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

What I Learned from Being an On-Set Assistant

Last week I had the opportunity to assist on a film shoot for Vertical Church Films! Vertical Church Films is apart of the Vertical Church branch of Harvest Bible Chapel. (I'm a big fan of Vertical Church Band as well). Check them out here!

http://verticalchurchfilms.org/

https://www.harvestbiblechapel.org/

I was on set from 3:30pm to around 2:00am and by 12:00pm I decided that if I wanted to be apart of the film industry I need to either get into drinking coffee or find another energy source because the hours can be long, but hey it's worth it!!. During my time on set I was helping behind the scenes with art and wardrobe.

Going into this gap year (or should I say Renaissance year ;)) I was worried about finding opportunities. But if you keep an open mind and look for opportunities actively you'll probably stumble on a cool project.

Here are some things I learned while on set:

1. Standing around is not recommended

I felt pretty guilty of this on set, so now I'm passing this advice on to you. If your job is to assist find a way to help and be engaged in the process. I know It's harder when you're new and not familiar with everything but ask for help (not excessively) and when given a task do it well.

2. Have an energy source for those late hours

I didn't drink coffee and I crashed by 12am. Some super human people can have energy without coffee but I'm not one of those people haha.

3. Don't bother the actors

Pretty straight forward. Of course if they speak to you answer back and be friendly!


Overall, being on set with Vertical Church was great, everyone was friendly and talkative and that just made the process so much more enjoyable. Biggest advice would be to go on to set with a positive and willing to work attitude. :)

Sincerely,
Shaheen