The Acting Audition Process

Video Transcript

"I'm Dr. Charles Grimes and I'm speaking on behalf of Expert Village about how to deal with the day of your theatrical audition. Let's think about the audition environment, and how to handle it psychologically from your own point of view. There will be people there. They're probably there for the same reason you are. They want a part in this play. You should probably ignore them. Don't worry about them. It's very easy to imagine that people around you are prettier than you or more talented than you. You have no way of knowing that. You have no way of knowing how the director is thinking about these people. Those are thoughts not to have. Divorce yourself from the people around you. The people around you are not going to be your friends. You may be friends with them later if you both get cast in this play. But don't do it now. You can't change anything about yourself or them in the next two hours. So don't compare yourself to them. You don't need to chat. You don't need to make friends. These people are, in essence, competing against you. If people want to talk to you, you can decline politely and say, Thanks. It would be fun to talk later. Or, I have an exercise to do right now. Anything that gets the other person politely out of your zone. And maybe bothering someone else. I wouldn't wear any iPods, because you'll want to hear if your name or your number is called. And remember, auditions will always run late. You'll have to wait longer than you expected. And keep your freshness and keep your energy. You may want to have a key line from your monologue to recite to yourself as a mental drill, a focus exercise. Repeat a line, a key phrase. And plan that phrase out beforehand, as a way to launch yourself in to the world of the monologue. If you can keep thinking about your monologue and not the environment, you're going to be one up on everyone else who's there at the audition."