Student Blog: Senior Showcase

All the seniors at Dobbins Conservatory in the BFA Acting and Musical theatre program are given the opportunity to participate in senior showcase where we all get to perform for different professionals in the industry in New York city! We either get to sing a two minute cut of a song or a 2 minute scene and 2 minute duet. I was fortunate enough to participate in showcase this year and this is my experience! I’m going to take you through a week in the city with me!

Day 1:

Day one! This was my first day in New York, I started my day by meeting with one of my friends who lives in the city and grabbing coffee with them! It was super nice to catch up and enjoy some coffee from maman! After that, I met up with my friends who I was staying with in Central Park and we walked around for a bit, then it was time to see my first show of the trip! We went and saw Maybe Happy Endings, with Darren Criss and it was so great, I’ve been wanting to see this show for awhile and I’m glad I got to! After that, my friends and I did a nighttime boat tour around the city! It was a great way to see the skyline as the sunset, it took us all the way out to the statue of liberty and back. It was so beautiful, a little chilly, but totally worth it! 10/10 recommendations! That concluded day one!

Day 2: 

Our last free day in the city, we started out by going to the 9/11 museum which was so fascinating. It was super interesting, it was definitely hard emotionally to walk through but so fascinating. After that, we headed back to our hotel to meet up with some of our other friends for lunch followed by some time walking around/relaxing in Bryant Park! Bryant park is my favorite, I like it a lot and it’s so beautiful. After that we headed to the Drama Book Shop for some perusing and to see the store. After that, it was time to head back to the hotel to get ready to see the Great Gatsby! This show was so fun and we got to stage door afterwards and meet Sarah Hyland and Ryan McCartan which was super cool! After that, we stopped for cheesecake on the way home from Juniors of course. That was all she wrote for day 2.

Day 3: Showcase rehearsal day! We woke up bright and early and headed to a rehearsal studio for a career seminar given by some professionals in the industry. They told us about what it was like to live in New York and get started in the industry. It was really helpful and we also got to ask them questions and such afterwards. We then broke for lunch, and when we came back it was time to rehearse the showcase. We ran through the whole showcase once, then we worked it through number by number. The song I sang was Times are Hard for Dreamers. I love this song and I loved getting to work on it for this. After rehearsals concluded for the day, it was time for dinner and another show! I got the absolute pleasure of attending the first preview for Smash and it was so cool. It was unlike any other experience I have ever had. They had special preview posters for all the audience members, it was so cool. I had a blast! Then it was time to head back to the hotel to rest up for day 4!

Day 4:

We started the day with another career seminar from people in the industry. This seminar focused on auditions and self-tapes and things like that. It was really informational and helpful to hear from people who were actively working in the industry. After lunch, it was then time for another showcase rehearsal! We did pretty much the same thing we did yesterday, we ran through the showcase and then worked it number by number. We also worked on our group closing number, I Stole a Bus from Bubble Boy which made me giggle. It was a lot of fun to get to do. After rehearsal, it was time for another show! Tonight we saw The Outsiders and that show was super cool as well. There were also a lot of swings/understudies on the night we went, so it was super cool to get to see them! Afterwords, we walked back to our hotel to rest up for showcase day!

Day 5:

Performance day! We started the day off by rehearsing the showcase one more time, before it was time to perform! We were all so excited and we felt really good about the performance that we did. We got to do our showcase at Pearle Studios which was really nice to be able to rehearse and perform in an actual rehearsal space and to perform in the city. It was also really nice to get to do one last thing together as a class before we all graduate in the Spring! We all felt really good about our performances and it was super cool! We all went out and got celebratory gelato afterwords. Then, my friend and I saw one more show, Sunset Boulevard. It was super interesting to see how they blended the use of film and theater together. I’m really glad I chose to go see it. 

Day 6: 

Last day! My friend and I started our day by going to Chelsea market and exploring that area. It was so pretty and there were so many cool shops. After that we met up with some of our friends for lunch in midtown, then headed to the Theatre Circle shop to grab some souvenirs. After that, we walked around Bryant park one last time, then it was time to fly home.

I absolutely loved this trip. It was such a positive experience and it really solidified my plans of wanting to move to New York after graduation. I love this city and I can’t wait to call it home.

As always, go do great things.