For students eager to pursue a career in performing arts, the University of Alabama theatre and dance department serves as a four-year layover in the flight toward ultimate destinations like New York and Los Angeles. This collegiate pit-stop supplies students with training and networking skills of a caliber that became apparent to seniors who attended the Unified Professional Theatre Auditions this past weekend in Memphis, Tenn.

“It was awesome to know that the last four years have really, really prepped me in these callbacks. And we’re constantly told that you’re training to become a professional auditioner, because that’s technically what you’re doing in this field, is you’re constantly auditioning, you’re constantly learning, you’re constantly training to be better,” said Gia Asperas, a senior majoring in musical theatre. “It was awesome to feel confident that you’re ready to go out to the real world and try it yourself.”

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At UPTAs, students presented a 90-second package composed of a song and a monologue to representatives from over 80 different theatre companies. After this initial audition, students may receive callbacks that require them to present to individual companies later in the day.

“It is hectic, and you’re doing a lot of running around. But it is so fun and exciting, to be out there auditioning for these real world representatives of these companies, and I think that’s the most important thing to remember throughout the day when you’re dying and sore, is to just have fun,” said Taylor Coffman, a senior majoring in musical theatre.

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Both Asperas and Coffman believe the training they received from the faculty at the University kept them grounded and confident throughout the marathon audition event.

Seth Panitch, associate professor and director of MFA and Undergraduate Acting Programs, constantly stresses the importance of seeing college as a stepping-stone rather than an end location.

“The thing that we tell the students when they get in the University is that the only reason they come here is to leave here,” he said. “Every single day they have to have their eye on that because there’s probably someone else out there in the world that’s doing just that: which is working harder than they are, preparing harder than they are, taking greater chances than they are.”

Raphael Crystal, associate professor and director of the musical theatre program, has witnessed this attitude contribute to the growth he has seen since the beginning of the musical theatre department eleven years ago.

“If [other professors and I] had professional experience in the theatre … we can try to distill our own experience and make use of whatever contacts or ideas we might have,” he said.

Learning from a faculty that enables current students to establish connections with these recent graduates and others in the industry is a tremendous asset, Nick Burroughs, a senior majoring in musical theatre, said.

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“Being taught how to be professional in a callback, what is right, what is wrong — [the faculty members] have taught us that.”

Burroughs said he was surprised to see his execution of this advice transform into 47 callbacks at UPTAs. He also attributes this success in part to the dance training he has received at the University.