The theater department is preparing for their rendition of Mamma Mia. As roles are getting released, many are wondering, how do auditions work?

Auditions at BSM usually consist of three parts: a dancing audition, singing audition, and callbacks, where students read lines from certain people in the play to see what role would fit them best. “We kind of shift things around. We had five people that were reading for Donna and we like to read them with different people that were reading for Sophie. We kind of try and hone in on who we think gives us the best cast from that,” Artistic Director Mr. Mahler said.

In the dance part of the auditions, students are taught a choreographed part of a dance and then go out and perform it in front of the directors in small groups, allowing the directors to get a closer look at each of the student dancing skills, “We break them up into like groups of five and then they those five people at a time will do the dance so that the choreographers can kind of see what each person can do individually,” Mahler said.

The preparation for these auditions looked different for everyone. Many practice their songs and perfect what they are singing as well as practicing different small choreography, some students also think it is best to practice as much as possible, whether that be by themselves or in front of their friends. “And then I practiced that once with my voice teacher and then a lot of times like on my own… like in front of my friends and stuff we would meet after school and like, sing in front of each other,” senior Greta Hall said

As students prepare for auditions, there is always the inevitable nerves that come with performing in front of their peers and superiors. As the butterflies set in, many students have different ways that their stress comes out. “So, people can be very short with each other, or like, there’s a lot of tension and it’s like, oh, I’m singing the same song as so and so like, how should I change it?,” Hall said.

There are many different struggles that students have when preparing for auditions. Physically, students have to prepare their dancing shoes as well as their voices, but they also have to prepare mentally. Preparing to sing in front of a crowd or even preparing to not get the part you wanted and just rolling with it. “I think it’s really easy to take things personally. And to and to feel like if you didn’t get the part that you want, it means you’re terrible,” Mahler said