Additional Information for Auditions Tips for Auditioning in Performing Arts 1. Define what your type is, and seek roles that are fitting. Choose audition material that shows off your type. 2. Include on your resume information that will make you stand out; include your special abilities. 3. Keep your resume constantly updated: you ll be viewed as a working actor. 4 Your audition begins the moment you walk through the door, not when you read or sing your first line. 5. Always project a positive professional image. Audition Handbook The following is an edited copy of U/RTA Audition Handbook and is applicable to most audition situations. Incorporate as much of these guidelines as you think you can into your audition: Begin by familiarizing yourself with any number of excellent books on auditioning. Three very good books are: 1) Shurtleff, Michael. Audition. New York: Bantam Books, 2 nd., 1980. 2) Cohen, Robert. Acting Professionally. New York: Barnes and Noble, 4 th ed., 1980 3) Ellis, Roger. An Audition Handbook for Student Actors. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1986 Selecting Material:
1. Seek roles in your own maturity and emotional range and from material with which you are familiar and feel comfortable. Never attempt an audition monologue without reading the entire play and understanding your character in the context of the play. 2. Contrast can be demonstrated through type of character and material such as dramatic/comedic; contemporary/classical; prosaic/poetic; urban/rural; etc. rather than age. Look for selections with contrasting characters, moods, intentions, rhythms, emotional levels, etc. 3. Choose pieces that will maximize your strongest assets and minimize your weaknesses. You are not required to do a classical piece, but a contemporary prose piece contrasted with a period verse piece is the standard choice of most candidates. Don t challenge your capabilities in selecting audition material, but rather pick characters which fit comfortably within your middle range. Actors who take risks are very appealing to auditors, but keep your risk taking confined to interpretation and presentation rather than casting. Above all, do what you do best. 4. Selection should be self-explanatory with an overt beginning, middle, and end. Take liberty in editing for clarity. Two or more speeches may be combined to form a monologue as long as necessary connectives are smooth and logical. Test the clarity of your monologue by reading it to someone unfamiliar with the play. If they are confused by your editing or staging, consider another selection. 5. Monologues directed to another character or directly out to the audience are more effective than internal or inner directed soliloquies. Avoid dialogues which require implied responses from other imaginary characters. Above all, select pieces which contain active intentions.
6. Avoid climactic material which requires great depth or intensity of emotion. There simply is not enough time to achieve these emotional peaks effectively and honestly. On the other hand, avoid dull and passive pieces which dwell on character or plot exposition. Your character should be actively involved in overcoming obstacles in order to fulfill an immediate objective or intention. 7. Avoid overdone or over-familiar selections if possible. 8. Sexually explicit or extremely offensive material can work against you Likewise, good writing will always serve your purposes better than mediocre or poor writing. Your material represents 90 percent of your time on stage, so select the strongest horse to ride! 9. If you choose to audition with a role you have played in production, a practice considered unwise by most auditors, be sure to completely rework the monologue, with your coach, for the audition situation. If not, you may be tempted to do it as you did it in production, which may not serve your audition well. Preparing An Audition 1. Agree on a production schedule with your coach allowing at least four weeks before you re preliminary screening audition to select material and rehearse. It is recommended that you present dry runs in front of two or three faculty members, fellow students, or both for critical feedback and for practice in auditioning in front of a small panel of auditors. 2 Go over your interpretation and scoring with your coach. Be sure you have a solid understanding of given circumstances, character, intentions, obstacles, and relationships for each of your characters.
