This is the part I love about blogging. Before I started my gap year, I longed for tools that would help me make my “year on” a pivotal, and life-changing experience. Not to mention, I was looking for a guide that would cater to my interests of taking a musical theatre/ acting concentrated gap year. Well, lucky for you boo, boo, we’re in the same boat. As I’ve finished my first semester of ‘gapping,” I’ve been through a bunch of unexpected experiences and I know a few problems that you might run into. No matter what kind of gap year you’re taking, the following are mistakes that I made that you can avoid. So, without further ado...

1. Saved Money

Ah duh, right? Well, this Renaissance woman failed to do so. The thing is, we all know gap years are not cheap, especially if you are planning a travel orientated gap year. On the flip side, if you are focused on acting or re-auditioning for schools, consider the costs. Training for musical theatre means committing to acting classes, voice lessons, dance classes, and attending master classes, to say the least. Then, factor the costs of application fees, audition fees, and travel costs. 

Feel overwhelmed yet? Don’t be. I walked into my gap year with little to no money and somehow (by the grace of God!) managed to pay for classes and travel. With hard work and planning out monthly expenses, this can be achieved. In my case, I work a flexible part-time job that allows me to fund my year on, while actually enjoying my year on as well. 

But, imagine if I had started working my junior or senior year and saved for my gap year ahead of time. I could have started off with $2,000 - $5,000 or more to start my adventure. Instead of spending my precious hours working, I could have spent more time in class and rehearsal. And use more of that money to save for college! 

So, let’s say it’s May and you have just decided you want to take a gap year. I’ll have you know It’s not too late (it never is!). Take advantage of the summer months and work close to full-time. You’ll save a ton of money and start off on the right foot financially.

2. Started College Applications Earlier

...and picked a list sooner. Guys, applying to college is a time-consuming journey. It is a process that requires thought, organization, fine-tuning, and finally, waiting. For my re-auditioners, you’ll need twice as much time to prepare a stellar application, and deliver stand-out prescreens and auditions. It is recommended for seniors to have their college audition materials picked and begin coaching in the spring of their junior year. 

In all honesty, I didn’t think I would be ready to audition for a BFA degree during my gap year. Therefore, I remained in this limbo of “should I audition now?” and “If I audition next year (2019) I’ll graduate late,” etc. etc. Don’t be like me. Have a plan early and stick to it. No matter what, pick your materials a year or three seasons earlier before prescreens/auditions. Start college essays and application details in the summer, so that you can focus on auditioning in the fall/winter. 

Also, take the time to self-evaluate. Determine what kind of theatre program works for you (BFA or BA, straight-acting or strictly musical theatre, minor in theatre), what you can afford, and which schools are your reaches, matches, and safety.  Moral of the story, you want to spend your gap year doing gap year things, not stressing about applications.

3. Have My Plans Looked Over

Once you have picked the places you want to travel, classes you want to take, and budgeted, have someone you trust to look over your plans. I had spent my final moments of senior year planning and pinteresting all of my gap year ideas, believing that I had made the perfect plan. However, I had several holes and sticky situations in my plans. 

For example, I planned to go to Los Angeles by myself and basically had no money saved for that trip. Long story short, my parents disapproved of my plans (for obvious reasons) which left me pretty devastated. But, we talked it through and picked a later (and even better) date. Great, problem solved. That’s why you need to discuss your plans with your parents, possibly a trusted teacher, mentor, siblings, and anyone you trust to make sure your plans are feasible. 

Involve other people in this process.  It’s easy to become too self-involved in our own plans that we can forget other people. Ask, “how can I use my gap year time to benefit others?” “How can I make a tangible difference in other people’s lives?” 

Bringing on a fresh pair of eyes to review your plans will put them into perspective. I often pray over my plans, jot them down, and consistently go back to reassess them.

With all that being said, I believe you can have an exceptional gap year even if you neglect to do the things I did. 

I’m living proof. 

I can confidently say, I’ve probably learned more things about the career I’m pursuing and myself that I probably would not have learned in my freshman year of college. Everything always works out in the end, so don’t dwell on the should-have-beens or fear about the future.

 I can’t wait to share with you my first semester memories in the near future. Until then, stay curious and stay Renaissance people.

