MTI

Musical Theater Auditions

Musical Theatre Initiative (MTI) – National & Regional

KCACTF REGION 7 MTI COMPETITION
REGISTRATION DEADLINE: SUNDAY, DEC. 21, 2025
(See details and Registration Link below)

NATIONAL—The National KCACTF Musical Theatre Initiative is designed to celebrate, recognize, and foster outstanding musical theatre students from colleges and universities throughout the nation. The National Musical Theatre Fellowship cohort will be comprised of at least one student selected from each of the eight Regional festivals.  Selected students will receive an all-expenses paid trip to the KCACTF National Conference (Festival) at the Kennedy Center to participate in the Musical Theatre Intensive Fellowship. The curriculum is designed and led by KCACTF representatives and D.C. Theatre professionals.

REGIONAL—All KCACTF Region 7 Round-One MTI participants must be registered for the 2026 Conference (Festival) in Pasco, WA (Feb. 17–21, 2026) and students must be at the Festival.  The details of your audition are listed below. If you have questions, contact any member of the MTI Coordinator Team:

  • Tracy Martin – MartinT@arc.losrios.edu
  • Noah Racey – Noah.Racey@colostate.edu
  • Corey Winfield – WinfieC@arc.losrios.edu

FIRST ROUND (Region 7)

Audition will take place live on Thursday, Feb. 19 at the Conference (Festival). You must register online in advance for a time slot. If all slots are taken, a waitlist will be started.  Please check the Region 7 Festival website after December 14 for slot sign-ups. Slots are limited.

Please prepare an audition cut that is 90 seconds or less. An audition with two contrasting pieces within the 90 seconds is recommended, but one piece is also fine and will not jeopardize your chances of advancing to the final round.  Timing of the cut(s) will begin when you begin the first (or only) song, and end when you and the accompanist stop.

Music may be from the musical theater canon or may be musical theater adjacent. (ie, You may select music of a style that appears in musical theater but is not from an actual musical).

Your audition must include a slate with the following information: Your full name, the name of your song, the musical it is from (if it is from a musical), and the composer of the song.  Please do not include the name of your school in your slate. The slate will not count as part of your 90 seconds.

You will be provided live piano accompaniment for your audition.*  The accompanist will be provided by the MTI team.  You must prepare sheet music to give the accompanist as you are called to the stage.  You will have a moment to communicate with the accompanist before beginning your slate and song.  (Directions on music preparation appear below, and a video will also be available by January 3, 2026 demonstrating the preparation process). 

Following your audition you will receive brief feedback from one of the respondents in an area just outside the audition hall.

*PLEASE NOTE: The MTI Team may request scans of participants’ music the week before the festival begins to help our accompanists prepare.  Participants will be notified by the email you use when signing up for a slot. In the event that your music changes between that date and February 19, you will have the opportunity to re-submit that music.  Wait-listed students will have the option of submitting music, but it will not be a requirement. (Accompanists will NOT be using scanned music at the Festival audition. Participants must still have physical sheet music for the accompanist).

FINAL ROUND (Region 7) 

Students advancing to the final round will perform live at Conference (Festival) Friday, February 20, 2026.  The list of students advancing will be posted by 10pm Thursday, Feb. 19.  If there are any special instructions they will be provided by email and will also be posted with the Final Round list.

For the Final Round, you should prepare an audition cut that is three (3) minutes or less and may use the time to present one or two pieces, whatever you prefer.  The audition material may be a longer version of your Round One audition or may be new material.  Timing of the cut(s) will begin when you begin the first (or only) song, and end when you and the accompanist stop.

Music may be from the musical theater canon or may be musical theater adjacent. (ie, You may select music of a style that appears in musical theater but is not from an actual musical).

Your audition must include a slate with the following information: Your full name, the name of your song, the musical it is from (if it is from a musical), and the composer of the song.  Please do not include the name of your school in your slate. The slate will not count as part of your 3 minutes.

You will be provided live piano accompaniment for your audition. The accompanist will be provided by the MTI team.  You must prepare sheet music to give the accompanist as you are called to the stage.  You will have a moment to communicate with the accompanist before beginning your slate and song. 

Following your performance you will remain on stage for a brief ‘master class’ with one of the respondents.  This is part of the audition. You may be asked to perform parts of the song(s) again after receiving feedback or coaching and/or to discuss the song(s) with your respondent.

Final Round performers should be prepared to perform at the Region 7 Award Ceremony (being held before 1pm Saturday, February 21, 2026).  At that ceremony an MTI winner and runner up will be announced. Both will perform their 3-minute audition after the announcement. The winner will go on to be part of the National Musical Theatre Fellowship cohort.

