April Break Part 2: UArts

Pro tip: Airbnb is a godsend for college auditions, visits and other weekend trips. And if you own your apartment, it's a GREAT way to make a little extra cash. We stayed at a lovely apartment that came with a cat and was really close to UArts.
In the morning, I went on the tour. You walked in and they were like "are you accepted? Have a T-shirt AND sweatshirt!" It was performing arts specific, which was nice. I walked into the room and saw a girl I know from school/my voice studio at home! She is a junior and was touring UArts. She was like, "you're going here, right?" and I was like "I don't know, probably!" We would have been on the same tour but they separated out the accepted students. There were four families. We saw dorm rooms (they are HUGE! and every room has a kitchenette!), the dining hall (the food looks awful and unhealthy and I was really worried), and all the beautiful theaters. We also went around the theatre and liberal arts floor. UArts is on threeish blocks of Broad Street, and so are like five theaters and the Philadelphia Orchestra. And there is sushi nearby and it's really good (as we all know, that would be a must if I ever auditioned for anything!).
I also sat in on two classes the first day. The first one was a beginning jazz dance class. It was very modern and I really liked the teacher. The students were so nice and they all ran over to talk to me when they found out I was an accepted student. I saw a ton of people I recognized from, um, stalking YouTube and Twitter. Oops. Anyway, the class looked hard physically but super fun. I imagine you would learn a lot from going to a class like that every week! The dance class was ALL girls. I was like "so there are boys in the program...right?" Not because I have any romantic ideas (I pretty much gave up on getting married right out of college at the Brandeis financial aid meeting) but because of casting! They assured me there are boys in the program. It's not equal though, based on what I saw in other classes. They don't do the "we take 10 boys and 10 girls" thing. I think you can't really do that when you are getting a yield. It makes sense that it would be lower for boys. Oh well! The next class I sat in on did have two and one performed. It was a musical theatre performance class. All the people who performed were FANTASTIC. The acting was so good and the last few songs were so sad. I was nearly crying by the end. The teacher was beautiful and wonderful and such a mentor to the kids and her husband is on Broadway right now and she told a story about Harvey Fierstein. I left the second class like, this is it, this is real, this is me, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be now. (Gonna let the light shiiine on meee!)
Anyway, one of the other girls on the tour had also watched the class and I walked back with her and her mother and we took pictures on the steps under the big UArts banner in our free T-shirts!
I came back again the next morning to watch one more class. It was an acting studio, with freshman MT and acting majors. They were doing a really cool interpretation of Macbeth where they switched characters really often. So like one girl was Lady Macbeth in the out damn spot scene and then became Macbeth for his death scene. I thought the first Macbeth was INCREDIBLE. They had rehearsed it a lot and they were worried about it getting stale but it was fresh to me so I can't really judge. It seems like the program is still finding its footing because of the recent change in leadership, and I'm really excited to see how it ends up. And be a part of it. They seem to be pretty good about getting feedback from students as well.

My mom's financial aid meeting went so much better than Brandeis. UArts won't hold Grandpa's money against us and won't take away my scholarships if I make money. They are very accommodating, which is refreshing! 

So my "decision" basically made itself. I have a couple of giant posts summing up the entire process that are coming soon. I paid the deposit as soon as I got home yesterday. It feels SO GOOD to be done.
UArts really has it all, and for the right price. I can take management and casting classes through the Directing, Playwriting and Production program, plus business classes from the college across the street. And I get to perform first. I pointed out that it was exactly what I had in mind last summer: like Circle, a conservatory BFA in a city, but tenured professors so the program feels like a cohesive entity and then, like, maybe one English class a semester.
So there you have it! The journey is done! UARTS BFA MT CLASS OF 2019!