URTA (University Resident Theatre Association)

Candidate registration for the 2026 URTA Auditions and Interviews is hosted here on Acceptd, and will open September 2, 2025 at noon (12:00 pm, Eastern).

What are the URTAs?

The URTA Auditions and Interviews--or, "the URTAs"--have been connecting prospective students with top graduate programs for over 50 years, and are the most accessible, cost-effective way for theatre artists to pursue graduate training.

Prospective candidates are able to learn about and be seen by dozens of professional training programs in numerous disciplines at the URTAs. The programs vary widely in vision, approach, and curriculum. If you haven’t already begun researching graduate programs, the URTA Membership Directory is a great place to start. Be sure to contact schools directly for the most current information on their various programs and recruiting cycles.

For the 2026 URTAs event dates/details, the list of programs registered to recruit in each discipline/location, the Candidate Handbook, and other helpful information – please visit urta.com/events. Note: the list of programs registered to recruit in 2026 will be updated on our website throughout the Fall as schools register, so please check back regularly.

At the URTAs, grad school candidates have the opportunity to be seen by dozens of top training programs in a single day and with a single registration. Actors participating in the in-person URTA auditions also have the opportunity to add a second-day of Guest auditions (attended by non-member programs/institutions) to their registration, which doubles the number of training programs they will see.

We are delighted that you’re considering taking part in the URTAs!

Before beginning your candidate registration for the 2026 URTAs, please read all of the information here on Acceptd. Prospective candidates are also strongly encouraged to review the Candidate Handbook, which will provide a comprehensive overview of what to expect at the URTAs.  

2026 URTA Auditions & Interviews - Event Dates/Locations:

Graduate Acting:

• Acting (Philadelphia): in-person recruiting, Jan. 9 – 11, 2026
• Acting (Atlanta): hybrid recruiting**, Jan. 18, 2026
• Acting (Chicago): in-person recruiting, Jan. 25 – 28, 2026
• Acting (Virtual): live-virtual recruiting, Jan. 31 – Feb. 1, 2026
• Acting (CSU Fullerton): hybrid recruiting**, Feb. 7 – 8, 2026

** For the hybrid recruiting model in Acting (Atlanta & CSU Fullerton): candidates attend in-person to present their audition. Some URTA member faculty will be in-person, while other URTA member faculty and all Guest (non-member) faculty will attend live-virtually (watching a live-stream of the audition). All technology set-up to live-stream the hybrid auditions will be provided by URTA. More details are available on the Acting (Atlanta) and Acting (CSU Fullerton) application guidelines pages. 

Graduate Arts Leadership:

• Arts Leadership (Virtual): live-virtual recruiting, Jan. 13 – 14, 2026
  
  

Graduate Design and Technology:

• Design & Technology (Virtual): live-virtual recruiting, Jan. 20, 2026
  • Focus Areas recruiting: ALL (costume, lighting, projection/media, properties, scenic, sound, technical direction)

• Design & Technology (Chicago): in-person recruiting, Jan. 23 – 24, 2026
  • Focus Areas recruiting: 
    • Jan. 23, 2026: Costume, Scenic, Lighting, Projections/Media
    • Jan. 24, 2026: Costume, Scenic, Lighting, Properties, Technical Direction
  • There will be NO sound design recruiting in Chicago

Graduate Directing:

• Directing (Virtual): live-virtual recruiting, Jan. 13 – 14, 2026
  
  

Graduate Stage Management:

• Stage Management (Virtual): live-virtual recruiting, Jan. 13 – 14, 2026

Registration Note:

Candidates may only register to participate in one (1) event/location for a discipline [Ex- you may not register for both Design/Tech (Chicago) and Design/Tech (Virtual)].

Candidates will be scheduled for one (1) day only for their particular event discipline. The exceptions being, if an Acting candidate in Philadelphia or Chicago adds Guest Auditions to their registration - then they will be scheduled for two (2) days of auditions, or if a candidate registers in more than one discipline (ex - design/tech & acting) , as each discipline requires one full-day commitment for participation. 

Candidates may register for more than one discipline (ex – acting & arts leadership) if they wish, however separate registrations must be submitted for each discipline area, and they will be scheduled for separate days to participate. See the Registration Pricing section for info multi-discipline registration discounts.  

The URTAs are a full-day commitment. Please do not schedule other appointments or travel on the day(s) are scheduled for the URTAs. You will be given an opportunity to provide schedule conflicts within your URTA registration on Acceptd.


2026 URTA Auditions & Interviews – Registration Deadlines:

• URTA Registration opens on Acceptd (All disciplines): September 2, 2025 (12:00 PM, Eastern)
  
  
• Early-Bird Pricing ends (All disciplines): November 23, 2025 (11:59 PM, Eastern) *Register before this date for the best value price!
  
