Theater Audition Instructions

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Theater Department Admissions

An audition is required to be considered for admission to the Theater Department at Cornish College of the Arts. The audition gauges your potential for success in the Theater Department.

When and Where to Audition

We offer auditions on campus and in several locations around the country. Applicants are encouraged to audition in person. For those who cannot, you can audition by DVD. On-campus auditions are available January through July. Off-campus auditions are part of the Unified Theater Auditions in February. Locations include: New York City, Chicago, and Los Angeles. In addition, Cornish will also host an audition in San Francisco.

Audition Requirements

 
• You will need to memorize two monologues from contemporary plays.  Cornish will provide you with one of the monologues.  The other monologue is of your choice.  The monologue you select should be a contemporary piece that is no more than two minutes in running length.  Try to choose a monologue whose mood, style and intention offer an interesting contrast to the Cornish selection.  It should have a strong objective that allows you to play actions that connect you with another character. Most importantly, it should be a piece that you enjoy performing. 

 
• Make sure you have gone over your monologues in front of other people.  Read the plays from which they were chosen, so you understand what is at stake for your character.

 
• Also you will need to prepare 16 bars of a song (a verse and a chorus) to be sung unaccompanied.  Try to choose a song that allows you to play an action, and brings your focus out rather than inward.  If you are not used to singing in front of people, don’t worry, we are more concerned about how you deal with the size of emotion required to sing than whether you are a “good singer.”

The Day of Your Audition

Please bring a copy of your resume and a current photo (a Polaroid is fine). Dress comfortably in clothes that allow you freedom of movement.

The most important suggestion we can give you is:  be prepared to PLAY.  The audition will be a chance for us to see you use your imagination, to see how you give and receive from your fellow actors in a group, and how you respond to suggestions.  Jump in and play with fearlessness and joy.  Have fun.

The audition will also include a physical warm-up, improvisations and theater games, and an interview with faculty about your goals and interests.  You may be asked to try different approaches to one of your monologues, to see how you respond to direction.

There will also be a brief interview after the audition, where we will ask you about your goals and values.

Applicants interested in the Performing Arts Emphasis should be prepared to discuss their reasons for this choice in their interview.  This track requires a separate audition for placement in singing classes or voice lessons in the Music Department during Fall Orientation (the week before school starts).  

Audition by Video or DVD

Because an in-person audition will give us a chance to actively work with you and better judge your skills, especially improvisational skills and your ability to work with an ensemble, it is to your advantage to audition in-person at Cornish or at the Unified Auditions. If circumstances make an in-person audition difficult, you may submit an American format VHS tape or DVD. Send your tape or DVD to the Office of Admission, not directly to the Theater Department.

Auditioning by tape or DVD will not allow us to access your improvisation or ensemble skills; therefore we can only admit you on a provisional basis. During the first year we will monitor your progress and development in these areas and make sure you are placed in the appropriate courses and ensembles.

Videotape auditions must be accompanied by two letters of recommendation from people familiar with your performance work. They can either accompany the video or DVD, or be sent separately to the Office of Admission. These letters should include a telephone number and email address, if available, for the recommender. If you want your videotape or DVD returned please include a self-address stamped envelop with sufficient postage. Mail your audition material to:

Admissions Office
Cornish College of the Arts
1000 Lenora Street
Seattle, WA 98121

When putting your audition tape together, use the following guidelines:

• Tape your audition in a theater space or rehearsal hall (not required as long as the emphasis remains on you).
• Make sure that the acoustics are good (in other words, no echo) and that there is sufficient light.
• No costumes, makeup, or background sound effects should be used. Feature your whole body on the tape, though it is permissible to zoom in to a waist-up view once you have begun a monologue.

Introduce your tape by stating your name, age and place of residence. Briefly discuss your goals and experience. Introduce and then present two contrasting monologues (see Audition Requirements above), each no longer than two minutes. Then, sing 16 bars of a song unaccompanied. Finally, answer the following questions, in as much depth as you can:

1. Who is one of your heroes - either in life or in the performing arts - and why?
2. Imagine that you got a grant to produce a play that you would either commission or write yourself. It could be in the theater of your choice, with the cast of your choice. The only condition is that it has to be about some issue - personal, social, political, environmental - that you care strongly about. What would you want your play to be about and what would you want the audience to take away from the experience of seeing your play?

Please note: We encourage you to watch your audition and do it over if you feel there is some aspect of it that you can improve. This is one advantage of video.

Audition Monologue

• For Female Applicants "Fool for Love" by Sam Shepard MAE:  Okay.  Look.  I don’t understand what you’ve got in your head anymore.  I really don’t. I don’t get it.  Now, you desperately need me.  Now, you can’t live without me.  NOW, you’ll do anything for me.  Why should I believe it this time?  It was supposed to have been true every time before.  Every other time.  Now it’s true again.  You’ve been jerking me off like this for fifteen years.  Fifteen years I’ve been a yo-yo for you.  I’ve never been split.  I’ve never been two ways about you.  I’ve either loved you or not loved you.  And now I just plain don’t love you.  Understand?  Do you understand me?  I don’t love you.  I don’t need you.  I don’t want you.  Do you get that?  Now if you can still stay then you’re either crazy or pathetic.
• For Male Applicants "Death of a Salesman" by Arthur Miller BIFF:  No!  Nobody’s hanging himself, Willy!  I ran down eleven flights with a pen in my hand today.  And suddenly I stopped, you hear me?  And in the middle of that office building, do you hear this?  I stopped in the middle of that building and I saw - the sky.  I saw the things that I love in this world.  The work and the food and time to sit and smoke.  And I looked at the pen and said to myself, what the hell am I grabbing this for?  Why am I trying to become what I don’t want to be?  What am I doing in an office, making a contemptuous, begging fool of myself, when all I want is out there, waiting for me the minute I say I know who I am!  Why can’t I say that, Willy?

2012 On Campus Audition Dates

• April 7, 21
• May 5
• June 9

2012 Off Campus Audition Dates

Have concluded.  Current applicants must audition on campus or send a DVD to be considered.