Ahead of the Game: Freshman Auditions for Television Musical
Video by Logan Gilmore
UA freshman Anna Knight was too young to audition for the first season of The Glee Project, a talent search for the popular FOX show Glee.
More than 40,000 people tried out for the first season, according to aoltv.com.
When season two approached, Knight knew she would audition.
“The year they announced that they were doing it again I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I have to get in on this,” she said.
She began preparing for her audition in November 2011, her first semester at the UA.
“I would be studying in Humphreys where I live and then I would go down to the basement and practice my music,” Knight said.
Since she was young, Knight has been a performer. She came to the UA to pursue a degree in drama with hopes of getting a master’s in musical theatre. She hopes to become a Broadway actress.
Since she was young, Anna Knight has been a performer. As a freshman drama student, Knight auditioned for the popular FOX show Glee. - Lauren Husband Staff Photographer
Despite her talent and experience, Knight was cut in the group round of the auditions.
In the group round, participants were split into groups of five. From there Knight would have individually auditioned in front the Glee producers, she said.
Despite not making it to the final round, Knight said The Glee Project has helped her.
“It was an amazing experience and it is something great to put on my resume,” she said. “It was a really fun chance to get a different experience with auditioning.”
Being cut from The Glee Project is not the biggest set back that Knight has faced.
“I have been clinically depressed since I was 13,” she said. “That definitely sets me apart. If I can beat clinical depression as a teenager, then I can beat the odds to become a Broadway actress.”
She is now focusing on getting her degree before she begins pursuing her dream full-force.
“I do what it takes but I also have an inner conscience that tells me when to stop,” Knight said. “That is why I didn’t move to New York when I was 18.”
Knight wanted a college degree, unlike many fellow actors that she knows who go straight into their acting careers, she said.
She also hopes that, while finishing her degree, her Glee Project video will help her get some recognition on YouTube.
While at the UA, Knight is also involved in her sorority, Alpha Delta Pi and she plays Quidditch.
Stress follows being so passionate, knight said.
“The downside of going so passionately for a dream is that the passion catches up to you,” she said.
“Social therapy” helps her alleviate some of the stress of chasing her dream, she said. She describes social therapy as talking with people who are going through a similar situation.
Despite the set backs and the stress, Knight won’t give up on becoming a Broadway actress, no matter what it takes.
