How to Maximize Your Audition Potential

I found myself in a strange predicament a month ago. Fresh out of college with a bachelor's degree in theatre arts, I moved from Boise, Idaho to Portland, Oregon, with the intention of either acting or playing music, whichever came first (or whichever paid more). When I moved to Portland I had acting on the back burner. I thought I'd start playing some open mics around town, get known for my music, and start playing shows. But then I noticed a Craigslist ad for a play audition. I thought, "what the hell," and I signed up for it.

Prepared I was not. I had left my play books and monologue books back in Boise, and so I only had a couple of monologues still stuck in my head to work with. I didn't know the town very well, and would be relying on public transportation and Google Maps to get to my destination. The play was brand new, and so I had no reference guide -- not that it mattered, I only had two monologues, and one of them was Shakespearean. Basically, I felt like I was going to choke, which was fine, because I was new and I expected to be rejected a couple of times before I got my footing.

Long story short, I went to the audition, got called back, and eventually was cast as the lead in the show. How did I do it? Simple. I was courteous, I was punctual, and I did not try to impress the director. Allow me to explain.

The typical theatre audition usually comprises three parts. There's the First Impression, the Audition, and the Cold(ish) Reading. The First Impression is self-explanatory; it is your presence from the moment you step into the audition space. It is the single most important part of the audition. If you have the best monologue in history, and you've rehearsed it to perfection, and you walk on stage and have no stage presence, you won't get cast. No matter how good that monologue is, the director is looking at you as a whole, and that includes how you stand and present yourself on stage.

So how do you make a good first impression? Well, to begin with, be courteous. Be kind to everyone you meet. Usually the stage manager or assistant stage manager will handle the audition process, so get to know them quickly. Make eye contact. Smile. Show yourself off immediately. Let everyone know that you are the right man or woman for this play, for this part. If you're auditioning for a company this is doubly important. An artistic director will not cast someone who will not fit in with their company, no matter how good of an actor they are. It's simple logistics -- if you give an air of being arrogant, or annoying, or frustrating, the director or artistic director will not hire you. Because the truth is, there are a lot of good actors out there. A lot. But not all of them are nice, friendly, kind and on time.

Which brings me to my next point. Punctuality is so important to the audition process, and even more important to the First Impression. Why? Because anyone who is about to rehearse a play wants to get started on time. They don't want to dilly-dally for even five minutes. Any time lost is time wasted, and for most theatrical productions, time is key. You might have four five-day weeks of two hour rehearsals. That's twenty hours a week, eighty hours total, to block a two hour play. That's just not a lot of time, and so you being ready and prepared at the top of the hour is crucial.

The old adage is, "Fifteen minutes is on time; on time is late." This isn't just a funny saying, it is the truth. You must, and I repeat, MUST be early to your rehearsal. Fifteen minutes if you're a minor character, up to a half-hour if you're a lead. You need that time to warm up, do distance yourself from your work day, to talk to your castmates, to go over that tricky bit of monologue you have, etc, etc. The director does not want you to do this at the beginning of rehearsal. It is unprofessional and annoying.

So, show your potential director that you mean business by showing up to the audition early. Take the time to go over your audition piece. Talk to the stage manager (trust me, they'll be glad you got there early too). Introduce yourself to your fellow actor auditioners. Make yourself known.

Now, the audition itself may consist of many things. You might do a monologue, you might do a reading, you might not do a monologue and just read. It always changes. Usually what a director is looking for ranges from your vocal projection to your ability to maintain your composure in front of people. Sometimes they'll ask you to do your monologue again, but with certain changes. If you're an adept actor, these challenges will be easy. But one thing I think that is overlooked by actors, ironically, during the audition itself is the concept of acting. What I mean by this is that when you're on stage, in a show, with an audience watching, are you focused on the audience? Is your attention with them at all? If so, you might want to rethink your profession. My point is, acting is about being engaged in the story of the play, which ultimately means being engaged with your fellow actors. This is the exact same thing you should consider when auditioning. Basically, you are NOT at an audition to impress the director. I know, it sounds strange, but it's true. You don't play Hamlet to a packed house with the intention of impressing the audience members. You play Hamlet because A) you were cast as Hamlet, and B) to be engaged in the story of Hamlet.

I say this because a lot of people go to auditions with the intention of impressing the director, to show off their skills and "act well." This backfires because it puts the actor too much in their own head, and doesn't allow the director to follow the story. And what does that look like to a director? Arrogance. Or fear. It doesn't look like confidence, and confidence is one of the key things a director is looking for.

How do you combat this? Easy! You just act the scene. If you have a monologue, find out who you are talking to and talk to them, tell your story or pursue whatever your objective is. Don't ever, ever think about if the director thinks you're doing well. Who cares what the director thinks, honestly? If they like you, they like you and you get cast. If they don't, then you go off to another audition. The truth is, the director isn't looking for you as you, they're looking for you in a story, with other actors.

If you get a chance to do a cold reading, study the text. Find your intentions. Find your own direction. When moments where you can really connect with your fellow actors. Find moments to pause, find moments to play up. Don't simply act as loudly or "powerfully" as you can. If you have a scene where it appears on the text that your character is "angry," question that. Are they really? How could you play them as calm?

In this audition that I went to, I read a scene opposite two young black men. The scene was set in the 1930s, at a mental hospital where minorities and the disenfranchised were sterilized to prevent them from procreating. Awful, I know. I played a representative of the Board of Social Protection, and the other role was a man who was desperately trying to get his wife out of the mental institution. My character was cold, unapologetic -- just doing my job, if you will. The other character appeared angry, increasingly so throughout the scene.

So the first man who read opposite me fell into the "angry" trap: he shouted at me, found no grip with his voice to convey the emotions that were really going through him at the time. He was being angry for angry's sake. It wasn't a bad performance, it just lacked nuance. It was, for lack of a better word, average.

The second man came up to me and played the exact opposite. He used the fear and sadness his character felt to attack me. Anger is easy to ignore, but not pleading. In the end of the scene, I didn't know what to do -- I wanted to help him out! But I couldn't, so I had to play a different, stronger strategy, which, in the end, led to a better scene.

Notice that during the entire time, I wasn't thinking of the director at all. I was thinking of my fellow actors, of helping them and getting their help to create the best possible scene between the two of us. That is key to a good audition -- you must not focus on the person hiring you. You must focus on your intention and action. It's something easily understood in acting class, but hard to comprehend in an audition.

By working on these three crucial things, Courtesy, Punctuality, and Focusing on the Scene, I guarantee that your chances of being a cast will rise immeasurably. Of course, this doesn't factor in age and type of character. Sometimes you just don't get cast because you're too young, or you don't fit the character type. But by being courteous and punctual, you are still making a good impression on the director, enough, perhaps, to make them think about you for future productions.