Part Two: Juilliard MFA Acting Audition

To read about my prescreening process, press here

Before I start, I just must say that this was the most surreal weekend of my life (so far). I packed late Friday night since my flight was due to leave at 12:15 PM from London City Airport which is close to my house, I woke up in the morning to an email stating that my flight to Zurich (connecting in Zurich for NYC) was cancelled but thankfully there was another email saying that they had booked me a direct flight from Heathrow to Newark, NYC. This was actually better than my initial flight. Lucky!

The journey was smooth and when I got to Newark I ordered an Uber from the airport since it was around 8:30 pm. Turns out 3 is a liar. Recently, there have been loads of adverts stating that if you are on 3 you can use your phone plan in the USA. This was not the case so the data I used on my phone plan cost me £45 within my first 10 mins of being in NYC and ordering an Uber.  I checked into my hotel and had dinner then went to bed a soon as possible so I could be fresh for Juilliard the next day.

I had to be there at 9:00 AM and my hotel was a 10-minute walk away from Juilliard. Before I left, I realised that I did not have a copy of my cv so I panicked but the hotel staff kindly printed it off for me (good thing I had a copy somewhere in my emails). I left the hotel at 8:30 AM and grabbed an (overpriced) bagel on the way. I couldn’t even eat it, I didn’t feel nervous but I really wasn’t in the mood for food. It was rather emotional walking down the street listening to My Shot (Hamilton) since I felt like I was in some iconic movie. When I got to Juilliard I lined up at the reception and I instantly noticed that there were WAY more black people at the auditions than there were at UK auditions which was really refreshing to see. We were given a paper that explained how the day was going to go with a map on the other side. The lady at the desk (I think she was a current student) said that we would have a welcome talk, then, a quick warm up and after that, be assigned audition times. Once we had auditioned we were free to go but at 2 pm we should aim to be back at or in the vicinity of the school since we would be receiving an email and a text stating whether we would be recalled to the afternoon.

We then all waited in the lobby as more people arrived (many with their parents) and I bought a bottle of water from the café which I later regretted since there would be tonnes of free bottles of water upstairs. Eventually, we all went upstairs and had to line up and sign in. Now is probably a good time to mention that the students were all SO supportive and literally cheered for us wherever we went. Hooting and hollering and clapping and just shouting all sorts of encouragement. It was a wonderful feeling of ensemble, comradery and just sheer support.

 At the sign in desk, we were given a name of a student who we then had to find amongst a line of students lining up against the wall. The student then told us what room we needed to go and wait in. I got Jared as my student (more about him later on) and he sent me to a room that was called 320 or something. On the door, it had “M-Z” and since my last name begins with M, I had to wait in this room. The room was massive with chairs all along the edges and in the middle.  I started chatting with two girls, one was still in “High School” and the other went to Stellar Adler in LA and was applying to the MFA. Eventually, we all got up and went to a different room so that Richard Feldman, the Scene Study Teacher and Project Director, could give us a welcome. It lasted for a while and he mostly stressed on the fact that if it is a no it doesn’t mean they think you shouldn’t be doing what you are doing and it just means no for this particular year at this particular school. Kate Wilson, the voice teacher, came and did a warm up with us next. It was mostly vocal (well he is the voice teacher after all) and I was positively lost throughout most of it since I couldn’t really see what she was doing and she kept on calling parts of the voice and body specialist things which I had no clue about. It was very helpful though in terms of voice. Now would be a good time to mention that there were around 200 people in the hall and therefore 200 people auditioning that day.

After, I went back to the room to wait; I was second in the 11:00 AM block and it turned out that there were multiple number twos, fives etc. since there were multiple rooms. When it came closer to my time I booked a warm-up room and did some yoga and scales to get ready. The wait was long and I met so many lovely people from all over the place. I also spoke a bit to a current student called Jake who told me how at Juilliard, if they had a complaint or a problem with the course, they would actually change it which is what happened with his year and the teaching of Theatre History. In this lesson, they only taught how theatre originated from the Greeks and in General The West, Jake and other black students questioned the teacher asking her about other places but she couldn’t give them an answer and now the course has been changed to include a more robust History of Theatre encompassing all areas of the world. He also said how now they do plays from black playwrights so that they are not just telling stories of old white men which isn’t going to be appropriate for everyone to be cast in. I think this is an example of how Juilliard does not tiptoe around issues of inclusion in theatre and appropriate casting as well as varied plays and playwrights. This is something which is very unique and different from UK drama schools.

Back to the audition, a current student came into the room and called my name and I went to wait outside the audition room which was when I really got talking to Jared. He was such a funny guy! We were talking about how he met his girlfriend at Juilliard and spirituality and it was just a really great chat. When it was my turn to go in, Jared held my hand and told me “you got this” and released me into the room. On the panel was Kate, the Voice Teacher, and another woman who I didn’t know. I handed them my cv and headshot and they asked me which pieces I’d be doing. I did them both and they went okay. They then asked me which song I’d be doing and I sang it for them. The whole time they were smiling up at me and seemed to be rooting for me with their eyes. Once I left, Jared told me to hold on for a moment and he went in to chat to the panel. He came back out a few mins later and told me to go back in. I was in full shock mode because I thought that that was it but I went in even though I was in a complete daze. They redirected my contemporary monologue. Afterwards, they asked me what other monologues I have for them and I told them my two reserves (press here if you want to know which pieces I did). They asked to see my other contemporary and that was it. I left feeling very dazed and confused because I really wasn’t expecting to leave then go back in but I thought that it must have been a good thing.

I then left the school and went on a walk through Central Park to take a picture of The Alice In Wonderland statue for my 10-year-old sister (I don’t know why she wanted me to do this for her).

I came back to the school at 2pm and waited for around 10 mins before Kathy, the woman in charge of all the administrative stuff came in the room and told us that we should receive an email any moment now since they have all been sent. All of a sudden, everyone started to reach for their phones as they buzzed simultaneously. I went straight to my email and opened the long-awaited Juilliard message…

Press here if you want to find out if I got recalled…