As I sit down to write this blog, we’ve just wrapped our whirlwind tour of the National Unifieds auditions in NYC, Chicago, LA once again. This is my 19th year doing this process, with nearly that many times making that particular cross-country trip, and each year I leave full of crazy stories and big feelings from the roller coaster ride that each audition cycle brings. Each year in our “Green Rooms”, at our Kickoff Meetings, walking through the hallways, and in our text groups, I am so proud of this amazing team of humans – not just for their talent and their passion, but for the supportive community they have created. During the “Green Room Interviews” we do for the podcast, it was inspiring to hear how many of our students spoke of the warm and inclusive group they created to lift each other up and help each other out through this stressful process.
And inevitably, I am always struck each year by a guilty pang when I see students and parents navigating this difficult process on their own. Whether in the cramped hallways of Pearl studios or the over-taxed elevators of the Palmer House, you can often spot these families by a terrified look, or a sinking feeling that everyone else seems to know what they are doing (“and do they all seem to KNOW each other?”) while they themselves feel lost and overwhelmed.
You should not choose to work with any person or coaching team based on any kind of perception of Access
I spoke about this in my most recent intro on the pod, and I want to say it in writing too, that we at MTCA are very much against any kind of exclusivity or cliquishness – if you find yourself stumbling across these words and you’re ever lost yourself in this kind of an audition scenario, I hope you will reach out to an MTCA person wearing a name-tag or a button, and know they will be glad to help you out! I say all that by way of an intro to a blog about the value of coaching, because I want to start out by saying what coaching is NOT about. In my opinion, you should not choose to work with any person or coaching team based on any kind of perception of Access. That goes for MTCA or any other team/group/person out there. It’s human nature to think “Oh, she booked that part because of nepotism” or “It was because he knew the right people” or even “They cast them because of their TikTok followers”. And that’s not to say that such things are never the case in the professional theater world (or in other professions), but as I often like to say, this college process really is a Subjective Meritocracy. It’s frustratingly subjective, but beautifully meritocratic. Meaning, when you walk in the room, these colleges are genuinely looking for the best people for their program without favor, and they are not giving you a boost because a coach greased a palm.
So…if it’s not about Access (which I think too many parents spend too much focus on), why DO you even need Coaching? In my opinion, the reason for coaching is all about the value of Process.
At the end of the day, what an expert coach can provide you will go beyond tips and tricks, and go beyond insider information. They can simply help you be the best version of yourself.
if we detect the coach’s ego, the coach’s forced choices on the student, then we are watching a student wearing their coach’s clothing
And that’s where I think it’s essential you find the right coach, and someone who is an expert in this specific process, because you certainly hear about the flipside of that. When colleges will talk about material being “over-coached”, they are describing something that is directed, choreographed, or planned within an inch of its life. And damningly, I think they are often describing a package of material that smells so much like a coach that it becomes harder to detect the nature of the student underneath. These are the perils of “bad” coaching – if we detect the coach’s ego, the coach’s forced choices on the student, then we are watching a student wearing their coach’s clothing, and it becomes counterproductive to the experience of revealing the students own unique personality and what they have to offer (and that’s true no matter how fashionable that coach’s clothing may be).
And I think this is what leads many students to think, should I just do this on my own? At least it will be ME making the choices, right? And honestly – if there was only a choice between bad coaching and no coaching at all, I would opt for that option. Faculty members absolutely try to look hard at “raw” students and see the talent underneath, even if a student’s ill-informed choices may be juvenile or inappropriate. And honestly, for the phenomenally talented student, they really could sing the Star-Spangled Banner and monologue the Pledge of Allegiance and get into school. From the faculty member’s perspective, they are not accepting the student’s choices in the room, but the human being who comes with those choices.
each individual aspect of it takes a lot of practice AND you have to put it all together and stick the landing with confidence and ease!
But why then would I spend all of this time and money on coaching? Don’t you run a coaching company, Charlie? Well, for the 99% of our students who aren’t Lady Gaga in A Star Is Born at 17 years old, going through this audition process with integrity and expert guidance can be a huge advantage in a young person’s ability to access their truest, most authentic version of themselves, and consistently bring that person in the room. For those of you who are just starting out with this process, I cannot accurately describe how HARD of a thing it is to ultimately do. Imagine the experience of walking into a room (of strangers), going up to an accompanist (who is a stranger), and singing two contrasting songs, immediately followed by two contrasting monologues, potentially followed by interview questions and adjustments on your material (the specifics of which you can’t know in advance). It’s a herculean feat! We often use the Olympics analogy for this process, but it really is like doing a full floor routine – each individual aspect of it takes a lot of practice AND you have to put it all together and stick the landing with confidence and ease!