  
• URTA Registration closes on Acceptd (Varies by discipline, see below):
  • Directing / Stage Management / Arts Leadership registration closes: December 14, 2025 (11:59 PM, Eastern)
    • We cannot accept late registrations after this date. There are no same-day/walk-in registrations in these disciplines.
  • Acting / Design & Technology registration closes: December 27, 2025 (11:59 PM, Eastern)
    • If you miss the December 27 registration deadline on Acceptd, walk-in/same-day registration is available at In-Person & Hybrid events only (as space permits). We CANNOT accept walk-in/same-day registrations for any of the Live-Virtual events.

• Walk-in / same-day registration: Walk-in registrations are only accepted at the In-Person and Hybrid events (Acting – Atlanta, Chicago, CSU Fullerton, Philadelphia; and Design/Tech – Chicago) pending availability. Space is limited, so candidates are strongly encouraged to register in advance on Acceptd to guarantee their spot. There will be NO walk-in/same-day registration for any Live-Virtual event.
  
  Those interested in applying as a walk-in at an in-person or hybrid recruiting event should arrive in the morning and come to the candidate check-in desk before the mandatory orientation. Email theurtas@urta.com for more information and required arrival times.
  
  

Remember: the URTAs are a full-day commitment. Please do not schedule other appointments or travel on the day you will attend the URTAs.

2026 URTA Auditions & Interviews – Registration Pricing:

The prices listed below are inclusive of all fees (Acceptd fees and Processing fees).

• Early-Bird Registration: starting at $127 *Best Value! Register by Nov. 23
  
  
• Full-Price Registration: starting at $142 *Full-Price begins Nov. 24
  
  
• Guest Auditions (optional, add-on): $55+processing (Guest Auditions are an optional second day of acting auditions in Philadelphia & Chicago with programs that are not members of URTA).
  
  Guest Auditions can be added within the Acting (Philadelphia) or Acting (Chicago) registration in Acceptd by selecting “Yes” when asked if you would like to add Guest Auditions to your registration. Please note: Guest Auditions require a second full-day of availability, as they cannot take place on the same day as your URTA audition.

Registration Discounts:

• Multi-Discipline registration discount: If a candidate wishes to register in multiple disciplines at the URTAs (ex – Acting and Stage Management), they must submit separate registrations for each discipline and be available to be scheduled for each separately. URTA offers a 50% discount off of the URTA registration fee for second registrations. To receive this discount, please submit your first registration on Acceptd and after you have started your second registration, please email theurtas@urta.com to request your unique discount code before submitting the second registration.

• URTA Candidate Awards: URTA offers a variety of Candidate Awards, which waive the URTA registrations fees for qualified candidates. Some of these Awards are for entire discipline areas, like Arts Leadership and Sound Design, while others have more specific requirements and a separate Award application. Information on all of URTA’s Candidate Awards and details on how to apply can be found at urta.com/awards.  
  
  Candidates that wish to support future Candidate Awards will have the option to donate to the Pay-It-Forward Award fund within their Acceptd registration. Candidates may opt to donate as little as $1 to the Pay-It-Forward fund, which supports Candidate Awards for candidates based on personal hardship and other considerations at next year's URTAs. All donations to the Pay-It-Forward fund are tax deductible and will be matched by Acceptd.
  

Policy on Changes and Cancellations:

• Change Requests: Candidates are given the opportunity to provide schedule conflicts within the URTA application in order to avoid changes to their scheduled URTAs date. If a candidate should need to make a change to their scheduled URTAs date, requests should be made promptly in writing to theurtas@urta.com. While URTA makes best efforts to accommodate change requests, scheduling is based on availability, therefore not all requests can be accommodated. Any change requests received after December 10, 2025 will incur a $15 change fee.

• Cancellation Policy: All cancellation requests must be made in writing to URTA at theurtas@urta.com. Cancellation requests received on or before December 10, 2025 will be fully refunded, minus a $32 cancellation fee. Cancellation requests received after December 10, 2025 are non-refundable. Please note that all donations made to the Pay It Forward Candidate Award are non-refundable, regardless of when the cancellation request is submitted.

2026 URTA Auditions & Interviews – Additional Resources:

Please review the specific disciplines/program registration pages here on Acceptd for further details. URTA also encourages all prospective to candidates to review these resources:

• URTA.com
• Candidate Handbook
• Directory of URTA Member Schools
• Catalog of Guest Schools
• URTA Candidate Awards

Ready to register for the 2026 URTAs?

On the left-hand side of your screen, use the dropdown menu under “Start an Application” to select the URTA Program/Discipline that you would like to register for and get started!

For disciplines with multiple event location options, please be sure to select location/event-type that you wish to attend. Once selected, the specific event details will appear in the Guidelines section at the center of your screen. Please review these specific event guidelines before beginning your registration.

If you have additional questions about the URTAs, please email theurtas@urta.com.

For technical questions, please visit the Acceptd Help Desk.