3. Think of your audition as a four-minute one-act play entitled, The audition of (your ------- name); written, arranged, produced, and starring yourself. Your audition one-act will contain eleven major beats or units of action. They are: a. Your entrance b. Introduction of selection #1 c. Transition from yourself to character #1 d. Presentation of your first selection e. Transition from character #1 back to yourself f. Introduction of selection #2 g. Transition from yourself to character #2 h. Presentation of second selection i. Transition from character #2 back to yourself j. Thank you k. Your exit 4. Carefully consider, rehearse, and play each of these beats. Pay particular attention to the transitions. They are strategically placed to provide you with specific shifts from one part of the audition to the next. If ignored, your audition may tend to blur into four general minutes of non-specific performing. Transitions also give you a chance to catch your breath under the nerve-wracking and tense circumstances of an audition. 5. Be sure your combined selections read well under four minutes, preferably three. Time expands when performing, and you should never be concerned about running over. You can control this factor, so do your editing and cutting at this point to fit within the four minute limit. It is difficult to make cuts after you have memorized and rehearsed the piece. If you are still running long, go to a different selection. Don t try to remedy an over-long piece by talking fast. Michael Shurtleff, the dean of audition training, insists that no audition is ever too short. If you run over the four-minute time limit at the
preliminary screening audition, you will be stopped which reflects on your ability to follow directions. So eliminate this concern now. Presenting Your Audition 1. Dress comfortably but informally. Do not try to costume yourself, but avoid apparel that contradicts your character (i.e. Royalty in running shoes, Noel Coward in a tee-shirt, etc.). Usually a sweater or sport coat and slacks for men; and a sweater or blouse, shirt, and flat shoes for women work best. Avoid hair styles which hide your features. 2. Preview the performance space before you audition. Know where you are going, what furniture if any, you plan to use and where the best light is located. When you are announced, go directly to your pre-planned spot and begin your audition. 3. Plan to use just one straight back chair or no furniture in your staging. 4. Remember, your audition begins with your entrance. Auditors read a lot into the way an actor leaves and enters the stage. Maintain a confident, pleasant, and positive persona. Don t correct the stage manager on the pronunciation of your name or show irritation with a tape recorder operator who may put in your cassette backwards. 5. Never surprise the auditors without an introduction no matter how clever or dramatic. If you do, most auditors will spend the first 15-20 seconds reflecting on your lack of introduction rather than your audition. Also, they may be confused about what you are doing. 6. No props should be used unless the item is something you might normally wear or carry, such as glasses, a handkerchief, a wristwatch, a scarf, or a jacket. Pantomiming props such as drinks, guns, balls, etc. effectively can enhance your performing abilities for the audience. Never, however, bring the real objects to your audition.
7. Stage your audition simply, utilizing a minimum of space-preferably within a radius of 510 feet. Play ¼ open for most of your audition, never profile. Keep imaginary characters downstage of you so you always face out when addressing them, and keep them on stage with you so that your visual focus does not penetrate the fourth wall. Avoid the crutch of placing imaginary characters in chairs as it limits the imagination of both you and the audience. 8. Relate to your environment throughout the audition. Establishing environment (indoor, outdoor, familiar, unfamiliar, etc.) and attitudinal relationships to other characters are two of the most useful, and frequently overlooked, acting tools in an audition. Each demonstrates your imagination and creativity, plus it helps the audience, and you, to believe in the situation. 9. While it is important to make a good first impression, many auditors will advise you to finish with your strongest piece. A good start that deteriorates is less impressive than a weak beginning that catches fire and ends strong. This is a debatable hypothesis, but someone once said, Always leave them wanting more. 10. Don t rush your audition transition. This is a common problem, usually caused by nerves or inadequate preparation. Frequently, actors rush from an introduction into a monologue or from one piece to another without ever shifting gears. Any dramatic illusion is immediately destroyed. A good rule of thumb is to move a step or two or shift your body position at each audition transition. 11. Never emotionalize, editorialize, nor apologize on work or deed for your audition. What may have gone wrong for you might have gone unnoticed by the auditors, and a negative reaction on your part could alert them unnecessarily.
12. Don t be thrown by lack of response from the auditors. Auditors tend to remain neutral or slightly detached during auditions in order to maintain their objectivity. Lack of response does not mean they don t like what you re doing. Singing Auditions 1. If you can t sing, don t. This is an optional opportunity and should be employed if you are a trained singer and a bona fide candidate for musicals. A bad song after a good acting audition can leave doubt in the auditors minds. Remember, end with strength. 2. Limit your musical selection to 16 bars, not to exceed 30 seconds. Don t be tempted to go that extra chorus or verse. This is merely an opportunity to demonstrate that you can also sing and is not an audition for a musical. 3 Favor show tunes in your selection, preferably upbeat. Use a cassette recorder, piano or orchestra accompaniment. Folk songs accompanied on a live guitar are deadly. A cappella singing is unacceptable. 4. Cue up your cassette tape before leaving the warm-up holding area. Have the recorded side clearly marked for the tape recorder operator.]