The time has come for the moment that will most likely influence the next four years of your life: the short interaction that will show college faculty firsthand what you’re capable of. Most of the work of finding a well-suited college has been done. Research’s been completed, applications sent out—now it’s about the audition.
“Monologues are horrible animals,” admits Lucien Douglas, a faculty member at University of Texas at Austin. “We all hate doing them, we all hate looking for them, listening to them—but they’re a convenient way to get to know another person who wants to be an actor. We can see if you have talent, any sense of instincts, a creative imagination, if you’re able to access emotion freely—and I don’t mean a frenzy of emotion, but allowing yourself to come from a real place. Anything apart from that is distracting.”
Actors would do well to avoid distractions when competing against 800 other applicants for the 14 spots in UT Austin’s theater program, according to Douglas. With eight main-stage productions casting undergraduates, as well as other student-driven projects, UT Austin is selective with those who receive the same
Leave a Reply