We did it!

The trip was absolutely amazing. We all learned so much from the workshops and made vital new York theatre contacts. We saw some truly amazing theatre. I didn't think it was possible to learn as much as I did in less than a week.

Our first day started bright and early with a 6am flight out of Tulsa. We arrived in New York hungry and ready to see some theatre! Spreading out around the theatre district, we had students at Rock of Ages, Newsical, and Priscilla.

The next day was a full day of workshops with some fabulous CDs. We starting with a musical theatre audition workshop with Patrick Goodwin from Telsey and Co. He was fabulous and very helpful. Then we did a commerical audition workshop with Barry Shapiro. It was tons of fun and so informative. As theatre majors, film and tv can seem a little bit mystical and far away from our college training, but this workshop opened up a whole new world of work. Our last workshop of the day was with Meghan Rafferty from Ellen Lewis Casting. It was another really awesome workshop into a new field. Auditioning for on camera work is so different. We dipped on toes in a little bit, and it was amazing how people flew!
The next day we had a business workshop with the everhelpful Tony Pastor. As president of Actor's Connection, he gave us so much on the business of the business. After two hours, our brains were about to explode with all of the useful information he gave us! After lunch we went through a private coaching with diretor Gary John LaRossa. He is amazing and was so sweet to all of us. His insights and tweakings brought our showcase numbers to a higher level.
Then it was time for the showcase. We started with the closed one, took a dinner break, and performed the open one. All of the agents and managers that came were really cool. We made some good connections and got some interviews for the next few days!

We had several full day of interviews after the showcase. There was also a whole lot of theatre hopping. between the various groups of intrepid ticket hunters, students saw The Normal Heart, Catch Me If You Can, Anything Goes, Billy Elliot, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Born Yesterday, and House of Blue Leaves. We enjoyed the amazing theatre that the city had to offer, met up with some TU alums, and then it was back on a plane to Tulsa just in time to graduate!

 Thanks to everyone at Actors Connection, especially Shorey Walker. She made our showcase move seamlessly and was a fabulous hostess. Thanks to everyone at the TU theatre department. Jim Gregory, Machele Dill, Erin Maclaine, Lisa Wilson, Susan Barrett, Dr. Cook, the fabulous Sandy Plaster, and our fellow theatre students who helped support us. Many, many, many thanks to Dean Benedicktson at TU. Without him, this trip would never have happened. Thanks also to the communities and our familes that supported us with this. To the class of 2012, it's your turn now! Go make us proud. We will see in New York next May! :)