For theatre majors at Winthrop University, one of the biggest opportunities to advance their careers is the chance to audition at the South Carolina Theatre Association’s yearly convention. Going to SCTA takes a lot of hard work and this year several theatre students went with hopes of receiving recognition for their talent. Two Winthrop students came out on top this year and were among the best auditioners at SCTA.
Neifert Enrique was one of those students. He is a senior musical theatre and music major. He has performed on the Winthrop stage and with Winthrop choirs several times. Of the roles he has portrayed, his favorites include Phantom in “Phantom of the Opera,” the Baker in “Into The Woods,” and Margaret Mead in Winthrop’s production of “Hair.” Enrique has been doing theatre for the last five years and has been involved in several community theatre productions with Rock Hill Community Theatre. Enrique dedicated a lot to his preparation techniques for this year’s SCTA.
“I went through my musical theatre pieces and originally chose ‘Damned For All Time’ from [the show] ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ because it would show off my rock voice,” Enrique said.
However, sometimes when auditioning complications can arise. Luckily, Enrique had a back up plan prepared.
“I got sick and lost my voice days before the audition, so I went back and found something I could act and sing well, even with a halfway recovered voice,” Enrique said. “I ended up singing ‘Somewhere’ from ‘West Side Story’ and doing a monologue I’d workshopped in acting class.”
These pieces ended up being successes with the judges, and Enrique came with the award for highest scoring male auditioner at SCTA. He will now have the opportunity to participate in the Southeastern Theatre Conference’s spring professional auditions next year. SETC will provide Enrique the chance to network and possibly book professional job opportunities in the theatre industry.
“The best advice I have is be over prepared and ready for any possibility,” Enrique said.
The other student who won big was Kaitlin Brown. She is a junior theatre performance major. Brown has loved every role she has had the opportunity to play, but one of her favorites was the narrator in “She Kills Monsters” at Winthrop last spring.
“The Dungeons and Dragons world was a blast to be in and everyone who was involved in the production worked really hard to make the show a great experience for the audience. Also putting on tons of glitter eye make-up was a bonus for me,” Brown said.
Brown’s preparation for SCTA was somewhat of a long process because she wanted to find something that could best represent her type and abilities as an actress.
“There are so many monologues for 20-something women that are about being in love or about a character recalling a memory and they all sounded the same to me,” Brown said. “So I decided to do one of Beatrice’s monologues from “Much Ado About Nothing.” It was Beatrice’s wit and loyalty that made me fell in love with her character, and she was different than all the other young female characters that I had found.”
Brown is encouraging of auditioning for new roles and putting yourself out there, especially for students considering going to SCTA next year.
“The worse they can say is ‘no.’ You may have success and you may not, but you will never know if you don’t even try. I didn’t even imagine that I would do as well as I did, and all I did was say yes to something that I was unsure about,” Brown said.
Enrique and Brown have both been preparing for situations like SCTA in their classes at Winthrop.
“My acting classes have definitely helped with finding specificity and character. We have done many audition workshops with professors which have been invaluable in preparing for the pressure and constraints of real world auditions,” Enrique said.
“Winthrop has definitely taught me how to have a professional audition. You only have a small window of time to show who you are as a person as well as who you are as an actor. Before coming to Winthrop, I didn’t know that details like how you say your name could make or break an audition. Yes, I do feel like my classes are preparing me for my career. I am definitely a better actress now than I was my freshman year, and my career goals are becoming more realistic. I have been challenged as well as supported by my professors,” Brown said.
