Auditions - Day 2!

Today was the singing round of auditions! There were so many kids that not all were able to sing their individual solos, and instead learned songs from the show like "Freak Flag" and "What's Up Duloc?" and sang in small groups. First, I took attendance. I continued to track the influx of audition forms and $30 checks, and handed out new audition forms to students who had just
decided to audition that day. I also sat in on the last few groups that auditioned, including the possible Shreks, Farquaads, and Fionas, and took notes on who stood out! The Pier School has some amazing singers, that's for sure!

It's going to be really difficult to cast the show. Friday is the last round of auditions - dancing! Unfortunately, i won't be able to attend, but i'm sure that Ms. Miller will update me afterward!

Auditions - Day 1!

The first round of auditions was today! About 80 students auditioned for the roles of Fiona, Shrek, Gingy, Lord Farquaad, Donkey, Pinocchio, and more! I arrived at the Pier School at 2:10 and immediately jumped into writing name tags for each child that had signed up to audition. When the bell rang and the students began to gather in the cafeteria, I collected their permission forms, behavioral agreement statements, and $30 entrance fees (to help cover the cost of snacks provided at each rehearsal). I created a spread sheet with every student's name and three columns labeled "permission slip," "behavioral agreement," and "$30" so I could keep track of who handed me what forms. Once I had all the money organized into an envelope and identified which students still needed to complete parts of their audition packet, I organized the audition forms by grade (5-8) and then by alphabetical order to make it easier to pull out a student's form if I should so need. Around 5:15, I shifted my focus to the music room in which the kids were auditioning and performing their scenes (or "sides") for the director, choreographer, head producer, and assistant directors. As I watched each duo of students perform their scene (either Shrek/Fiona, Gingy/Farquaad, or Shrek/Donkey), I made notes next to each name on the list about which role might suit him or her. The "reading" round of auditions finally ended at 6:15, but tomorrow the real test begins - singing auditions!

Today my senior project was officially approved!! Auditions for Shrek got pushed back to next Monday, Tuesday, and Friday due to a scheduling conflict with the musical director, so in the meantime I'll be studying the character breakdown and reading the script to familiarize myself with the show! See you next week!

Even though my senior project hasn't officially been approved yet, I just couldn't resist getting my feet wet today. Since the auditions for Shrek are next Monday, Tuesday, and Friday, Ms. Miller and I had to put together a giant audition packet for all the kids who want to be in the show. The packet included an audition form requesting basic contact information, a behavioral agreement letter (making sure all the young actors are engaged, focused, and respectful during rehearsals is something we're going to focus on this year), a breakdown of the characters (Shrek, Fiona, Lord Farquaad, Donkey, etc.) and three different "sides," or scenes, for the kids to perform when they audition. It was a lot of information to organize at once, and the packet ended up being 16 pages long, but we finished it and sent it out to be copied! I'm so excited to get the ball rolling on Shrek! I can't wait for the first round of auditions on Monday!