THE SUMMER MUSICAL THEATRE CONSERVATORY

 

2008 SUMMER MUSICAL THEATRE CONSERVATORY

Challenging musical theatre training in a professional, engaging and rewarding atmosphere for aspiring young performers ages 10 - 18!

Download the audition form at:
http://www.papermill.org/SummerConservatoryApplication_2008.DOC

The audition registration form is a Microsoft Word fill-in form. To complete the form, click in the grey areas and type into the fields. Print out the completed form and bring it with you at your scheduled audition time. You may also bring your own resume and headshot, however, this is NOT REQUIRED. All students will be photographed at the audition.

The Paper Mill Playhouse Summer Musical Theatre Conservatory will take place from June 30 to August 2, 2008. The Senior and Junior Plus divisions will be held on the campus of Montclair State University School of the Arts, and the younger Junior Division classes will take place at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ. See below for more information on Conservatory divisions.

Paper Mill's Summer Musical Theatre Conservatory offers the unique opportunity for gifted and talented young performers to challenge themselves to achieve new goals and learn new skills. Core classes include musical theatre, acting and dance and rehearsals for the end of year concert performance. Key to the curriculum is the development of self-discipline, respect, and a commitment to excellence that will serve these young artists throughout their lives. The goal of this training is to allow students to enhance their individual performance potential while also developing a broad base of theatre experience and knowledge. Students participate in demanding singing, acting, dance and improvisation classes and attend guest artist workshops led by professional actors, directors and casting agents. The end of the month is devoted to rehearsals for the New Voices Concert, performed annually on the Paper Mill Stage.

Former Conservatory students include: Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada and Disney's The Princess Diaries), Matthew Scott (Broadway's JERSEY BOYS), Robert McClure (Broadway's AVENUE Q), Antonio D'Amato (Broadway's CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG and DR. SEUSS' HOW THE GRINCH STOLE CHRISTMAS!), Nikki M. James (Broadway's ALL SHOOK UP & Off Broadway's WALMARTOPIA), Eric Schneider (Broadway's JERSEY BOYS) and Jared Gertner (Broadway's THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE)

CONSERVATORY DIVISIONS & TUITION:

The Conservatory is divided into three divisions, allowing each student to develop at their own pace and work on material that is appropriate for their age and skill level. Although age is used as a guideline, the talent, ability and maturity demonstrated by the student at the auditions also plays a part in determining placement.

The Senior Division (approx. ages 14 to 18) meets Monday through Friday from 8:45 am to 5:00 pm on the campus of Montclair State University in Upper Montclair. Tuition is $2000.

The Junior Plus Division (approx. ages 12 to 14) meets Monday through Friday from 8:45 am to 5:00 pm on the campus of Montclair State University in Upper Montclair. Tuition is $1800.

The Junior Division (approx. ages 10 to 12) meets Monday through Friday from 9:45 am to 4 pm at Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn. Tuition is $1500.

PLEASE NOTE: On-campus housing at Montclair State University is NOT available. All students must commute to campus daily.

Entry into one of the divisions is through an audition process and students are placed into the program according to their ability, demonstrated training and performance experience and mostly, the quality of their audition. All spots are open and everyone must audition - regardless of prior enrollment in Paper Mill classes or previous summer acceptance.

AUDITION INFORMATION

There are two audition days scheduled:

*[SATURDAY, JANUARY 26, 2008
&
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 2, 2008]*

LOCATION: Millburn Middle School, 25 Old Short Hills Road, Millburn, NJ 07041 (one block from Paper Mill Playhouse)

The audition panel is made up of conservatory faculty and we are looking for students with personality, presentation and communication skills, with the ability and/or potential as singers, dancers, and actors.

To schedule your audition appointment or request a brochure, call:
(973) 379-3636 ext. 2133 beginning 10am on Wednesday, January 2, 2008. Appointments will not be scheduled in advance.

OUT OF STATE APPLICANTS

Videotape/DVD auditions are accepted only for prospective students who live out of state. Tapes/DVDs must contain a singing performance of a Broadway song with accompaniment and a dance combination (ballet, jazz or tap) performed to music. Send tape/DVD to Paper Mill care of the Education Department. Submissions must be received by 2/08/08.

The 13th Annual Conservatory Concert

NEW VOICES OF 2008:
PAPER MILL GOES PLATINUM!
Celebrating 70 years of Entertainment!