Sincerely,

Shaheen 

MY EXPERIENCE AUDITIONING FOR A COLLEGE FINE ARTS PROGRAM (PART 2)

In my last post, I wrote about my experience auditioning for a musical theatre program (BFA).

https://goo.gl/wVoLjg

In this post, I want to share my experience auditioning for an acting-only program for a different university. Shall we begin….

Travel

To begin, I had to figure out a travel plan with my family because this school was located in California, but I reside in the Midwest. Fortunately, many schools conduct college tours called Unifieds. If you’re familiar with the college process you know that Unifieds is a college audition tour where schools will conduct their auditions in major cities like Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York. In fact, when I went to my audition in Chicago I met several people from different places from the South to the Midwest. Since

My audition was in early February in downtown Chicago and because both of my parents had work and none of my siblings were available, I traveled to the city by myself. I left super early so by the time I arrived downtown I had time to kill. But first, my mission was to locate the hotel the auditions were being held so that I could easily find it later. It was a beautiful hotel by the way, and it was in a central place downtown. I went in and spoke with the person at the desk to make sure it was the right place. And it was! I was off to a good start
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Next, I got lost trying to find a McDonalds to eat breakfast at but thanks to some nice city goers I was able to find it. After breakfast, I still had a large amount of time so I visited Topshop, Forever 21, and H&M of course! Anyways, let’s get back to the main part: Auditioning.

The Presentation

Up the elevator, I went into an intimate room where the presentation was held. Like the other school, it was an in-depth presentation about their school and more specifically their program. What was unique about this presentation was the time she spent clarifying the difference between the BFA Acting program and the BA Acting program. To put it shortly, BFAs are students who only want to act and can’t see themselves doing anything else, while a BA would be someone who would want to double major or minor or would like to have time to pursue other interests. Because I’ve grown a strong affinity for politics and journalism, I knew a BA would fit me better since I also want to study Political Science.

After the presentation, everyone would separate. Let me break it down. There were 3 times we were all designated: Interview, Audition, and a prep time. Some would go right into the audition. Others would start with their interview and vice versa. For me, I was given prep time first, then I auditioned, and I finished with an interview. It worked out pretty well for me. During my prep time, I went over my monologues and I spoke with the other students auditioning. Also, we all were given a chance to speak with alumni. I already felt so connected to the students I spoke to, and I wish I could call them my classmates for real. We all shared our dream schools and what auditions we had left and talked about our different interests in the performing arts.

Auditioning

My name was called and I was escorted by one of the drama teachers. Compared to the room I auditioned for the MT program a week or two before, this room was very small, intimate, and personal. They let me begin with whatever monologue I chose. After I auditioned I felt good about my performance. I prefer the monologues I chose for this audition because they seemed to have more developed characters.

Interview

The interviews were quick and simple. Like the MT school, they asked me about my SAT/ACT scores and a series of questions about my theatre experience, and how I spent my high school career. I was also asked whether I would be more suited for a BA or a BFA. Afterward, my whole audition was complete! I was scheduled to meet my sister at her workplace downtown and so I got an Uber and I was on my way. P.S I was talking to this guy outside of the hotel who looked just like Joe Keery (Steve) from Stranger Things but I digress!

In the end, I was not offered a place in their BFA or BA acting program. This school is very selective when it comes to academics and my SAT score is far below their standards. And of course, maybe I wasn’t the actor they were looking for. It’s my dream school but maybe there’s a place for me there in the future 

Sincerely,
Shaheen

My Experience Auditioning for a College Fine Arts Program (Part 1)

Photo by David Mark

I get it. The college process for a prospective musical theatre or theatre/acting student can be super challenging. As you're getting ready to submit tons of essays to colleges and get good grades in your first semester, you have college auditions to worry about. I’m here to tell you that there’s nothing to worry about.

I decided that I wanted to share my college audition process with you in hopes to ease your mind and give you an idea of what to expect at an on-campus audition. Before I went in for my auditions there was this sense of mystery I had about how that day would be; I wasn't sure what to expect. Needless to say, I had an exciting day on campus. In this post, I'll share my experience for my musical theatre audition day on campus.

