Podculture The Daily Northwestern

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Here in Evanston, the show can, will and must go on. In this episode of Podculture, we talk to freshmen about their experience with the fall audition process and break down the starting bits of Northwestern’s theater culture.  

VIRGINIA HUNT: More than anything, what do you hope to get out of the audition experience?

DARIUS DAUGHTRY: *chuckles* A role.

VIRGINIA HUNT: Yeah!

*laughter*

* music*

VIRGINIA HUNT: From The Daily Northwestern, I’m Virginia Hunt. This is Podculture, 

a podcast about arts and culture on campus and beyond.

NAT SOUND–people singing and discussing

It’s showtime. Every fall, an influx of performers flood the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts. They’re here to audition for a variety of productions through a process known as “generals.” 

The Student Theatre Coalition, also known as “StuCo,” and Wirtz are the two major organizations that students can audition for. StuCo is undergraduate-student-run, while Wirtz collaborates with graduate students and the greater Evanston and Chicago communities.

Sarah Charles Lewis is one of many freshmen who has prepared for this year’s late fall audition cycle. We caught up with her right after her audition. 

SARAH CHARLES LEWIS: I definitely was anxious and nervous auditioning for a bunch of upperclassmen. That’s always scary. I’ve done theater my whole life in high school. And I was just excited to go in there and show them what I got.

VIRGINIA HUNT: Lewis’s brother, a Northwestern grad, raved about StuCo and the Northwestern theater community. He inspired her to join, and after…

SARAH CHARLES LEWIS: … I practice a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot …

VIRGINIA HUNT: …today was the day.

The audition requirements are minimal. 

SARAH CHARLES LEWIS: Two contrasting cuts of a song from a musical.

They don’t have time to listen to every single person sing a five minute song. You cut it to 32 bars, which is about a minute. So you’re in and out in basically two minutes. 

VIRGINIA HUNT: Lewis doesn’t want to stop at being onstage. She hopes to go behind the scenes.

SARAH CHARLES LEWIS: Here at Northwestern, this is a very unique institution where we can explore all of our interests. As mainly a performer, I’m very interested in learning more about writing and composing and directing and stage managing and just all the things that go into all aspects of theater.

VIRGINIA HUNT: Lewis isn’t the only one trying to explore their many interests. Freshman Darius Daughtry is using these auditions to continue a passion from high school, even though theater isn’t at all related to his academic pursuits. 

DARIUS DAUGHTRY: I’m actually a journalism major, but I’m really interested in musical theater. It’s something I loved to do in high school, so I just love to be a part of something like that here in college as well.

VIRGINIA HUNT: We talked with Daughtry before his audition about how he was feeling and how he prepared.



DARIUS DAUGHTRY: Right now I feel decent enough. I would say I’m probably not the best prepared for auditions but at least for me I warm up by just doing the song I’m gonna do over and over again. I’m not a huge fan of exercises, maybe I should do more but I just like getting the repetition more than anything, for sure. 

VIRGINIA HUNT: The theater community fosters a unique space for Daughtry.

DARIUS DAUGHTRY (with nat sound of vocals in back): You’re part of something bigger. It requires practice, which means being with those people a lot.

Long story short, it was a bad time for Northwestern students who spent six hours or more waiting in the Ticketmaster queue to get tickets to Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras Tour.