CRITERIA FOR BOTH ROUNDS

Student artists participating in the Musical Theatre Initiative auditions are encouraged to make material and artistic choices with consideration of the following criteria:

  • Choosing material suited for the actor that reflects self-awareness, expressive emotional range, wide vocal range, and physical connectedness.
  • Engaging in active objectives and tactics to affect how they are speaking to their imaginary scene partner. (What is your objective? What/who is your obstacle? Etc.)
  • Living truthfully in the moment of their given circumstances. (who, what, where, when, why, how) 
  • Expressing a compelling story with a clear arc from beginning to middle to end.
  • Demonstrating a connection with an imaginary scene partner (who you are speaking to), projected imagery, and specific fourth wall focal points. 
  • Making a Body/Voice Connection. – (Are you filling the space vocally, energetically, and in connection with your body? Can we understand you?)
  • Displaying Vocal/Musical Technique – Effective use of breath, appropriate phrasing, clear vocal tone, correct notes/rhythms/lyrics, etc.

PREPARING THE MUSIC FOR AN ACCOMPANIST

The MTI Team recommends you prepare your physical sheet music one or both of the following ways:

Version 1 – If your sheet music is 6 or more pages long

  • Photocopy the music back-to-back on regular (bond) white paper
  • Hole-punch the music and place it in a binder
  • Double-check that the pages are in order
  • Be sure to mark your music clearly with the beginning and ending of your cut. If there are other things in the music you need your accompanist to notice (tempo changes, places you need them to “hold” for a moment, etc.), mark them clearly as well.

 Version 2 – If your sheet music is 5 or fewer pages long

(The goal of this approach is to have pages that will “accordion” out from your binder so that the accompanist may see all the pages at once.  This approach eliminates any need for page turns.)

  • Photocopy the music onto white cardstock, one page per sheet. Copies should be one-sided.
  • Lay the five (or fewer) pages out in front of you in order, left to right
  • Lightly trim the left and right margins of pages 1, 2 & 5 to make those pages somewhat narrower. Be very careful not to trim off any part of the music your accompanist will need to read.
  • Tape pages 1 and 2 together. (Connecting the right side of 1 to the left side of 2)
  • Hole-punch this pair of pages on the far-right margin
  • Tape pages 3, 4 & 5 together in the same fashion
  • Hole-punch this trio of pages on the far-left margin
  • Now put the music into your binder so that all the pages, fanned out, are in order
  • Since you trimmed some of the pages a bit, it should fold up into the binder for easy travel.
  • Be sure to mark your music clearly with the beginning and ending of your cut. If there are other things in the music you need your accompanist to notice (tempo changes, places you need them to “hold” for a moment, etc.), mark them clearly as well.

If feasible, it is recommended you prepare music BOTH of these ways and have them both in your binder for your accompanist to use whichever they prefer.

Important Tips that will make your music as readable as possible

  • Never have loose sheet music that could easily fall or fall out of order
  • If your music is in a book, do not present the book to the accompanist. It may not stay open well. Please copy the music and prepare as recommended above.
  • Do NOT have your music in sheet protectors. Some accompanists prefer to write notes on the music, and sheet protectors also make it hard to turn pages.
  • Do NOT tape or staple your music back-to-back. It can complicate page turns and visibility. (If doing Version 1 above, copy the pages back-to-back instead)
  • Always include the first page of the song… even if only performing the end. Some of the info at the beginning may not occur elsewhere in the sheet music.
  • Be very careful when copying the music to capture everything on the page. You need to make sure you do not cut off any notes at the bottom, key signatures, etc. — even page numbers are helpful sometimes. If your music is larger than 8.5 x 11, reduce it slightly so it fits well on a normal piece of paper.
  • If you are ‘jumping over measures’ in your cut, draw a very clear line or “X” with a pencil through those measures. Do not black them out or scribble them out.
  • If you are jumping over entire pages in your cut, have the full sheet music available somewhere in your binder just in case your accompanist needs to see them for clarity.
  • If at all possible, show your music to a musician before the audition. There will also be an opportunity on the Tuesday of the Festival to show your music to a member of the MTI team. The time and place for this opportunity will be in the schedule and will also be emailed to all signed-up participants.

DEADLINE FOR MTI REGISTRATION – 11:59pm SUN, DEC. 21, 2025

Please click on the link below to secure an Audition Slot for the 2026 Region 7 Musical Theatre Initiative (MTI) competition. You will NOT need to submit your song title(s) at this time.  You WILL need to let us know what other ACTF activities you plan to be a part of (including the Irene Ryan Competition, an Invited Production, etc.). You will also need to be registered for the 2026 Region 7 Conference (Festival) in Pasco, WA.

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13 DEADLINE FOR ALL CONFIRMED MTI COMPETITORS

The deadline for confirmed MTI competitors to submit your music scans is midnight, Friday, February 13, 2026 (Pacific Standard Time). Students who do not submit their music by this time may be moved to the waiting list and lose their current slot in the MTI Auditions.

For full instructions, please be sure you read the email we send Feb. 1, 2026  (Subject: Time Sensitive Message for 2026 Region 7 MTI Competitors!). Once you have read that email, you may use the emailed link or this link below to submit your scanned, marked music as one file.

Click here to register for MTI (link coming soon)

Submit Music Here