I submitted my prescreens to this school in December and they invited me for an on campus audition in January. There were other slots open in February but I had an acting audition in early February and I wanted to get my feet wet with this audition first so I scheduled pretty early.

Traveling

Ok so since we're still getting to know each other I should tell you that I have a procrastinating problem haha. As we left home to drive an hour and a half away to this campus, I stopped by Walgreens to pick up my printed headshots. Your headshots should be printed days (maybe even weeks) before. Anywaaayyyys I was fortunate enough to have my dad support me and drive me on this trip. In the car, I silently went over my monologue over and over again.

Check-In

Upon arrival, the building we were directed to go to was a little hard to find, which was ok because we arrived early! I checked in and the school gave me a tool kit for the day: a water bottle, backpack, and lanyard. So sweet. We were escorted into another room nearby where there were drinks and bagels and fruits galore! It was a great day so far, free food and good travel.

Presentation
After food and talking with other people who were auditioning, the presentation began. In summary, they talked in great detail about their fine arts department; what makes them stand out as a school and program, and what kind of students they were looking for.  One of my favorite parts was their slideshow of pictures of their past productions (anybody else love looking at production pictures?).

Next, we as the prospective students and parents were able to ask a myriad of questions about the school and the program. Really great questions were asked and they included really great answers. Next was the hard part: Auditioning (gasp).

Dance Call

Everyone auditioning for Musical theatre began with their dance call. We walked to a different building where the dance studios were and we were given a chance to change out of our current attire and into our dance clothes. As we filed into the room we were greeted by 3 current students and the dance instructor of the program. The session began with a warm-up, followed by a ballet sequence. I have little to no experience in ballet (working on it during my renaissance year heeey) so I struggled a little bit, but not horribly. Then the dance instructor for the program taught a jazz combo, and we were able to then separate into groups to practice with one of the students. Finally, we performed in separate groups and I felt much more comfortable because it was Jazz and the piece had a lot of room to add character.

Waiting

For the acting and singing portion, each student had their own slot starting in the morning to the afternoon. My slot was around noon so I had some time to rehearse and relax. While I waited I went over my monologues in a little corner of the room. I also talked to this mom and her daughter, the daughter being interested in the acting program.

Side note, one of my favorite parts of auditioning is the people you meet. I love hearing about what shows they've been in, how they got into theatre, and just talking about all things art! Seriously recommended getting to know people when you are able to.

Voice and Acting Audition

Yikes. It was my turn. I was given 15 minutes to sing in a practice room privately, then I sat down with a current musical theatre student right outside of the room I was going to audition in. Talking with him definitely helped to ease my nerves. As the last auditionee walked out of the room, I knew it was my turn to audition. I walked in and said hello to everyone. The vocal mentor (s), Dance instructor, and acting coach were all there to observe my audition. They asked how to pronounce my name because it's kind of a mouthful. I did monologues first. Forgot the words to the first one (bloop!) and then I performed the second one.

During my first song the vocal coach from the program pulled me away to the piano and asked me to pick a gospel song. She wanted more volume and power from me and it was nice that she invested that time in me. The second song there was a misunderstanding with the piano and that can happen so just be nice and go with the flow!

Interview

After all the singing and acting I was pulled aside in the same room for a brief interview. We discussed song choices, how I did in the dance call, the program and what to expect. Then it was over. It was the longest audition of my life and I mean that in a good way. So often you audition and then you're done and you don’t even remember what it was like. But this whole process felt like an experience, one I could remember and I valued that. The dance instructor said I looked very intimidated during the dance call, which is funny because it was the most calm I had ever felt for a dance audition. Seriously, I felt this overwhelming sense of calm that I’m not used to in dance auditions. I’m not sure what it was but I was able to forgive myself for not having ballet training and I was able to have fun and enjoy the experience regardless.

After this whole process, my dad and I took a tour of the campus and ate lunch with the theatre and musical theatre students. They were all really nice, good spirited people and I enjoyed my food (and my dad enjoyed his salad too). It was a memorable day for me; my first ever college audition. I had waited for that moment for years. In the end, I was contacted I think a month or two later and I was chosen as a BFA in Musical Theatre! In my next post, I will share my experience auditioning for an acting only program. Till then, keep working on your craft and believe you can do it no matter how much experience you have.

Sincerely,
Shaheen