I have posted this series of experiences to give back to the Musical Theatre (MT) community that has shared so much. This blog over the past year was also a form of therapy for me, the dad of this team.
Son caught the acting bug at eleven when a very kind gentleman from church encouraged him to audition at the local community theater. By or during his freshman year of high school we knew he would study Acting or MT in college. He started taking voice lessons during his sophomore year, and went to a few dance classes here and there but nothing what I would call serious training. Acting has been whatever stage time he got with school plays since the 7th grade and in summer workshops/productions.
We’re very much upper-middle-class economically. Besides the college savings account that has in-state tuition saved, there's not much extra in the regular savings account. All vehicles are paid for and have less than 75K miles on them, though there's the mortgage that's a long way of being paid off.
My wife worked part-time at the beginning of this journey but took a full-time job during his senior year b/c: a) it was the right job, and b) we weren't sure if we would need the extra income to pay for the out-of-state/private education of our MT'er.
We live in fly-over country, or from one of the square states, thus a lot of plane flights took place on this journey. I’m purposely keeping our location vague because this is primarily about about the parental experience not my son’s. Not everything I say in this is positive - about him, me, coaches, schools - but it’s a small world and I don’t want this pinned on him. So in an ironic twist of what they say on radio and TV sometimes, “Views expressed here represent the position of management.”
One twist to this “giving back” is I'm deliberately posting this after our son gets into a program. We didn't want to share any info during son's senior year because we're competing with a great many posters on this board. Over the top? Maybe. We were focused on doing everything reasonably possible to help son obtain two or more financially viable offers from musical theater programs.
Finally, my wife and I have no experience with theater; nonetheless, I hope these musings - as long as they are - serve you in some way in your endeavors with your MT child.
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