Senior Emily Botnen’s triumphant return to school after a ten day trip to audition for competitive theatre programs was marked with reflection and nerves. Botnen has been involved in theatre since she was eight years old, which allowed her to develop her passion and a desire to pursue it at the collegiate level.

“I’ve been doing theatre for a while now,” Botnen said. “It is who I am completely. I love it more than anything in the world.”

According to Botnen, the process took months of preparation. Before getting the opportunity to even audition for schools, she had to submit “pre-screens,” which were videos that featured Botnen singing, dancing, and performing various monologues.

“It is really intense,” Botnen said. “They tried their best to make it so that you really do have the freedom to show who you really are.”

In order to film these videos and prepare for auditions, Botnen worked with various college auditions coaches through Musical Theatre College Auditions, or MTCA. Coaches are scattered throughout the country, so most work sessions were done via Skype. According to Botnen, the program helped her navigate the complicated auditions season.

“They really helped me a lot, because everyone in my family has either gone to a trade school, or to military school,” Botnen said. “I had absolutely no clue not only about the musical theatre college audition process, but even just the college process in general.”

Botnen attended Chicago and LA Unifieds, where 20-30 schools meet up at a central location to hold auditions for various theatre programs. Chicago auditions were held in the Palmer House Hilton hotel, while LA Unifieds were in the Westin Los Angeles Airport.

“It was really surprisingly fun,” Botnen said. “It wound up being one of the best experiences of my entire life.”

Though the ten days were filled with stress and high pressure situations, being surrounded by like-minded people with a similar passion for theatre made the experience rewarding, according to Botnen.

“It was so easy to just strike up a conversation with a random person and in five minutes feel like you’d known them for a million years,” Botnen said. “The fact that that’s basically going to be the rest of my life as I go into this community professionally is absolutely incredible.”

Botnen’s trip didn’t only consist of Chicago and LA. She started in Boston and auditioned for Emerson College before Chicago Unifieds, and afterwards, she flew to North Carolina to audition for Elon University.

The ten day experience wrapped up with her LA Unified auditions. Though Botnen auditioned for fifteen programs in total, she doesn’t currently have a favorite school.

“The schools each are absolutely incredible, and no matter what school I go to, I’ll be fulfilling my lifelong dream,” Botnen said.

Senior Madison Dodson is familiar with her friend’s dedication to theatre and fully believes in Botnen’s capabilities in pursuing it.

“Emily is one of the most hardworking, driven people I’ve ever met,” Dodson said. “She can do absolutely anything that she sets her mind to.”

Dodson recognizes the differences between the regular college application process versus the college audition process. On top of all the prescreens and auditions, theatre applicants were also required to get into the college itself, as regular students.

“It’s such a different level than what I’m dealing with,” Dodson said. “Emily’s got to impress.”

Botnen has been an active part of the RHS Theatre Company. According to Botnen, being a part of the program provided her with a strong foundation and gave her a leg up on her college auditions.

“Because of Ms. White’s training in specific techniques, like Stanislavski, Meisner, [and] Uta Hagen, I was able to actually note the fact that I already had training,” Botnen said. “Our program here is so unique in that it takes the craft so seriously.”

The results of Botnen’s work and her acceptance to various programs will become available mid-March or April.