AMDA... Again, I know.

Alright, so. I auditioned for AMDA LA two weeks ago and am still waiting to hear back, either way. I'm iffy on getting in for the main reason I blew my introduction... Sure, I was clear, loud enough, and the usual... But I fidgeted with my hands as I spoke. My song was "Frank Mills" from Hair and during it, I got several laughs at the right times, and the auditor was smiling throughout. For my monologue, I did a piece from Gershe's "Butterflies Are Free", to which I got a specific, "Very good, very strong ending" remark, as wel as slight surprise that a strong, yelling voice could come from a 5'2" girl. My interview was also fine, and at the end I simply stated how hard I had worked to get even to the audition, having canceled the first one due to my father's poor heart health and had to tell myself not to keep putting myself on the back-burner.

Why AMDA? I've spent the last 2 years at Arizona State's Herberger Institute of Design and the Arts- School of Theatre and Film, where I was accepted after my first audition to be an acting major. It is a B.A. program, meaning we take generally more academics than arts classes... For fall, I am taking NO acting or even technique classes, but another design class, geology 102, comunications, and Victorian poetry as an elective. I don't feel that I'm challenging myself and my days will be over by noon... And geting a job is laughable during the school year. Also, there are NO notable alumni from my school who have made professional careers; they all tried, gave up after a year, and became teachers. Sure there's the "Well, you can change that!" but honestly... I'm not growing and pushing myself anymore.

To make a short story very, very long... Opinions on AMDA, aside from, "They just want your money". Based on the feedback I was given at the audition, do I stand a chance of getting in? I e-mailed Caissie Levy who graduated there in '02, and she even suggested other schools, such as AADA and Circle in the Square, saying how much has changed since she went there...

And geting a job is laughable during the school year.

Why?

I'll preface this by saying I know next to nothing about AMDA, having heard nothing other than the fact that it's a musical theatre conservatory.

With that said, when I was going about my college auditions up in New York, I would talk to a few people around my hometown (normal suburban little town) about it; anyone with any knowledge of theatre would immediately respond with "Don't go to AMDA!" I could never get a concrete reason out of any of them...but I figured it must be something if a bunch of people in Podunk have heard bad things.