COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL) — Have you ever wanted to be a fashion star but think you’re too old to strut down a runway? If so, think again. Another TUT Production is looking for seniors ages 55 and older to look fabulous in the 2023 show, “Seniors on the Runway Columbus.”
Auditions will take place on Sunday, Dec. 18 from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. in the Columbus Public Library’s Betty Van Cleave meeting room. The Columbus Public Library is located at 3000 Macon Rd. Before you can audition, you should call (470) 569-4633 to reserve a spot and get audition details.
Carrie T. Hamilton owns Another TUT Production.
“Another TUT Production is a three-generational, family-run business based out of Atlanta,” she said. “We are a fashion entertainment production company, and we were established back in 1990. So what we do, along with event planning, we put on events as it relates to fashion.”
Hamilton decided to work with seniors because she felt they didn’t get the recognition they deserved in her industry.
“The aging population, I tell everyone, ‘You will get old unless you die,’” she said. “And that is no pun intended. I just want to show people that we glamorize age. It’s okay to age, and it’s okay to age gracefully. And we want people who come out to see that seniors still have the ability and talent to strut.”
Auditioners can be male or female. They will be asked to show their IDs to prove their ages, as people under age 55 have attempted to sneak into other “Seniors on the Runway” auditions.
“They should dress in all black in any particular style that suits their personality,” Hamilton said. “… And I tell them, if they want to come in in a Western outfit, as long as it’s stylish, as long as it’s the color black, they have on their pumps and men have on their hard bottom shoes, no rubber soles, we can still audition them.”
Auditions typically take about five minutes each.
“And what we do is we record them,” Hamilton said. “They of course sign an application saying that they give us consent to videotape them. I have judges throughout the United States, and I send the videos to them so that they judge them based on the score card that we have. And then, from there, they’ll get a letter saying yay or nay to the runway portion of it.”
Auditioners will be judged on things such as ability, confidence and poise.
If participants don’t get to be runway models, they can still potentially become mannequin models who stand still.
“Or they can be an ambassador,” Hamilton said. “They can volunteer and work with us to some capacity.”
Auditioners don’t have to live in Columbus to participate.
Other Seniors on the Runway auditions and shows have or will take place in several cities – Albany; Augusta; Atlanta; Macon; Savannah; Birmingham, Alabama and Jacksonville, Florida.
“$0 are being charged for seniors because we have to train them,” Hamilton said. “We have to make sure that they are prepared for the runway, because it’s not dancing. A lot of people get dancing and modeling confused. So what I do is even the playing field. I personally go to different cities and train these models and teach them how to strut.”