Theater Arts & Dance Auditions

Any current UCSC student is welcome to audition for our productions!

WINTER 2025 PRODUCTION &
AUDITION INFORMATION

BARNSTORM FIRST MEETING
– MANDATORY FOR ANYONE WHO HAS SIGNED UP FOR BARNSTORM THIS QUARTER:

• Monday, January 6, 6:00 PM
• Theater Arts Center B100
• Barnstorm-related questions: contact the Barnstorm Directors, ad.barn@ucsc.edu and md.bard@ucsc.edu.

Auditions for select Winter productions have passed. See below for Winter General Audition information.

• Theater Arts majors: Please review info about the Production Requirement for the Major.
• Theater Arts and Dance minors: There is no production requirement for our minors, but upper division productions may be used to satisfy minor requirements – please check with the Theater Arts Advisor about this: theater-ugradadv@ucsc.edu.

Upper Division Productions 

THEA 151 (Auditions have passed.)

• Comedy of Errors
  by William Shakespeare
  Directed by Patty Gallagher
  In the eXperimental theater

THEA 151A (Auditions have passed)

• Paradise Blue
  by Dominique Morrisseau
  Directed by Don Williams
  In the Theater Arts Mainstage (Room A-100)
• ” The UCSC African-American Theater Arts Troupe is a community project created to enhance the retention of African-American students on this campus for past 34 years! To truly give voice to the invisible artistic Black students that pledged to be students here. It is important to see a reflection of yourself, to have a understanding of your history, your purpose, and the gifts that you bring to the table to share with all of man kind.”
• This dynamic and musically-infused drama shines light on the challenges of building a better future on the foundation of what our predecessors have left you. It’s 1949 and club-owner and trumpeter Blue must choose between escaping his demons and the human cost of leaving the only home he’s ever known.
  • **This production contains mature language, simulated violence, theatrical haze, and herbal cigarettes. This production also includes gunshot effects.**

THEA 139 RANDOM: WITH A PURPOSE

• THEA 139 Random with a Purpose (RWAP)
  RWAP XXXIII: The Calling
• Auditions for the annual RWAP student dance showcase are held in fall for the winter show.
  This year’s RWAP auditions have passed.
• Random with a Purpose general information.
  

Lower Division Productions 

THEA 55A/B BARNSTORM

BARNSTORM FIRST MEETING
– MANDATORY FOR ANYONE WHO HAS SIGNED UP FOR BARNSTORM THIS QUARTER:

• Monday, January 6, 6:00 PM
• Theater Arts Center B100

THEA 55A (5-units) / THEA 55B (2-units) Barnstorm Theater Company Presents:

• The Panza Monologues (Auditions have passed.)
  • Written by Virginia Grise
    Directed by Maddie Farias
    Performed in B100
  • The Panza Monologues is a play that “centers Chicana reflections on the panza (belly) as a site of knowledge on a range of topics, such as body politics, aging, reproductive justice, gender violence, healing, rage, love, and social justice.” 
• Musical Theater Cabaret (Auditions have passed.)
  • Directed by Eleanor Hitchcock
    Performance in B100
• 24 Hour Theater directed by Gabe Young
  • Performance in B100

Barnstorm-related questions: contact the Barnstorm Directors, ad.barn@ucsc.edu and md.bard@ucsc.edu.

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GENERAL AUDITION DATES, TIMES & LOCATION: 

Winter General Auditions have passed. Please check this page for Spring Audition Information coming soon!

GENERAL AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

General Auditions for the department’s faculty and/or student-directed productions are held the first week of each quarter unless otherwise announced. Occasionally, productions have separate auditions, or special requirements for auditions – that information would be listed on this page.

Standard General Audition Requirements *

• 90 second monologue
• 60 second movement piece 
• 30 second music piece (voice and/or instrument) 

* Note: Please be off-book for all pieces (memorized).

• PLEASE CHECK BACK HERE FOR UPDATES BETWEEN NOW AND AUDITIONS.
  
• ACCOMPANISTS are NOT provided.
  If you feel it necessary, you may play music with a portable music device, e.g., a smart phone with speakers or old-time boom-box, though this is not required (singing may be a cappella and movement pieces may be silent). 
  
