One male and one female SMU student will have a chance to hitthe small screen Monday morning.
As part of a contest with CBS’ “The EarlyShow” and “The Young and the Restless,” castingdirector Marnie Saitta and actor Greg Rikaart will be holdingauditions in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center ballroom.
Saitta, who has been a casting director with the show for sevenyears, said she is looking for students with strong personalities,confidence and natural ability.
“Obviously experience is something that would befantastic, but it’s not necessary,” she said.
Students need a valid SMU ID, a recent photograph and atelephone number where they can be reached in the afternoon forcallbacks.
From 9 a.m.-1 p.m., Saitta will hold interviews withparticipants.
“We’ll chitchat about their background and whatthey’re studying. We’re just getting a little sense oftheir personality and their experience,” she said.
Saitta will then choose 20-30 students to come back from 2-4p.m. to do a videotaped cold reading with Rikaart, who plays KevinFisher on the daytime drama. The tapes will be reviewed and winnersfrom SMU and four other schools will be announced on “TheEarly Show” on May 14.
Those students will then go to New York City to perform a livescreen test on the morning news show the week of May 17. Viewerswill vote online for their favorite actor. The winner, who will beannounced on May 24, will receive a “multi-episoderole” on “The Young and the Restless.”
SMU is the first stop on a five-school tour.
Hope Barkan, a CBS representative, said producers had given hera list of schools in the Dallas area where auditions could be held.One of her coworkers is from Dallas and recommended SMU.
“She said that SMU was a beautiful school and had a goodtheater department,” Barkan said. Saitta will also look forparticipants at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,University of Maryland at College Park, the University of Minnesotain Minneapolis and San Francisco State.
“[Students should] come and be themselves, just have funand kick all of their inhibitions to the door,” Saittasaid.
