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Creative Staff

Martin Egna, director, megna@aacps.org

Timothy Kurtzberg, music director, tkurtzberg@aacps.org

Jennifer Politte, choreographer, jpolitte@aacps.org​

​Melissa Peregrina, technical director, mperegrina@aacps.org

Administrative Staff

Emily Miller, faculty advisor, ebmiller@aacps.org

Erin Ward, production coordinator, epflora@gmail.com 

GENERAL INFO

PERFORMANCES 

Location: Studio 39, the AACPS arts facility located at 291 Locust Ave, Annapolis, MD 21401 (5 minutes from Bates)

• Thursday, February 15, 2024, 11am (possible performance for Bates students only) transportation provided between Bates and Studio 39

• Friday, February 16, 2024, 7pm

• Saturday, February 17, 2024, 2pm

• Saturday, February 17, 2024, 7pm

• Sunday, February 18, 2024, 2pm

REHEARSAL LOCATION

• Nearly all rehearsals will be at Bates Middle School in the Annex. We move to Studio 39, noted above, a week before we perform.

HEALTH

• Bates Drama Club is an AACPS sponsored activity and follows all AACPS COVID and health related precautions. Students are welcome to wear masks if they choose for any part or all of auditions. Masks are optional as well during performances. Please refer to the AACPS website for current guidelines. 

TECH CREW

• Attendance requirements described here are mostly for cast members. Tech crew attendance is much more flexible. Crew will be able to negotiate attendance with Ms. Peregrina, our technical director. However, attendance is mandatory for tech week and all performances for all cast & crew. Please see our tech crew info sheet on this website for more information. 

REQUIRED TO AUDITION: Parent/Student Information Meeting

• Every student who wishes to audition must have a parent/guardian attend the required VIRTUAL information meeting or view a recording of this meeting to be able to audition.
  
  Virtual Information Meeting
  7-8pm, Monday, September 18, 2023

• Students are encouraged to attend with their parent/guardian. 

• Please register by Sunday, 9/17, 7pm, to attend the virtual information meeting or to be notified when a video of the meeting is available by clicking the button below or on the Bates Drama Club website. The registration button should be active after Labor Day. 

• If it as after 9/17 but before 6pm, 10/2, register using the form linked below to view the video recording of the meeting.

• Please review this document (“Production, Audition & Rehearsal Information”), the “Participation Contract,” and the "Rehearsal Schedule" in full (links below) and have them available during the required info session to ask any questions you may have. We will not be reviewing these documents in full during the required info session. But we will be answering your questions to clarify the documents. The director will stay later than 8pm to ensure all questions are answered.
  
  Print or Save
  PDF of Production, Audition & Rehearsal Information (this web page)
  PDF of Participation Contract (on the forms web page)
  PDF of the Rehearsal Schedule (on the schedule web page)

• This Bates Drama Club website can answer most of your questions and includes the audition form, tech crew form, rehearsal schedule, participation contract, and more. Forms and information will also be available in the Bates Drama Club wall pocket outside the cafeteria.

• We will be using Microsoft Teams to meet virtually. Some devices can use internet browsers to connect on Microsoft Teams. We recommend downloading the free Microsoft Teams app for the most reliable experience. 

• The registration button became active during Labor Day weekend.

• Registration closed 10/2/23.

​AUDITION WORKSHOP (optional)

• Thursday, September 28, 2023, 4:05-5:30pm

• No registration needed. Students can just show up.

• Location: Bates Annex, Dance Studio, Room 402 or 403 (look for signs).

• Meet Mr. Egna, director, Mr. Kurtzberg, music director, Ms. Politte choreographer.

• Learn more about the show.

• Learn more about the audition process.

• If you would like, have a chance to learn a short dance sequence as a group to help get your jitters out before the real audition.

• Transportation: After-school activity buses are supposed to service Bates starting in late September/early October on Tuesday and Thursdays. But, as of 8/27/23, we do not know for sure if they will start on the promised date nor what time they will depart. If activity buses are running as promised by the AACPS transportation department, we can dismiss bus riders in time to catch their activity buses. We will continue the workshop until 5:30pm for car riders. If activity buses are not running as promised, students will need to provide their own transportation home after the workshop meeting at 5:30pm.

​AUDITIONS 

Location: Bates Annex, Dance Studio, Room 402 or 403 (look for signs)

Transportation: After-school activity buses are supposed to service Bates starting in late September/early October on Tuesday and Thursdays. But, as of 8/27/23, we do not know for sure if they will start on the promised date nor what time they will depart. If activity buses are running as promised by the AACPS transportation department, we should be able to dismiss bus riders in time to catch their activity buses if not too many bus riders are auditioning the same day. (We ask about bus riders on the audition application.) If activity buses are not running as promised, students will need to provide their own transportation home after their auditions.