August 1, 2008 at 7:30pm
and August 2, 2008 at 3:00pm & 7:30pm

The New Voices concert will feature all Conservatory students

* * *

IMPORTANT AUDITION INFORMATION
PLEASE READ CAREFULLY

Our goal is to work with as many talented students as possible, but we cannot accommodate everyone. There are 45 spots available in the Senior Division, 20 in the Junior Plus Division and 20 in the Junior Division of the July Conservatory. If you are not placed in a program this year, we hope you will continue to study and will audition for us again in the future.

HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT:

-These are closed auditions and parents are not allowed in the room for their child's audition.

-Students will be taken in by groups of ten to twelve.

-The audition should take 30 minutes. If we are running late, we hope you will be patient. We want to give everyone equal and thoughtful consideration.

SINGING: You should be prepared, before you go in, to sing only a portion of your song (it is okay to start in the middle or stop before the end). We ask you to prepare 32 bars and you will get to sing anywhere between 16-32 bars. Choose the part of the song that best shows off your voice and you. Each student will present their music to the accompanist and go on stage to sing. Briefly give the accompanist any instructions that will help him or her play for you - how fast or slow it should be, where to start, where to stop, etc. Please note that you will not get to sing the entire song and that we will stop you when we have heard what we need. This does not mean that we don't like your song or you; it just means that we don't need to hear any more.

PERSONALITY / PRESENTATION: Your enthusiasm and personality, and your ability to sell the song, is as important as the quality of your voice. We are interested in seeing you act as you sing. Think about what you are singing about, what the lyrics mean, and work to communicate that to the audition panel.

DANCING: After we listen to each member of the group sing, the entire group will learn a dance combination. You do not need to change clothes or shoes, but if you brought dance shoes you should wear them into the audition. After learning the combination, you will be asked to do it again in smaller groups of three or four. We are not only looking for evidence of dance training, but for potential and your ability to "pick-up" the routine and to "move." And we want to see your enthusiasm and personality.

MOST OF ALL: Smile and have fun! We want to see that you are the kind of person that we want to spend time and work with this summer!!!!

We will let you know by mail if you have been accepted into this summer's program. Please note that although age is used as a guideline, the talent, ability and maturity demonstrated by the student at the auditions also plays a part in determining placement.

Letters will be mailed the first week of March. Please do NOT call Paper Mill to inquire about your status.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Which song should I sing?
-You should sing the song that best suits your voice and that you have prepared.

How many audition panelists are there and who are they?
-Usually around 4-8 people judge the auditions. They are members of the Paper Mill staff and teachers who work in the Summer Musical Theatre Conservatory.

How do the audition panelists judge an audition?
-There are 3 areas of scoring: Vocal, Personality/Presentation, and Dance. Each audition panelist will score these areas between a 1 and 5, with 1 the lowest score and 5 the highest. We then tally all these scores and average them. The auditioners with the highest average scores in all three areas are admitted into the programs.

In which division will the auditioner be placed?
-We try to place auditioners into the division we feel most suits them. We spend weeks deciding who will be accepted and what division they would benefit them. Although age is used as a guideline, the talent, ability and maturity demonstrated by the student at the auditions also plays a part in determining placement.

What if I feel the auditioner is placed into the wrong division?
-We ask that you trust our judgment and know that every division of our program is taught by fully qualified teachers and is challenging.

If the auditioner does not get accepted initially, what are their chances of getting in if people drop out?
-We have a wait list, made up of every auditioner, ranked by the scores they received from the audition panel. Although it is rare that students do not accept the offer of the Conservatory, when that does happen we call the student with the next highest scores and offer the slot to them. Please do not call us about your wait list status. We will contact you if a spot opens.

Is it possible to get the audition panel's feedback?
-Absolutely! After the letters have been mailed, you can ask about your results by sending an email to Carrie Rubino, Education Associate at CRubino@papermill.org. We would be happy to share any feedback with you by email!

Are there any other summer programs that you can refer?
-We suggest you contact the NJ Theatre Alliance (NJTA) which is a coalition of all of the professional theatres in NJ. The NJTA hosts a wonderful searchable database of theatre education programs called "Class Act" which is a thorough listing of all the educational theatre programs in NJ including internships and summer programs. The publication can be found online at www.njtheatrealliance.org.

We look forward to a terrific summer. Again, thank you for auditioning!