How We Got Here
I'm a roboticist with a PhD from Carnegie Mellon. I had no business navigating the BFA Musical Theater application process. Here's how that went.
Read the postFrom the Wings
Stories, advice, and lessons learned from navigating the musical theater college application process. A parent's perspective on helping your performer find their spotlight.
Featured Talk
How to Not Be a Theater Dad
A frank, funny look at what it's really like supporting your kid through the MT audition process — and the mistakes I made along the way.
Watch on YouTubeThe Musical Theater Audition Timeline: What to Do the Summer Before Senior Year
The families who get a calm fall are the ones who used the summer. Here's the full musical theater audition timeline, from the July work that sets up senior year through commit day in May, and what to actually do at each stage.
Read moreA Parent's Guide to the Pittsburgh Unifieds (And Why You Probably Shouldn't Skip It)
My daughter ended up at Penn State, not a PUA school. But if I had to point to the single most valuable thing we did during her audition year, Pittsburgh Unifieds would be at the top of the list. Here's why — and the narrow case for skipping it.
Read moreThe Money, the Madness, and the Luck
Nobody tells you upfront what MT audition season actually costs — in dollars, in time, or in emotional energy. And nobody talks openly about the role luck plays in outcomes. Both of those things are worth saying out loud.
Read moreHow Not to Be a Theater Dad (Lessons I Learned the Hard Way)
The talk I gave at Pittsburgh Unifieds was called 'How to Not Be a Theater Dad.' I want to be clear: I was not always good at this. Here's what I learned, mostly after I'd already done it wrong.
Read moreYour Kid's Dream School Is Probably Not Their Best School (And That's OK)
With 2,000–4,000 applicants competing for 10–30 spots at top BFA programs, the math on dream schools is brutal. Here's what I wish I'd internalized earlier — and how my own rejection story ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me.
Read moreThey Own the Art, You Own the Logistics
The single most useful thing I figured out during my daughter's MT application year: there's a clear line between what's yours to handle and what isn't. Here's how we divided it up.
Read moreThe Spreadsheet From Hell
I applied everything I knew about organizing complex information to managing my daughter's BFA applications. The result was a Google Sheet with 12 tabs and its own emotional weather. Here's what was in it.
Read moreHow We Built Our Daughter's School List (And What We'd Do Differently)
Building a list of 15-20 MT programs is one of the first big tasks. Here's how we approached it and the mistakes we made along the way.
Read moreOur Talk on Navigating the MT Application Process
Last October we gave a talk about what we learned navigating the musical theater college application process. Here's the video and our key takeaways.
Read moreLiving this process right now?
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