• Monday, October 9, 2023, 4:05-6:00pm

OR

• Tuesday, October 10, 2023, 4:05-6:00pm

We will open Thursday audition slots ONLY if all slots are filled on October 9 & 10. 

• Thursday, October 12, 2023, 4:05-6:00pm

Callbacks: Students should be available for callbacks Monday, October 16, 2023, 4:05-5:30pm, if they are listed in the callbacks email. Details below.

How to Apply to Audition

The audition form has moved from paper to online in 2022 and is accessible from student Chromebooks as well as mobile devices and parent computers. You must be signed into a Google account. The student's school google account will work as well as the student's personal Google account or a parent's Google account. Whatever account you use when you start the form, you must use if you wish to save your progress and return later to finish.

The deadline to apply for an audition is 7pm, Monday, October 2, 2023.

The audition application became active during Labor Day weekend.

Bates Drama Club is no longer accepting applications to audition for The Drowsy Chaperone Jr. The application process was open for about 30 days and ended 7pm, October 2, 2023. 

We are now using the application data to prepare materials for the audition committee. Although we allowed an application grace period of nearly 15 hours, we must move on to get ready for students who met the deadline. We take deadlines for applications very seriously because it gives us an idea of how well a student might be able to meet the many deadlines, details, and responsibilities they will face if we make and they accept a cast offer.

Please see tips if you have trouble with forms.

Are you researching to audition for next year? See a copy of the last audition form. This is a sample for reference only and not an active application. Application questions are subject to change each year.

If you do not have internet access at home

If you do not have internet access at home and need assistance, the Bates Drama Club director, Mr. Egna, megna@aacps.org can assist you at school during your lunch period. Please send him an email to set up a day that works for you both. We can fill most of the audition form out together. But a parent/guardian will have to approve your audition and provide additional information. You could also ask Ms. Miller for assistance as well. Ms. Miller's office is located in Bates Annex room 403 on the right side just as you enter.

Audition Overview

• On your selected audition day, you must check in by 4:00pm.

• All students auditioning must participate in the 30 minute dance audition, 4:05-4:35pm.

• After the dance portion of your audition, you will be directed to another room at your selected audition time to complete the singing and acting portion of your audition.

• Once you have completed the singing and acting audition, you may check out with our parent volunteer and leave if your ride has arrived. If you are a bus rider and activity buses are running, remain with the waiting students until dismissed in time to board your bus. Remember to ask the parent volunteer for a bus pass, if needed.

Audition Details

​During auditions, each student will be asked to: 

• Learn and perform a short dance with a group.

• Perform a “cold” reading with other students from a script sample. (“Cold” means you won’t have much time, if any, to familiarize yourself with the dialogue.)

• Match pitch with a piano and sing scales to determine your vocal range.

• Sing a short portion of a song.

  • 16 to 32 bars (20-60 seconds) of a song that is from a broadway musical.

  • PLEASE, discuss your audition song choice with your parent or guardian. Make sure your choice is appropriate for a middle school student to perform. You won’t be singing the whole song and you need not start at the beginning of the song. You will be singing a small portion and, like most auditions, we will cut you off fairly quickly to move on.

  • What do you do if you already have an audition song you’ve prepared and are comfortable with that is not from a Broadway musical and you worry about switching to another song with not enough time to prepare? That’s fine. Sing the song you want to at auditions. But you might have a better chance to show us how you might sound in musical theater if you try auditioning with a song from a Broadway musical.

  • You may sing without accompaniment (a cappella) or you may bring recorded music to accompany you.

  • Any recorded accompaniment must not have any vocals, just instrumentals (a karaoke version with some back up vocals is acceptable).

  • We will have a CD player available.

  • If you plan to play your accompaniment from your phone or some other digital device, make sure you have the music downloaded to the device. A good way to check is to place your device in airplane mode and try to play your music.

  • In the event of difficulty with your device, be prepared to sing without accompaniment. We will not have time to help you fix a technical problem with your device during auditions and you don’t want to miss your audition opportunity.

Callbacks

• Callbacks, if needed, will be announced via email by 9pm, Saturday evening, October 14, 2023. 

• All auditioning students will receive the callback announcement so they know if they are called back or not.

• We will not need to call back all students who will ultimately be cast. A callback just means we need to audition student pairings that we were not able to see on the other days of auditions.

• Only students called back should attend on Monday, October 16, 2023, 4:05-5:30pm.

CASTING

• Casting will be announced by 11:59pm, October 20, 2023, via email.

• Not everyone who auditions will be cast. Typically, if a student performs strong in at least one of the three parts of auditions and at least middling in another, they will likely meet our threshold and receive a cast offer.

