About stageready

stageready is built for students, parents, and counselors navigating the world of performing arts college programs. We bring together audition requirements, deadlines, program details, and insider tips — all in one searchable place — so you can spend less time researching and more time preparing.

Why We Built This

If you've ever tried to research BFA or BA programs in acting, musical theatre, design, or stage management, you know the pain: every school has a different website, different deadlines, different prescreen requirements, and different audition formats. Information is scattered across dozens of pages, PDFs, and third-party platforms. stageready was created to solve that problem by putting everything students need in a single, organized hub.

Meet the Founders

stageready was founded by Brigitte Thieme-Burdette, an AEA actor and college audition coach based in New York City. Brigitte holds a BFA in Acting from Pace University's Sands School of Performing Arts and an MFA in Acting from Columbia University.

After years of working auditions from both sides of the table — sitting in on BFA auditions at Pace and working MFA auditions at Columbia — Brigitte saw firsthand how overwhelming the process is for students and families. She launched her own college audition coaching practice in 2020 and has maintained a 100% acceptance rate for students auditioning for multiple programs. That hands-on experience with the chaos of scattered deadlines, confusing prescreen requirements, and inconsistent program info is exactly what inspired stageready.

Her husband Chip Zurita, an engineer and systems designer, built the platform from the ground up. Together, they combine deep industry knowledge with technical expertise to create the resource they wish had existed when Brigitte was navigating her own audition journey.

What We Offer

  • •Browse 721+ programs across 206+ schools, searchable by discipline, degree, location, and more
  • •Curated monologue and song databases to help you find the right audition material
  • •My Submissions consolidates your audition prep — plus a calendar to track every deadline
  • •A decision matrix to rank schools plus a saved list to organize your progress
  • •My Performers — coaches and parents can link to a student's account and follow along
  • •Coverage across Performance, Design, Production & Management, and Writing & Dramaturgy

Our Mission

The performing arts college process shouldn't be a guessing game. Whether you're a student dreaming of a BFA conservatory, a parent trying to understand the audition landscape, or a counselor guiding the next generation of artists, stageready is here to make the journey clearer, less stressful, and a little more exciting.

Get in Touch

Have questions, feedback, or a school you'd like us to add? We'd love to hear from you on our contact page.