Paper Mill Playhouse Announces Renewal of the Musical Theater Common Prescreen for 20/21 Cycle of Collegiate Auditions

Paper Mill Playhouse has announced the renewal of the Musical Theater Common Prescreen (MTCP) for the 2020-2021 cycle of collegiate auditions as the current health crises makes in-person auditions less viable and the expense of separate submissions a burden for many. The initiative, introduced last year in collaboration with online arts application and audition platform Acceptd, streamlines the admission and audition process for the participating institutions. Paper Mill's Stephen Agosto, Senior Manager of Artistic Engagement, who organized and drafted the initiative shared, "Colleges had been creating school-specific guidelines that left students to create dozens of individual song, monologue, and dance media files. The MTCP takes the stress out of the process for students and allows for a more level playing field when it comes to admittance."

Paper Mill's Producing Artistic Director Mark S. Hoebee added, "We knew we had the capacity to positively impact these college applicants. The promotion of arts education and supporting the greater musical theater community as core to our mission gave us the motivation to facilitate these conversations with universities nationally. Our hope is that this momentum will be one part of providing a more inclusive process among collegiate musical theater programs."

Kaitlin Hopkins, Head of Musical Theatre, at Texas State stated, "Texas State University's musical theatre program was thrilled when the Common Prescreen came along. The simplification for the students being able to prepare fewer auditions videos, and how it also streamlines the process from our end has been such a help to the overall audition process."

The Musical Theater Common Prescreen currently has 55 participating Colleges and Universities and the list is growing rapidly. Schools have until October 1, 2020, to register. Returning programs include Baldwin Wallace University, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, Carnegie Mellon University, College-Conservatory of Music at The University of Cincinnati, Florida State University, Pace University School of Performing Arts, Penn State Musical Theatre, Shenandoah Conservatory and Texas State University. For this current audition cycle, the MTCP added The University of Arizona, The University of New Hampshire, The Hartt School at University of Hartford and Nazareth College. For the full list of participating institutions, visit https://papermill.org/musical-theater-common-prescreen/. If you are an institution that would like to join the MTCP initiative, please contact Stephen Agosto, Senior Manager of Artistic Engagement at SAgosto@PaperMill.org.

When asked what was next for the MTCP program, Agosto said, "We are in a pivotal place and time when it comes to the Musical Theater industry. We aren't done until we have exhausted every imaginable option to provide equality in collegiate admittance. We will continue to discuss this process and influence change so that excellent training is available to people of all experiences."