By ISAAC BEENE
With the start of the new academic year comes audition season. Every year, posters line the halls advertising new opportunities for students to get involved on campus. Performing arts departments like Theater Arts and the School of Music invite students to audition, but these faculty-directed ensembles make up only a small chunk of the possibilities. Many students choose to participate in student-led groups, such as the Repertory Dance Group (RDG)—the all-inclusive dance club, Barebones Theater Collective—a collection of three theater-based groups in musical theater and comedy, and the many a cappella groups. These groups invite interested students to perform a part of a song, dance, or scene and are then judged for fit or placement within the group.
Maintaining group culture is an important quality that leaders look for in auditions. To Hayden Roberts (‘28), musical director for Underground Sound, the mixed-voice a cappella group stated, “While we aren’t a group that requires a lot of experience, it is important that the people we bring into the space are a good fit for the culture and that they clearly understand and commit to the expectations.”
Many leaders also look to fill specific niches within their group, such as a certain vocal range. The music director for Garden Level, the tenor and bass a cappella group, Rory Morgan (‘28), emphasizes, “Important factors obviously are what voice types we are looking for; for example, if we graduate a strong tenor we are gonna want a new strong tenor in their place.”
For groups that cut people in their auditions, it is not easy to turn people away. The musical director for Jam it!, the treble voices a cappella group, Taylor Irwin (‘27) adds an empathetic note, “We are always sad to turn people away, but it can be for a host of reasons and is usually not because we didn’t ‘like’ them or their voice.”
For groups with no-cut auditions, like Curtain Call, Barebones’ musical theater group, and RDG, the audition process functions more like a placement process. For these organizations, this no-cut audition process is also a vital part of their mission and culture. Curtain Call President Camden Allvey (‘27) comments, “We want to make a space where people can create musical theatre in a low-stakes environment. We don’t strive for perfection, but rather to see our actors gain confidence and experience on stage.” RDG president, Charley Peebler (‘27), adds, “Many of our dancers come from competitive dance backgrounds and have experienced toxic dance spaces, and many of our dancers have never danced before joining RDG. If we started cutting dancers in our audition process, we could potentially end up shifting our club culture into a more toxic space.”
Groups saw mixed results in the number of auditioners this year. Allvey notes how the large freshman class impacted Curtain Call auditions: “I think this semester is the most new faces I’ve seen at auditions. We definitely had a large pool of first-year auditioners this semester; however, I think it balanced out well considering how many Curtain Call participants graduated this past spring.” A cappella groups also saw better turnout. Irwin believes the higher turnout is not just because of the size of the incoming class. “I think more people auditioned for a cappella in general, which is really exciting! We have been working this year on communication between groups and a shared love of music that we can all participate in.”
Barebones Collective’s Ubiquitus They (UT) sketch and improv’s joint auditions perhaps did not see as large of a bump in auditioners. Jake Williams (‘29), co-lead for UT improv, was confident about turnout but claims it was not significantly more than normal. “We’ve had a pretty large turnout the past couple of semesters, and it feels consistent with what we’ve had in the past.”
RDG saw a large bump in auditioners, with a record of over 200 people auditioning for the fall semester. That is in line with their typical spring numbers but far exceeds typical fall numbers. More than 50 people also attended make-up auditions, a record. Peebler and the executive team attribute this to the club’s commitment to accessibility and the excitement of its members. “Anytime someone says they can’t do RDG because of scheduling or unavailability, RDGers will mention makeup auditions, virtual auditions, and that our club works with dancers’ schedules to organize rehearsals.”
For Underground Sound, this year was exciting for more reasons than the number of auditioners. This is the first set of auditions since Underground Sound absorbed the other mixed-voice a cappella group Timberfolk. Allvey, also the vice-president of Underground Sound, is not worried about the merger. “We’ve been working together since the late spring semester to create a seamless transition into the combining of our groups. However, the audition process itself did not change, just the circumstances and leadership.” Roberts added, “I was not looking for ‘Timberfolk people’ or ‘USound people’; I was looking for people who exemplify the characteristics of a group yet to fully develop its own unique culture but whom I thought could help in that regard.”
This year the Barebones Collective added another audition to its line-up, offering even more opportunities for involvement. A new event, The Rocky Horror Cabaret, hosted its auditions the day after UT auditions. Williams, the production’s director, explains the event as “a collection of lip-sync numbers from and inspired by the Rocky Horror Picture Show.” Williams claimed that because this was a new event, it was harder to get people to audition. “Looking at the numbers between that project and other Barebones, this was definitely less attended.”
Many students express feeling overwhelmed and stressed by audition season, but Maddie Reis (‘30), a freshman who auditioned for and got into UT improv and RDG, has advice for students looking to get more involved on campus. “Just go for it; if it is something you love and are passionate about, you will meet some amazing people and gain good experience for the future!”