NYC Musical Theatre Workshop

UM Musical Theatre majors once again participated in an invited NYC musical theatre workshop through the Amy Murphy Studio of Birmingham and NYC (Amy is also an adjunct theatre faculty member in Voice at UM).

Thirteen of our musical theatre students, including 4 freshmen, attended the 3-day workshop last January, with this being UM's 3rd year to participate.

The students attended workshops in various areas, including acting, dance and vocal technique, as well as sessions geared towards the "business" of pursuing a professional career in the arts and NYC. This year a former UM theatre student, Brad Holland, also taught a workshop on performance skills from the long running off-Broadway hit STOMP. Brad was cast in STOMP in NYC 10 years ago from an open call while still a student at UM. He has performed on tour as well as in NYC, and performed with the STOMP cast, Paul Simon and Jimmy Fallon on TV. Brad taught them the audition combination for STOMP and a number of the percussive "fills" that the cast uses in the show.

After the first day, the students also presented a musical audition for a panel consisting of agents, casting directors, directors, teachers and choreographers. They receive written feedback from each panelist and Casting Director Dave Clemmons also gave each student some individual verbal feedback.

The students were then able to apply their notes during a 2nd audition day.

This year, we were very happy to have UM alumni Rebecca Luker and Jason Styres participate on the audition panel. Rebecca is well known for her many leading roles in Broadway musicals. Jason is a more recent graduate of the UM Theatre program (BFA 2006), and is currently on the Casting Staff of Jay Binder Casting in NYC.

It was a great learning experience for all participants, including learning how to negotiate the city and auditioning in 3 different professional studios