Eleventy-Eight Awesome Audition Tips – Part One

Sometimes I moonlight as an actor.

I went to school for acting and I love it, but as Theatrefolk grew and we got busier, my acting career moved to the back burner. That’s really not a bad thing. As much as I love rehearsing and performing, the business part of “the business” has always been extraordinarily frustrating.

I still act from time to time, usually a play or two a year, just enough to stretch my creative muscles yet not enough to get caught up in the grind of “the business”.

This week I learned that a local theatre company is looking for actors so I booked an audition. Then it hit me… for the last couple of years I’ve worked pretty much exclusively for people with whom I’ve worked before. It’s been a few years since I actually auditioned for anything! To put it mildly, I’m terrified.

So I’m going to put together a short series that will document my preparation, my audition experience, and I’ll even let you know if I landed the gig. Here’s how I see it panning out:

Wednesday – Choosing the material. I have to prepare one monologue and one song so I’ll give some tips for finding material, what I’ve decided to do, and how I plan to do it.

Friday – The Audition. I’ll write all the tips I can think of about how to handle the actual audition day. Maybe not eleventy-eight, but I’m sure there will be plenty. I need a refresher on these myself!

Sunday – The Report Card. You’ll get the full report of my triumphs and tragedies. Auditions for me are always filled with a little bit of each.

?????? – If I book the job (or don’t) I’ll let you know. Sadly, they pretty much never tell you that you DIDN’T get the job. I usually figure this out for myself when I’m sitting in the audience and my name’s not in the program.

That’s it for now. Wish we luck! Or is it bad luck to say “good luck” to an actor, even though he’s not in a theatre? Hmmmm… maybe I need an eleventy-ninth tip.