Please join us as we celebrate our Pre-Professional Musical Theatre seniors in a NCAA athletic-style "Signing Day" ceremony! Our students are committing to highly competitive nationally renowned university theatre programs. Their profound accomplishments should be as noteworthy as student athletes. Please help us celebrate these extraordinary student artists!
Three Rivers Music Theatre Founding Executive/Artistic Artistic Director Andy Planck notes, “Student athletes often get much more attention and recognition from school administrations, teachers, districts, local media, communities, etc.—and rightfully so! They’re often extraordinarily talented, and their achievements are certainly noteworthy. It’s a big deal when a local student athlete commits to an NCAA program. So, we’re taking cues from the NCAA Signing Day idea and putting our own spin on it. We have six seniors this year who were all trained at Three Rivers Music Theatre right here in Fort Wayne, and they’re all committing to world-renowned university theatre programs. These programs have a lower acceptance rate than Harvard, and it is a profound achievement that all six are committing to such prestigious institutions. This accomplishment is unique and certainly noteworthy, and we hope that you’ll join us as we celebrate their incredible successes.”
Three Rivers Music Theatre has had a 100% placement rate since we started our Pre-Professional Musical Theatre Training Program 5 years ago in 2017. We hope to encourage our community to celebrate the accomplishments of young artists and academics as enthusiastically as our student athletes. THANK YOU to Arts United for hosting our “Signing Day” event!
COMPETITIVENESS OF COLLEGE THEATRE AUDITIONS:
Students are often required to submit Pre-Screen material to most of the university BFA Theatre programs. This means that they have to pass a screening process to be invited to a live audition. Many, many students don’t even pass the screening process.
Required pre-screen material includes: 2 contrasting songs (if auditioning for Musical Theatre); 2 contrasting monologues (3 monologues if auditioning for Acting); 60 seconds of dance in students’ desired style; Ballet technique video including tendus, pliés, battements, pirouettes, and across-the-floor leaps and turns; wild card videos showcasing talents outside of the required material; video responses to required prompts; 60-second “getting to know you” videos.
Top-tier university programs may see 2,000+ pre-screen applicants. They may only pass 400-500 students through the pre-screen process—top 20-25%. Our students passed almost all of their pre-screens.
If students pass their pre-screens, they will present similar material requirements in an invited live audition. There are National Unified Auditions in New York, Chicago, and LA which allows students to audition for most of the top-tier programs in a centralized location over the course of 4 days. Our students attended Chicago Unified Auditions in February.
The live auditions include monologues and singing (if auditioning for musical theatre) and often times a dance audition. Sometimes the dance audition is invited on a callback basis. Auditions often also include a brief interview portion.
After live auditions, students await offers from the various universities. Out of 2,000+ applicants, most programs select between 16-25 students to join their BFA programs for the following year. That is LESS THAN 1% of applicants. That makes top-tier college BFA theatre programs more competitive than Harvard—5% acceptance rate. Each of our students received at least 5 offers from nationally renowned programs.
Three Rivers Music Theatre SIGNING DAY
Executive/Artistic Director: Andy Planck
Pre-Professional Co-Instructor: Jodi Cotton-Street
WHEN:
Thursday, May 4th
5:30 PM
WHERE:
Three Rivers Music Theatre
416 W 4th Street
Fort Wayne, IN 46808
5:00 - Red Carpet photos on the orange carpet at the Step & Repeat
5:30 - Proclamation from the Mayor of Fort Wayne
5:35 - Welcome from Andy Planck, TRMT Executive/Artistic Director
5:40 - Students reveal their university commitments
6:00 - Reception with refreshments