Getting the Most Out of Overtures

 Getting the Most Out of Overtures 2025

Tips and Tricks to Success for Overtures:

During Overtures, there will be many opportunities to expand on your current abilities. To best utilize your time, talents and energy levels with your fellow students, faculty and visiting artists please take the following into account:

• Program Attire
• Dress for success in each of your classes. Dress to move and dance in dance class, dress for comfort and adaptability in acting and voice. There will be occasions where we request you to be in audition attire. On those occasions, do so that you can present your best self to visiting guests and artists. 
• If you've got jazz shoes, wear them for dance classes. If not, don't go out and buy a pair but bring in a set of footwear you know you can groove and move in for a few hours. Same goes for knee pads or any other pads or pieces of support you might need to help you through particularly physical classes. You know your body far better than we do.

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• Feed Your Body and Mind (Literally)
• Eat breakfast, lunch and dinner. You're going to expend quite a few calories over the course of this program. Going along with this, hydrate! Drink water. Your voice and body will thank you. Struggling in a class or have a moment of frustration? Use those breaks to reset, to breath, to prepare, to do whatever you need to do to put yourself in the right mental state to tackle the other challenges to come over the course of the program.

• Taking Notes / Care
• Bring not only a open note book, or phone to record audio on, but also bring an open mind to what each instructor and student can teach you. Every moment is a learning moment even if it doesn't feel like an overt one. Support yourself but also support the group. Signature Education prioritizes community and we're excited for you to join and build up the Signature community. Strive to avoid judging yourself or others harshly in the process. We're all here to learn. Don't make the program harder by being your own or another student's worst critic. 
• Overtures is deliberately designed to push you and it will. The days are long, the feedback is non-stop. It'd be wise to take time now to plan out what you will need to excel during 66-hour weeks. 

• Go to Bed
• No, seriously. When you're not doing the Overtures grind, sleep. These are not the weeks to stay up late partying or show binging. Sleep.

• Know Your Self and Material
• Preparation is key. Make sure you know your pieces backwards and forwards before you arrive. 
• That means arriving with two contemporary monologues memorized and performance ready, your assigned solo memorized and performance ready, your pop and Golden Age songs memorized and ready, your small group numbers memorized and performance ready. All before you arrive. 
• Reminder to please rehearse your pieces with an accompanist before you arrive. We've seen too many students struggle on the first day when they realize too late that it sounds different than the YouTube track they rehearsed with at home.

Remember that you’ll get out of this program what you put into it. Whether that means making sure you’re getting enough sleep, eating well or striving to keep a positive and productive mindset, every small effort will impact your Overtures experience. 

Signature Education wants you to have the best and most productive experience possible while at Overtures. If you have mental, emotional or physical health challenges you think we should know about to help you succeed, please reach out at overtures@sigtheatre.org.