Auditions are a crazy thing. I mean, what other professional industry forces people to compete for work by demonstrating their ability to do the work? I have yet to be asked to do a mock sales presentation in order to get hired by an ad agency or practice drilling teeth before taking on a new patient as a dentist. But actors, we have to audition.
And in the audition process, it seems like you are constantly being asked to do the impossible: come up with an honest, spontaneous moment when you’ve had less than 24 hours to prepare and no one is giving you any information about what they want.
The good news is that this ordeal will make you a better actor. The bad news is that it will drive you crazy if you don’t take control of your own process.
One of my teachers used to say “The more you know the freer you are.” This holds true in life, love and acting. So when you are faced with an audition, know everything you can know about it beforehand so that when you walk into that room full of strangers, your mind can be free and your choices as honest and spontaneous as possible.
And then just do your best!
Auditions are crazy. Auditions are crazy because, more often than not, you show up to an audition, and people are running around in a mad frenzy trying to get things done. I have come to accept this as part of the process and it doesn’t bother me anymore. However, this wasn’t always the case, espcially at first when I was just starting out as an actor.
When I first started auditioning for projects, I didn’t know what to expect. Because I had heard horror stories about actors getting treated terribly at auditions. And sure enough on my first audition I experienced it first hand. This is when my survival instincts kicked in and told me “This isn’t normal.”
The moral of the story is: If you prepare before an audition, then no matter what happens during your audition, you will get through it with flying colors!
I love going to auditions. It’s a lot of fun and I get to meet so many great people. But they can be crazy sometimes. Here are some tips to help you stay sane and get the audition you want:
1. Know what the audition is for. Is it a play, a movie, or something else? Do your research before wasting your time and filling out the forms.
2. Make sure the audition is for an actual role in a production that will happen. It is not worth it to waste your time if it is just for casting directors or something like that.
3. Find out if there are any other expectations for you besides reading from the script. Is there singing or dancing? If so, make sure you have practiced both beforehand so that you don’t sound bad when trying out new skills at an audition (trust me, this happens more often than not).
4. Look up directions to the place where they will hold it, and find out how long it takes to get there so that you arrive on time even if traffic slows down somewhere along the way (and leave early enough so that doesn’t happen).
5. Be prepared with what clothes/costume/etc they want you to wear while performing (e.
Know everything you can about your audition before you arrive. The more you know, the better prepared you are, and the more comfortable you are going to be when it’s time to perform.
Here is a list of audition questions that I like to ask before I go in for an audition:
1. Can I see the script?
If not, perhaps there is a page or even a few lines of dialogue you can read from.
2. Can I see the sides?
This is a great way to get a sense of what the character is all about, what she’s feeling in the scene, and most importantly: What’s the relationship like between the two people in the scene?
3. Is there anything else I should know about this role?
4. Is there anything else I should know about this character?
5. What do you think this character will be wearing?
You have to be prepared for anything and everything. This is the number one rule for auditioning. One of my mentors, who was a casting director for over 30 years, told me that if you are not prepared, you are not ready.
Your mindset has to be on 100% at all times when you are auditioning. I remember when I first started auditioning I thought that there was no way I could know everything about my character before I got into the room with the casting director or director.
Some people might tell you that it is impossible to learn your lines and know everything about your character before the audition. You might think they are right, but if you want to be a professional actor then it is necessary to know your lines before the audition and not leave anything up to chance when it comes to your preparation.
Before every audition take the time to really get to know your character and fall in love with them. After all, this is someone you will be portraying on stage or in front of a camera. You need to make sure that you understand who this person is and what makes them tick.
How many times have you been in an audition and heard the Casting Director or Director ask you to “step forward” or “take a step back”? It seems like such a simple request but really it’s not. What does this mean? How close do they want you? How far away do they want you? I can tell you from experience that it’s not a good idea to take a big step forward or backward.
There are some things to know about moving forward and backward in an audition. First of all, if you take too big of a step, then you are probably going to fall on your face! This is definitely not what the Casting Director wants! The next thing is that if you take too big of a step then whatever direction they asked you to move, they will ask you to move back the other way. Then they will try again, but this time they will make sure that they only ask for a little bit of movement at one time. This may happen a few times until they get the right distance between yourself and the camera. So, what is an actor supposed to do?
If you are asked to step forward or backward then there are two things that I recommend that you do. First of
You never know what is going on in an actors mind. Sometimes you get the part and sometimes you don’t. I remember auditioning for a small theatre company in Nebraska, and the director said, “I’m sorry but we’re not going to cast you.” I was shocked because I thought my audition went really well, and I couldn’t stop wondering what happened. For years, I wondered why they didn’t cast me until one day I ran into the director at a different audition. He told me that he remembered my audition and that I did a great job but that he couldn’t cast me because of my height. He said that the stage wouldn’t be right with everyone being tall except for me, who was only 5’3″. It sucked that I didn’t get the part because of something out of my control, but it made me feel better knowing why they didn’t cast me.
Sometimes though you do get the part even though you feel like your audition wasn’t great. You can spend hours over-analyzing your audition and try to figure out every possible reason about why you did or didn’t get the part. But honestly it is completely pointless to wonder about it because there is nothing you can do about it now. You just have to be prepared for
