Juilliard Audition

Hello Internet! So I just got back from my Juilliard audition, which was the most positive and encouraging experience that I have had thus far this semester. They were so encouraging and positive and really made each and every one of us feel incredibly comfortable.

We were all kept in one large waiting room at the beginning, it was a very different atmosphere from my other auditions. Everyone was very quiet and not talking to one another at all. Luckily, I quickly made some friends who like me were far more comfortable talking. The woman organizing the audition called us all into the main room and explained the process to us.  She gave us a very encouraging speech about how grateful she was that each and every one of us had come out.  She then explained that we would be brought in as a group to do a 30 minute orientation and warm-up. After that we were to follow the list on the wall for our time slots. It was broken up into two groups. After the first group had all finished a callbacks list would be posted, and the same after the second group. 

The group warm up was so fantastic. It was an amazing experience to have a super short class with some of the best acting faculty in the United States. Their head of acting gave a long speech at the beginning about what it meant to choose the life of an actor. He talked about how your entire life never rests on one audition.  It was a very inspirational speech that put us into the right frame of mind for the audition.  We then did an amazing warm up with their head of voice and speech, and I felt thoroughly prepared for my audition.

I was the third one to go, which worked out perfectly-it gave me enough time to prepare but was not so long that I had to warm up again.  Before going into the audition room, I sat outside with the administrative woman who organized the auditions.  We had an incredible conversation about how the universe puts us where we are meant to be in life, and how that is always the right attitude to have about nerve racking situations.  She calmed my nerves and put me in the right mindset before going into my audition.  When in the room, I was told to take as much time as I needed and to announce both of my pieces and then do them back to back.  I did my Eurydice monologue followed by my Queen Margaret monologue. I was then asked to sing a short snippit of my song.  He then said thank you and I went back into the waiting room. Unfortunately, I did not receive a callback, but thanks to the amazingly positive atmosphere I was not phased by it one bit, I walked out of there smiling and genuinely happy, and ready to move on to my next audition.

In a few days I will be flying to the UK to do my Oxford School of Drama audition, which I am incredibly excited about. Keep an eye out for that plus any updates about callbacks that I may hear about before then!