The scholarship auditions will consist of a preliminary round on the first day of the festival, followed by a semi-final round, with finals taking place on the last day of the festival. One person from the Scholarship Award auditions will be selected to attend the national festival at the Kennedy Center!

Some students who audition for the MTI Scholarship Award and do not advance to the semifinals will be invited to perform in the MTI cabaret. They will rehearse with an accompanist prior to that event and perform a full song. (Be sure to bring your sheet music with you to the festival in case you are selected to perform in the cabaret! Please also see Sheet Music Guidelines below.)

Students will have several opportunities to participate in dance workshops at the festival. One performer will be selected from these workshops to receive the Musical Theatre Intensive Dance Award for the region.

• Students nominated for MTI for their performance in a musical production at their home institution are invited to perform in the MTI Ensemble, which will perform a song together at closing ceremonies. The ensemble will rehearse together at the festival to learn music, harmonies, blocking, choreography, etc., before the performance.

• All rounds will be performed live at the festival, and should feature music from the musical theatre or musical theatre-adjacent canon.
  • Preliminary round – one 90-second cut
  • Semifinal round – two cuts up to 4 minutes, total
  • Final round – one full song
• Students are allowed (encouraged!) to use the same material in multiple rounds.

• All material will be performed with piano accompaniment provided by KCACTF; those auditioning may not bring their own accompanist. Students will need to have clean copies of their sheet music clearly marked and double-sided in a three-ring binder. Please ensure that none of the sheet music, including the accompaniment lines, has been cut off due to a crooked or improperly sized photocopy.
• Since participants will not know whether they will advance to semifinals until after they arrive at festival, all MTI Scholarship Award participants should bring their prepared sheet music for both of their songs to the festival.

• Register for the MTI Scholarship Auditions via this link (Now Closed) by December 16. You will be asked to enter your name, contact information, and audition material (song, musical, and writers).