Audition Tips for Live Performances

My students know because I tell them constantly, that when you are auditioning, all the auditors want to know is who you are. Sure they want you to perform well – actually they are rooting for you to be great! It makes their job much easier. The auditors are not your enemies, they are your best friends.

Here are some don’ts and do’s of auditioning I’ve collected over the years from casting directors, stage directors, producers and others in the biz.

When auditioning DON’T

• do anything just for shock value! Make sure everything you do is justified in the song or script.
• swear!
• do monologues about suicide or abortion. Over-done, over-acted.
• use gratuitous emotion just to show your ‘acting.’
• perform a pratfall to get attention or to be memorable.
• do something (monologue or song) new just because it’s new.
• prepare ONLY the songs in your book. Be ready to sing whatever they put in front of you or ask you to sing.
• SCREAM your monologue.
• wear inappropriate clothing. A low-cut dress with large polka dots, not good especially if you’re doing a Shakespearean monologue.
• wear torn jeans or a t-shit with a large logo. It’s distracting.
• learn just the melody line of your songs. Learn a harmony line or 2 also.
• lying! Don’t put anything at all on your resume that is a lie. If you don’t read music, don’t say you do on your resume. If you don’t tap dance, leave it off your resume.
• take rejection personally. It may have nothing at all to do with you.
• use 8 bars of recitative in a 16 bar audition song.

When auditioning please DO

• prepare thoroughly before the audition
• songs that are contemporary and popular.
• make every word and movement count by giving it meaning.
• show diversity of craft.
• act the song! The biggest failure most casting directors see is actors performing a great monologue who then turn to zombies when they do a song.
• live the monologue, live the song.
• have a song you can rock out on.
• the audition as though you are doing it for the second time!
• give out contact information that will be good for several years to come. The company may not need you for the current season, but remember you and want you 2 years from now. (He said that has actually happened!)
• dance like a man if you are a man.
• make judicious eye contact. Make a connection with the auditors.
• be authentic.
• be polite, be honest, be charming and

BE YOURSELF!!! You are the only person who is… well, You! Unique and special. Don’t sell yourself short by being a bad imitation of someone else. Your uniqueness may be the best thing you have to offer, so strut your stuff!

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