• MOVEMENT PIECE
  Unless any of the auditioning shows are musicals, the movement piece is primarily meant to demonstrate that you are comfortable in your body on stage (or at least can act as though you are!), and that you are willing to move on stage vs. staying in a narrow comfort zone of standing or sitting in one place. The movement section also offers you an opportunity to demonstrate any particular movement or performance skill if you happen to have any—e.g., pantomime, clowning, acrobatics, juggling, dance. Otherwise, even jumping jacks, the Macarena, running back and forth, etc., can show a basic willingness to move in front of people. If one of the auditioning shows is a musical, and/or if any of the directors want to see specific pieces or skills, there will be details above the sign up sheet or instructions will be given for those invited to callbacks. 

ADDITIONAL IMPORTANT
AUDITION & RELATED INFORMATION:

DESIGN WORK & STAGE MANAGEMENT FOR PRODUCTIONS

• Please see the “Tech Interest Form”/ Production Experience & Interest Form section in the Theater Arts Undergraduate Handbook.
  • Paradise Blue is still seeking an assistant stage manager – please fill out the Tech Interest Form and contact dwilliam@ucsc.edu if interested.

ENROLLMENT IN PRODUCTIONS

• Students who are cast in productions, or who have been selected to participate as designers, stage managers or dramaturgs, will be given an enrollment permission number to enroll through MyUCSC.
• Enrollment permission numbers are typically distributed by the stage manager or director of the production.
• IT IS THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE STUDENT TO ENROLL BY THE QUARTER’S ADD/DROP/SWAP DEADLINE (date posted in the current Academic and Administrative Calendar).
• Attention Barnstorm students: be sure you are enrolling in the correct class – THEA 55A for 5 units (and to take care of the Production Requirement and/or the Lower Division Elective for the for the major), or THEA 55B for 2 units (doesn’t satisfy a course requirement). Students enrolled in the 5-unit version of the class will be expected to complete approximately three times more work than students enrolled in the 2-unit version.

BY-AUDITION OR INSTRUCTOR PERMISSION STUDIO COURSES

• Production auditions are different from those required for admittance into our studio courses (courses which mention “audition” or “interview” in the course description).
  • Please see the By-Audition or Instructor Permission Studio Courses of the Undergraduate Handbook for more information.

SATISFYING DEGREE REQUIREMENTS
WITH PRODUCTION CLASSES

SATISFYING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE THEATER ARTS MAJOR

• Theater Arts Majors may use the 5-unit lower division THEA 55A Barnstorm or THEA 56R Rainbow Theater to satisfy the lower division elective requirement and/or the Production Requirement (see below) for the THEA B.A.
• Theater Arts Majors may use 5-unit upper division production classes to fulfill one or both upper division elective requirements.

Production Requirement for the Major

One of the requirements for the Theater Arts major is participation in a 5-unit THEA production class. 

• The Production Requirement may be fulfilled with either the lower division classes THEA 55A Barnstorm or THEA 56R Rainbow Theater, classes that may also be used to fulfill the Lower Division Elective requirement for the major, or with any 5-unit upper division production class: THEA 137, 137A, 139, 151, 151A, 151I, or 155 – classes which may also be used to fulfill one or both of the major’s two Upper Division Elective requirements.
• Please see the Production Requirement for the Major section of the Theater Arts Undergraduate Handbook for more information on fulfilling this requirement as a performer, designer, stage manager or dramaturg.

SATISFYING REQUIREMENTS FOR THE MINORS

• There is no Production Requirement for either the Theater Arts or Dance minor.
• Theater Arts Minors may use any 5-unit upper division production class to fulfill one of the two upper division studio requirements.
• Dance Minors may use takes of the upper division production class THEA 139 to fulfill up to two upper division elective requirements.
• The lower division THEA 55A Barnstorm or THEA 56R Rainbow Theater do NOT satisfy a minor requirement (and the 2-unit THEA 55B does not fulfill any degree requirement). 

Questions about THEA or Dance degree requirements? Contact the Theater Arts Academic Advisor via email, theater-ugradadv@ucsc.edu, or schedule an appointment through Navigate Slug Success.

QUESTIONS?

• General Auditions questions: contact the Theater Arts Student Production Liaison, theaspl@ucsc.edu.
• Barnstorm-related questions: contact the Barnstorm Directors, ad.barn@ucsc.edu and md.bard@ucsc.edu.
• The Theater Arts advisor can also answer basic questions about auditions: theater-ugradadv@ucsc.edu.
• Please also check the UCSC Theater Arts Events and Information Facebook page.