And I know some parents feel like, if my kid was really talented enough to do this, why should they need a coach to tell them what to do? And I certainly understand that instinct – but if you think of that Olympics analogy, how many of those athletes are getting to that elite level without a coach? Or really, a series of coaches! Or my regular readers/listeners will know my favorite basketball player is Steph Curry – an NBA player widely acknowledged to be the greatest shooter of all time – and he has…a shooting coach. Does that mean Steph Curry isn’t great on his own? Of course not – but he sees how the benefit of an outside eye with expertise and perspective can help him be a better version of himself.
we can often help you see your truest intention better than your initial perception of it.
And pivotally with MTCA (or, in fairness, any expert coach on this process), we are never going to actively make choices for our students. We know that these are not our auditions, but yours! What we can provide for you, alongside that expert outside eye and mirror to your artistic instincts, is a process by which you can explore your growing and evolving personality, and make choices for yourself that may feel more “you” than choices you would have come to on your own. The same way a great therapist isn’t going to tell you what to do in life, but may be able to help you discover smart life choices and see situations with different perspectives. In listening to your goals and dreams for yourself, and presenting material to you that you might not have encountered on your own, you’ll see possibilities for representing yourself that you may not have seen before. It’s still always going to be you in the center – you always decide on the material and the artistic choices you want to make – but having an expert eye on the outside who has been through the process before, we can often help you see your truest intention better than your initial perception of it.
In the arts world, we often talk about freedom within structure. Having a bit of structure and guidance is often the thing to unlock real freedom, as opposed to the experience of staring at a blank page of infinite possibilities. And honestly, when doing it on their own, most students don’t take themselves through a distinct process at all, but instead tend to mimic the experiences of the one or two friends they know who have gone through the process, or even worse resort to the terrors of Social Media for guidance. It’s not just that they will not have ready access to a vast library of Songs and Monologues at a young age (which of course, few students do), but that they will zero in on a singular answer of “the perfect song” based on what they can Google. So instead of being themselves, they are now going to be engaged in mimicry of the last student they know who got into their dream school on YouTube, or the tips and tricks of what TikTok tells them to do – and that is not a recipe for artistry, but disaster.
All of which is to say, there are many benefits to coaching, and to working with expert educators in general. From skill-building growth, to help navigating this vulnerable and harrowing process in all of its myriad ways, from material selection to strategic guidance based on your goals.
Does that mean you NEED a coach? No, I don’t believe it does. There are absolutely those unique people who can succeed in this process on their own. I think they tend to be truly remarkable and freakishly talented, but they do exist. And I would NOT choose a coach based on any perception of access, or because you think they have unique insider-info or “the one way to do this” or anything of that nature. But instead you should choose a coach that will help you make this process your own – a coach who will help you become a more distilled and authentic version of yourself.
About the Author
Charlie is a native Pittsburgher and a proud graduate of Carnegie Mellon University, where he studied Acting. As an actor, Charlie has performed for the NY Public Theatre’s “Shakespeare in the Park” (All’s Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure), the Pearl Theatre Company (Richard II), the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (King Lear, The Three Musketeers, Romeo and Juliet, Love’s Labour’s Lost), The Shakespeare Theatre of DC (Richard II, Henry V, As You Like It, Mrs. Warren’s Profession), Middlebury Actor’s Workshop (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), The Arts Center of Coastal Carolina (The Unexpected Guest), and the Chautauqua Theatre Company (Much Ado About Nothing, Vaidehi, Ah, Wilderness!). Along with MTCA coaches Ryan Quinn and Katie Hartke, Charlie co-founded and is the Managing Director of Esperance Theater Company — a company that produces classical-based work here in NYC. With Esperance, Charlie has performed in 12th Night, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, and Breitwisch Farm. As a teacher, Charlie has been working with MTCA for over 17 years, where he is now a Director of the company along with Leo Ash Evens. Charlie also teaches Acting and College Audition Prep for the Performing Arts Project (TPAP), where he is on faculty each summer. He has also taught for Texas State University, the City University of New York, and the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. As a Teacher and Director, he is able to do two of his favorite things in life: help students to find their authentic selves as artists, and help them find their best fit for their collegiate journey. Charlie also hosts the “Mapping The College Audition” podcast, where he continues that work, and helps demystify this daunting audition process. Charlie is also the proud father to a precocious toddler, partner to an amazing Tony-nominated + Grammy-winning Actress, and a humble Broadway Softball League champion.