• Some parents/guardians are surprised when their student doesn’t get an offer because they saw their student rehearsing well at home. Rehearsing at home is very helpful, indeed necessary for a successful audition. But home performance sometimes does not match how well a student performs in an actual audition. For example, the student’s volume and confidence could diminish in an actual audition as compared to rehearsal at home.

• Cast Size is limited. Among the factors affecting a limit to cast size are rehearsal space, performance space, fire code, learning environment, and behavior management. The production staff strives to have a rewarding, enriching, and fun experience for all students cast. We do not want to risk providing students a mediocre or poor experience if the cast size is unlimited.

• We know a limited cast size will add anxiety to the audition process and a greater chance of disappointed students after the casting announcement. However, on balance, we believe this decision is best for the students, Bates, and the show.

• After roles are offered, students must sign a contract agreeing to rehearsal attendance and participation requirements. The participation contract can be found on the forms page of this website. We strongly recommend reviewing the commitment in the contract before deciding to audition.

• Casting will be final once everyone offered a role accepts or declines by the deadline of 7pm, Monday, 10/23/23.

• Students who decline roles offered are withdrawing from the production as a performer. However, they are still welcome to apply to the tech crew.

• If any roles are declined, we will recast using the students from the ensemble. We will not reach back into the audition list to cast a student who was not originally offered a role. 

REHEARSALS & TIME COMMITMENT

The full rehearsal schedule has been available at this website since early September.

• Most rehearsals will be held right after school in the Bates annex on Mondays and Thursdays, 4:05-5:30pm.

• Transportation: Please note there are no after-school activity buses on Mondays. Cast and crew must rely on family transportation after Monday rehearsals. We expect activity buses to service Bates on Thursdays. However, as of 8/27/23, we do not know the departure time. If activity buses are scheduled to depart near our rehearsal end time on Thursdays, we will dismiss bus riders in time to catch their buses. This is tentative decision and based on how much rehearsal time would be missed. Also families must provide transportation to and from weekend rehearsals, and—late in the schedule—evening rehearsals at Bates and all rehearsals at Studio 39.

• First rehearsal: Thursday, October 26, 2023, 4:05-5:30pm, FULL cast for material and “call sheet” distribution and theater games/exercises.

• Refer to the Rehearsal Schedule and “Call Sheet” to determine whether you need to attend a particular rehearsal. 

• Attendance at rehearsals for which you are “called” is mandatory.​

• Routine doctor and dentist appointments are not an excuse to miss a rehearsal. Please schedule routine appointments so they do not conflict with rehearsals.

• All conflicts must be disclosed on your audition form.

• Absences due to required Bates activities can be excused if disclosed well in advance of the absence, it is not excessive, and it does not conflict with tech rehearsals, dress rehearsals, and performances. 

• Students with conflicts due to non Bates related activities such as sports, non Bates rehearsals or performances, or travel will generally not be excused from rehearsal. However, students with conflicts due to non Bates activities in October-November can be excused from a rehearsal provided the conflict is disclosed on the audition form and the absences are not excessive. We may also be able to provide limited flexibility for non Bates related absences in December for students not in lead roles provided the conflicts are disclosed on the audition form and are not excessive.

• Saturday rehearsals: We have one Saturday rehearsal in December, all Saturdays in January, and the first half of February.

• Roughly two weeks prior to performances, we will have rehearsals nearly every day, shifting weekday afternoons to evenings and adding one or two Sunday afternoons. These Tech & Dress rehearsals are mandatory for all without exception.

• Weather: As an AACPS sponsored activity, Bates Drama Club follows AACPS weather closings. If an AACPS weather or emergency closing conflicts with rehearsal, that rehearsal is canceled. There is no need to wait for confirmation of the cancellation from the drama club. 

• COVID: Follow all AACPS COVID protocols. Please do not send a student to rehearsal or performance if AACPS guidelines say to keep the student out of school. If a cast or crew member has to quarantine, we will work around it the best we can. Please notify Bates Drama Club Staff of absences due to COVID protocols by filling out the absence form on this website.

COSTUMES

Costumes will generally be provided by Bates Drama Club. However, students may have to provide their own base-clothing, such as leotards to wear under costumes, neutral shoes (as determined by the director), or normal clothing items that could be used for costuming. You will be notified in advance if your student requires such items and costs will be nominal. If the affordability of any item is a concern, please speak with any Bates Drama Club staff or Bates staff member. We have budgeted to assist families with limited financial means.

PARENT/GUARDIAN VOLUNTEERS

• Parent/Guardian volunteers will be needed to serve in the following positions or areas:

Production coordinator, costumes, set, props, hair, makeup, stage crew manager, ticket management/sales, ticket takers/ushers, house manager(s), program designer, cast & crew t-shirts, concessions, and cast party.

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