URTA

Hey all! Sorry it has been so long, I have just been really busy preparing for my URTA audition, and I have decided to share the experience with you all here. For all of you who don't know what URTA is, I will now explain.

                                               
URTA, as you can see above, is the University/Resident Theatre Association- basically a large cattle call audition for Grad School. Now, it does cost a tidy sum- it to say anything about plane tickets and hotel costs, because the auditions are only in three cities- New York City, Chicago, and San Francisco. Now, I had a bit of a rocky start because the night I was supposed to leave, a blizzard of sorts hit my local airport in Salt Lake City.

                                                   
After what was probably the most dangerous drive of my life, my flight was delayed 2 hours, making me miss all of my connecting flights. U.S. Airways was kind enough to to rebook my flights, but I did end up having to sleep in the airport and spend over 20 hours traveling. But, I eventually made it New York City.

                                               
                                         If this sounds comfortable to you, think again!

Now, if you are unfamiliar with subway systems, I don't recommend trying to figure them out when you are dealing with a stressful event like URTA auditions for example; you will probably just want to spring the $40 or so bucks for a taxi. Luckily, I am fairly familiar with the systems and had no problem. So the day of the audition arrives. They have two orientation times ( yes, orientation is necessary, it is just a basic walk through of what you will be doing the next two days) at 8:30am and 12:30pm. Then you have a screening audition- which is two judges that have nothing to do with any of the grad schools, who watch your performance and decided whether or not you are worth the time of the grad schools, and they determine whether you go to the Final Audition or the Open Call (I will explain these later.)My audition time was at 1:36 (a time they give you when you originally apply), so I went to the earlier orientation so I wouldn't be waiting nervously to do my audition when I should be listening. We were then required to be back to the waiting room a half an hour before our audition, so I went back around 1. It wasn't any different than any other audition I have been to, with some people talking to themselves in corners, others doing stretches in the middle of the room, and other still listening to their iPods, looking at nothing.

So I walk into the room and I have 3 1/2 minutes to show my stuff (the extra half a minute is because I was performing a song. If you are not a singer- DO NOT SING!) After the screening audition, you wait until about 4:30, then you report back to the waiting room. At that time, they restate the stuff they sent you in the literature before you came (information on Open Call or Final Auditions which are held the next day). Although it is ultimately trying to be helpful, I hope they understand no one is listening to a word because we are all waiting to see what is written on the little piece of paper potentially changing the courses of our lives forever. (Yes, this seems a little extreme, but you would be freaking too if you were sitting in a room as tense as this one!)

    So they finally wrap up the details, and start to hand out the papers and everyone runs to their own separate corner to read their fate. I did not make Final Audition- so I was banished to Open Call land- which is beneficial to most of you who are wondering what URTA is like, because Final Audition is identical to the Screening audition, same time restraints and everything. Open Call is where things get different. Now, you should know, on the sheet of paper, the judges give some feedback on your pieces- at least it should. My paper gave one note for each of my two pieces, just vague enough to be frustratingly unhelpful, and they didn't even respond to one of my pieces, so if you are doing URTA for feedback, you might want to consider a different audition or workshop. Anyway, on to what Open Call was like. They told us to report to the waiting room at the Hilton about 7 blocks away at 12:30, and I as there just a bit early because check out at my hotel was at 11. Now, the most interesting thing was the difference between the way they treated the two groups of actors. The Final Audition actors were treated with a fair amount of respect and understand, while Open Call auditioners were told to sit and wait. I ended up waiting until 1:30 before even being addressed by someone who works with URTA, but in their defense, acting is a waiting game- but just be ready to be ignored longer than you thought. When they did address us, they told us it would be going quick. At Open Call, you have 1 minute instead of 3, so hopefully you spent the night before cutting your piece or pieces down to fit the new time requirement. They took us in groups of 5, and literally made us run down the hall to where we were auditioning (not really calming for the nerves) and then expected to do your piece and "Hurry off the stage" so the next actor could run in.

It felt a little like this.

The Open Call auditions were over in about an hour, then we had to wait about another hour to wait for the list of school that were interested in meeting with you, or wanting you to drop off a resume and headshot (for most Open Call people it is just to drop off the resume). The rooms for the schools are around the hotel, so it is a little bit of a scavenger hunt finding them all- so if you like puzzles, you will have a fun time. The couple schools I met with were kind and inviting. But here is the other thing- do your research on who is coming. Here is the list posted on the website:

University of Alabama	NYC, CHI	DIR, TM, Design
University of Arizona	NYC, CHI	Design
Arizona State University		not recruiting with URTA in 2013
Brandeis University		not recruiting with URTA in 2013
CSU Long Beach	NYC, CHI	Design, TM
CSU Fullerton	CHI	Design
CalArts	NYC, CHI, SFO	DIR, SM, TM, Acting, Design
UC Irvine	NYC, CHI, SFO	Acting, Design, SM, DIR
UCLA		not recruiting with URTA in 2013
University of Cincinnati/CCM	NYC, CHI	Design, SM
University of Connecticut	NYC, CHI	Acting, Design
E-15 Acting School, London	NYC, CHI, SFO	Acting, DIR
Florida State University	NYC, CHI	Design, TM, DIR
FSU/Asolo Conservatory	NYC, CHI, SFO	Acting
University of Florida	NYC, CHI, SFO	Acting, Design
Illinois State University	NYC, CHI	Acting, Design, DIR
University of Illinois	NYC, CHI	Design, SM
Indiana University	NYC, CHI	Design, DIR
University of Iowa	NYC, CHI	Design, SM, DIR
Kent State University		not recruiting with URTA in 2013
University of Maryland	NYC, CHI	Design
Michigan State University	NYC, CHI	Design
University of MN
UMKC	NYC, CHI, SFO	Acting, Design, SM
UNC Chapel Hill	NYC, CHI	Acting
University of Nebraska-Lincoln	NYC, CHI	Design
Northern Illinois University	NYC, CHI, SFO	Acting, Design
University of NV Las Vegas	NYC, CHI, SFO	Acting, Design
Northwestern University	NYC, CHI	Design
Ohio State University	NYC, CHI	Design
Ohio University	NYC, CHI	Directing, Design
Penn State	NYC, CHI, SFO	Acting, Design
Purdue University	NYC, CHI, SFO	Acting, Design, DIR
University of South Carolina	CHI	Design
Southern Methodist	NYC, CHI, SFO	Acting, Design
Temple University	NYC, CHI	Design
University of TN	NYC, CHI, SFO	Acting
University of Texas	NYC CHI	Design
University of Virgina	NYC CHI	Design
University of Washington	NYC	Acting
University of Wisconsin		not recruiting with URTA in 2013

Looks like a lot- but be sure to double check how many are actually coming for your area of expertise. When they hand you the packet when you get there, the list is a fair amount smaller. In New York, there were maybe 10-15 schools- still helpful but not what it appears. And there are schools listed above who were not in attendance- so you are not getting quite what you think you are- so just be warned that you maybe aren't getting quite the deal you thought you were.

URTA is a program that is wanting to help students with their auditions for Graduate Schools- allowing them to come to one place and audition for several schools at once, which is to be commended and appreciated. But just as I learned my with applications to Undergrad- don't pay people to help you apply for school- you will rarely get what you pay for, especially when you are probably more than capable of doing it by yourself.

Keep your eyes out, in the near future I will be writing about the experience of taking Directing Projects, Mainstage Shows, and Irene Ryan Nomination Pieces to the Kennedy Festival KCACTF- to help anyone who might need it.

Love you all! 

(And a funny picture after a kind of serious post!)