasting monologues (humorous/dramatic, contemporary/classic, etc.). Each monologue should be between sixty and ninety seconds in length.
- Musical Theatre: Present one (1) cut from a musical theatre song, sixty to ninety seconds in length. You are working with a live accompanist, not tracks, so bring your sheet music clearly marked. Also present one (1) monologue between sixty and ninety seconds in length, which contrasts with your song.
- If you exceed the time limit, time may be called.
- No recorded music or tracks. Accompanist only. There will be time to work with the accompanist before your audition.
- Tips:
- Make sure the two pieces contrast with each other.
- If singing, bring your marked sheet music.
- Act during your song.
- Make use of your space, but only move with purpose for your piece(s).
- Review our tip videos for other parameters and advice for these auditions.
- Please arrive fifteen (15) minutes prior to your assigned audition time.
- It is strongly recommended that you submit online supplemental materials so that the colleges have a chance to see more of your work and share your audition material with their faculty back at the school.
- Visit the Musical Theatre Common Prescreen Website to become familiar with the standards many colleges are looking for in virtual prescreens, to help in preparing any online supplemental material you are submitting.
- From the Common Prescreen Website: “It is recommended to choose monologues that are age-appropriate (generally within 5-10 years of your actual age) and that feel authentic to your culture, background, and lived experience.”
- From the Common Prescreen Website: “Active monologues are often better for auditions; an active monologue takes place in real time and focuses on what you want and puts you in direct communication with an imaginary scene partner. This is often more successful in an audition situation than pieces that are a story or remembrance. Additionally, it can be helpful to avoid monologues that rely on extreme emotions as it can be hard to believably justify those responses in a short piece.”
Technical Auditions:
- You will be provided with one (1) straight back chair and one (1) small and/or shared table.
- You are allowed to bring items to showcase your area(s) of expertise. This could be a computer with a pre-made presentation, models, posters, costumes and prop pieces you have designed, etc.
- The format will be timed rotations. You will have your own space to set up and present, and the college representatives will move around the room to you. You will have four (4) minutes to present, and they will have four (4) to ask you questions.
- Please arrive fifteen (15) minutes prior to your assigned time for setting up your display materials.
DRESS:
- Dress nicely/professionally.
- Wear clothing that is simple and will allow for easy movement.
- COSTUMES ARE NOT PERMITTED.
- Introduce yourself by name.
- Performers: Introduce the audition pieces.
- Tell us what grade you are in (junior or senior).
- Do not say your troupe number.
- Your time begins after slating.
TO BRING:
- Copies of your resume for the college fair/callbacks
- Include a headshot stapled to the back of the resume
- Musical Theatre:
- Your clearly marked sheet music
- Technical Theatre:
- Your display or presentation materials
- It is also recommended that you have a QR code, linked to your portfolio on the resume, if you have an online portfolio or a portfolio in google drive.
REGISTRATION:
- Registration for College Auditions will be through Open Water. The deadline is November 10, 2024.
- Make sure you complete the application online fully. Information to collect and share via the online application:
- Name, pronouns, high school, grade level
- Student email, phone number, address
- Track: Performance, Technical Theatre, Education
- Artistic Resume with your related theatre/ dance/ music/ production/ leadership experience. Name your file: Last Name_First Name_Resume
- Headshot. Name your file: Last Name_First Name_Headshot
- Sheet music (if applicable)
Online Supplemental Materials You May Submit: (This is optional but strongly recommended)
- Tech Portfolio (if applicable). Name your file: Last Name_First Name_TechPortfolio
- Playwriting Sample(s) (if applicable). Name your file: Last Name_First Name_PlaySample
- Performance Reel (if applicable). This must be submitted as an MP4, MOV, or WAV video file. Name your file: Last Name_First Name_PerformanceReel
- Wildcard Submission (optional). This is a short one minute video that tells the college or university what you want them to know about you. It could be choreography, an essay/personal statement, another trick or talent to share, an outside-of-theatre hobby such as horseback riding or baking, etc. Name your file: Last Name_First Name_WildCard
- REGISTRATION FEE: Please note that there is a $15 fee to submit for college auditions. Last year, students had the opportunity to be seen by between twenty and forty colleges in this process. This can end up saving you thousands of dollars in fees later if colleges or universities waive their registration fee because they have already seen you.
FOLLOW UPS / CALL-BACKS:
- If a college is interested in offering you a meeting or a callback, they will contact you through either your provided email or the Open Water system. Be sure to check both of these locations after your audition.
Watch this presentation from our College Auditions Coordinator with everything you need to know about college auditions!
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List of 2025 Colleges already signed up!
More to come as registration moves forward! AADA (The American Academy of Dramatic Arts) AMDA College of the Performing Arts Arcadia University Averett Catawba College Christopher Newport University Circle in the Square Theatre School Conservatory for the Performing Arts at Stephens College Eastern University Elon University BFA Acting Program Ferrum College Gannon University Schuster Theatre Greensboro College Hampton University High Point University Hollins University Institute for American Musical Theatre (IAMT) Ithaca College School of Music, Theatre and Dance Longwood University Messiah University Millikin University- School of Theatre and Dance Mount Saint Mary's University National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts (NCDA) Nazareth University New York Film Academy Penn State University Radford University Roanoke College Rowan University Shenandoah University Shepherd University Temple University, School of Theater, Film and Media Arts The Catholic University of America The New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Department of Acting University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) University of Mary Washington University of North Carolina School of the Arts Virginia Tech University Washington College West Virginia University Western Carolina University - The School of Stage and Screen West Chester University Wilkes University William & Mary Winthrop University |
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