Theater Audition

Acting Audition Requirements and Process

Students seeking admission to the NWSA High School theatre program will be screened by a panel of theatre professionals.

The process consists of the following elements:

A prolonged practical session under the guidance of NWSA teachers and students, including physical exercises, theater games and improvisations. No preparation for this session is needed other than to be adequately dressed in loose, comfortable clothing.
A memorized monologue from a published literary or theater work, one and a half to two minutes in length, by a character which must be from the applicant's age range. The judges will be looking for naturalness, honesty, evidence of a true understanding of both the character and full context of the monologue, good vocal projection, clear diction, and body control. Accents and dialects that are not the candidate's own natural way of speaking are to be avoided at all costs. The applicant is also advised to have a clearly defined focus. To whom is the monologue being delivered? Where is the imaginary person standing or sitting?
Improvisation exercises may be requested from the applicant. Here the emphasis is on imagination, creativity, flexibility, and concentration.
An in-depth, confidential interview in which the applicant is expected to be relaxed, honest, and able to demonstrate a reasonable command of language. The applicant is advised to be articulate about career goals in the theatre.

Musical Theatre Audition Requirements and Process

A select number of students will be admitted into the Musical Theatre track, which is comprised of the basic core courses required of all theatre majors, as well as training in voice, dance, and fundamental musical theatre repertoire. Applicants wishing to be considered for this track will be expected to:

Complete steps #1 through #4 as described above in the Acting section
Perform a short song from a musical, approximately 60 seconds in length. Applicants should bring an piano accompaniment recording of their song selection and a Bluetooth speaker.
Demonstrate dance skills in a short ballet and jazz dance class.

Applicants should wear comfortable clothing that does not restrict movement or obscure the shape of the body, and ballet and/or jazz dance shoes (or other adequate shoes).

Call back Determination

After applicants to the high school theatre program have completed the first round of auditions, the Dean will identify the top scoring applicants in each of the two programs, Acting and Musical Theatre, approximately 30-40 applicants per program.

Acting

The Dean will identify perfect and near perfect scores on the monologue audition and adjust these scores by points gained or lost in the interview. The top 30-40 candidates will be called back.

Musical Theatre

The Dean will identify perfect and near perfect scores that are the average of scores for the monologue audition, the dance audition, and the singing audition, and adjust these scores by points gained or lost in the interview. The top 30-40 candidates will be called back.

The Dean will also identify perfect and near perfect scores in the monologue audition of Musical Theatre applicants who did not achieve competitive scores in the dance or singing auditions. These Musical Theatre applicants will be called back to compete as ACTING applicants and will henceforth be grouped with the ACTING candidates.

Call back Auditions

At the call-back audition, students will repeat the monologue (and song) that was presented at the initial audition. The dance portion of the musical theatre audition will repeat the original dance number taught at the initial audition.

Status of Applicants

A call back invitation should not be interpreted as an acceptance to the program. Many more applicants will receive this invitation than will be accepted for enrollment.

Note that, upon the strength of the initial audition, the Dean may choose to rank for acceptance an applicant. This applicant would not receive a call back appointment.

In effect, the call back list is not a final indicator of an applicant’s status.

The final indicator is the formal notice of acceptance, of alternate status, or of non-acceptance.

Location and Parking

NWSA, 25 NE 2nd Street
Building 5, Eighth Floor, Black Box, Room 5807.

Parking is available in the MDC lot next to Building 5 and can be accessed from NE 3rd street.