ANNOUNCING: SPRING 2018 ACADEMY AUDITIONS

[kevhines]

Announcing Spring 2018 auditions for The UCB Training Center’s new UCB Academy Program!
Please read this in its entirety. All pertinent information should be answered below, so read thoroughly before asking questions.

***Auditions will be held Thursday 4/19, Saturday 4/21, Friday 4/27, and Sunday 4/29. There are no callbacks for these auditions, students will be selected from one round.***

***Signups will begin on Tuesday April 3rd 1:30pm. See Below for more details on how to sign up***

***Only questions answered by the Academic Director, Training Center Manager or Registrars on boards.ucbcomedy.com will be considered official answers.***

***Please do not ask questions about eligibility or auditions on Facebook groups, via email, or to any UCB Theatre or Training Center employees.***


What is UCB Academy?
viewtopic.php?f=10&t=93451


WHEN ARE AUDITIONS?
***You must have availability during the following audition times to be considered. NO EXCEPTIONS.***


FIRST ROUND AUDITIONS
Thursday April 19, 6pm - 10pm
Saturday April 21, 12:20pm - 6pm
and
Friday April 27, 5pm - 9pm
Sunday April 29, 12:20pm - 6pm


We anticipate that a decision on acceptance to UCB Academy will be announced by Wednesday, May 2nd.

We are planning to hold 3 auditions for UCB Academy every year. If you can’t make this audition or are unable to get an audition slot then plan to audition later this year.
The next audition is tentatively scheduled for late July 2018.
Look for an announcement in mid-summer.


WHERE ARE AUDITIONS?
Auditions will be held in the UCB Training Center
520 8th Avenue - 9th Floor


WHO IS ELIGIBLE?
Any student that has passed Improv 401 with a (B) Pass or an (A) Superior Grade AND has completed a multi-week UCB improv course within the last two years (March 2016 - Present)


ELIGIBILITY EXCEPTIONS
Exceptions will be granted to the above eligibility on a very limited basis and are entirely at the discretion of the Academic Director.

Exceptions will be granted based on space available.
Here is the link to request an exception:
https://goo.gl/forms/ha3oAiP6rUe7HYYN2

AUDITION SPECIFICS
-PLEASE ARRIVE THIRTY MINUTES PRIOR TO YOUR SCHEDULED AUDITION TIME.

-DO NOT bring a headshot. You must have a recent and clear photo loaded into your student dashboard.

-Instructions on how to upload photo to dashboard:
https://tinyurl.com/dashboardphoto

This photo does not need to be a professional headshot, it simply needs to be a clear and accurate representation of yourself. You can load a selfie from your smartphone or the Training Center front desk staff can help you take and load a picture. Please do not ask for help on the day of your audition and instead, if you need help from the front desk, come in days before at a time when the staff is not swamped.

-There will be a room to warm-up with your audition group. Volunteers will run the warm-up.

-On the day of the audition, improvisers will be seen every 20 minutes in groups of 8.

First round auditions will last about 20 minutes and follow this format:
-A suggestion.
-A short, true personal monologue off a suggestion
-Monologists are encouraged to tell stories from their adult life, rather than childhood anecdotes. Monologists will be asked to stop at 60 seconds.
-Four two person FIRST BEATS.
-Four SECOND BEATS. Second beats should be initiated by the improvisors who were in the first beat -- both improvisers from the first beat should step out for the second beat and either improviser can speak first.
-No groups games, but second beats should have an emphasis on “on-game” group support.
-We will edit all scenes.

Admission to UCB Academy is at the discretion of the UCB Training Center Academic Director who works in consultation with the UCB faculty to make admission decisions.


HOW TO SIGN UP FOR AN AUDITION
-Sign ups will go live on April 3rd (Tuesday) at 1:30pm
-Log in to dashboard.ucbcomedy.com and click on the “Auditions” tab in your top panel
-You will see two tabs, “My Auditions” and “Theatre Auditions” - click on “Theatre Auditions”
-You will see a link for all current auditions. Click the corresponding link for the UCBNY ACADEMY AUDITIONS.
-Once you click, you’ll see a list of all current available times to sign up for
-All times are FIRST COME, FIRST SERVED. Please sign up quickly if you have a limited schedule! We will not be able to facilitate special requests.
-Once you click a time you will be scheduled for that slot. You will have up until April 17th, 5pm to schedule, cancel, or change your slot.
-After the deadline, all changes will be closed and only your audition time will be visible to you in the “My Auditions” tab
-We cannot accommodate any swaps or changes after the deadline has passed.
-If you run into any problems or have questions, please email classes@ucbcomedy.com.
-If you are late to or miss your audition slot, you will NOT be rescheduled, and you will not be allowed to audition next round.
-If you cancel your audition once it is finalized, you will not be allowed to audition next round.
-If you need to cancel after the deadline has passed, email classes@ucbcomedy.com.

[broadstrokes]

What time on April 3rd will the ability to sign up go live?

[turkeybone]

Any more information on say, number of folks who will be admitted into the first group, or the classes that would be available in the first few months?

[Chunks52]

In order to be able to audition this time around, does someone eligible have to be available for *each* of those four dates/times (April 19, 21, 27, 29) or just *one* of those days/time-frames? Thank you!

[kevhines]

What time on April 3rd will the ability to sign up go live?

good question. The audition slots will open at 1:30pm on Tuesday.

[kevhines]

In order to be able to audition this time around, does someone eligible have to be available for *each* of those four dates/times (April 19, 21, 27, 29) or just *one* of those days/time-frames? Thank you!

just one of those times. But if the spots all fill up, we are not adding different days to this audition, so in that case you'd have to wait until the next audition.

We might expand the existing days slightly (but that would mostly be Saturday or Sunday)

[kevhines]

Any more information on say, number of folks who will be admitted into the first group, or the classes that would be available in the first few months?

No. It can vary so much it's hard to say. I'd guess 100 people, but that number is not firm and depends on the people who audition as much as anything.

We are determining the first slate of classes soon. I realize it's hard to decide if you want to join a program without knowing what classes you will have access to. Feel free to wait until the next audition if you'd rather wait and see what kinds of classes we will offer.

Sorry I don't have firmer answers. This program is still so new we are learning as we go what works best for it.

[themanofbeer]

If you successfully audition for academy in LA, but move to NY before the two years is up, can you take academy classes in NY, or do you need to re-audition in NY (and vice versa)?

Thanks!

[kevhines]

If you successfully audition for academy in LA, but move to NY before the two years is up, can you take academy classes in NY, or do you need to re-audition in NY (and vice versa)?

Thanks!

You can take classes on either coast.

[ak33]

NY auditions sign-ups were supposed to go live at 1:30 today, right? I only see sign-ups for the LA academy as of now