TETA Board of Governors
Auditions Committee Chair
Thank you so much to everyone who helped out with student auditions at Theatrefest 2013 this year. It was a successful year with a larger number of attendees and participants than we have seen in the last few years. We had several new universities in attendance and we look forward to seeing them again next year. As we look forward to Theatrefest 2014, our continued goal is to provide the best opportunity possible for students. We do this for your students and I believe it is one of the most important things that TETA does.
As we have worked through certain problems over the last couple of years, we anticipate changes to the student auditions for next year, including (but not limited to) the following:
We are going paperless. In an effort to cut down on an extreme amount of waste, we will not be providing books for colleges and universities next year. Additionally, we will not be providing the information on USB drives either. All the information will be available to colleges and universities through the new online format of Acceptd. (Check out their website at www.getaccteptd.com)
Students will input their information and pay membership and auditions fees online by credit card through Acceptd. Confirmation emails will be sent to directors to confirm their approval for the student to audition afterward. School counselors will also be sent an email requesting information of test scores, GPA, and class rank. No student will be allowed to submit finalized applications until all required information is received. All of these must be received by the December 1st deadline. Any student who wants to attend the convention portion of TheatreFest will still need to submit a registration form and mail that form and all fees (check or credit card) to Austin just as in the past.
Why are we doing to this? One, we as an organization are striving to stay on trend with the current technologies that are made available to us. We now have a Facebook account, use the application Guide Book for convention, etc. Since an increasing number of colleges and universities and Thespian conventions across the country are utilizing Acceptd, it only made sense that we should, too. It has already become a familiar tool in college and university auditions. Second, it reduces an immense amount of paper and paperwork as well as repetitive work as forms are sent to Austin and processed and then sent to the auditions coordinator and processed again. TETA convention directors and the auditions coordinators will both have access to the information provided by the student reducing the amount of copies being made and mailed back and forth, or needing to be scanned and emailed, etc. Consider that of the over 120 applications received for auditions this year (high school juniors, high school seniors, and transfers in all categories), most of which were received on the December 1st deadline, 88 applications were incomplete lacking headshots, director signatures, student signatures, counselor signatures, and/or other required information. This meant hours of writing follow up emails and phone calls when emails were not responded to. The volunteers simply could not afford the man hours to get everything corrected. This will allow volunteers more time to plan and organize other aspects of the auditions.
I would like to encourage any student auditioning that is from an Institutional Member school, to consider auditioning for the Founders’ scholarships. In addition to the regular audition information, the student only needs a letter of recommendation from their director and a copy of their transcript. Who couldn’t use some free money for college, right?
We are hoping to see more juniors from IM schools next year as well. We still had quite a few openings for juniors and had several big name universities that were there simply to look at the juniors. Having juniors audition is still a bit new for TheatreFest but we hope to increase the numbers. What a great opportunity to get a jump on the process and get out there and be seen.
As always, early preparation is the key. Don’t procrastinate in starting to get audition information together and don’t procrastinate in preparing for the audition.
As always, the other volunteers and I are seeking to make each year better than the last so we welcome any constructive feedback you might have. Have a great summer and make sure to read the website carefully in the fall to understand all the changes taking place.