Listening to Acting Audition Directors

Video Transcript

"Hi, I'm Dr. Charles Grimes, and I'm speaking on behalf of Expert Village about preparing for the business-end of an audition and preparing for callbacks. One of the most important things that you can do in a cold reading situation is to listen carefully and effectively to what the director is telling you. It's going to be a stressful time because you don't know this person. You know that they have something you want, which is namely a job. They're communicating something to you. Take the time to listen. Don't listen to what's in your head, which is your fear, your anxiety, your need. Listen to what that director is saying, make sense out of it and then try to put it into a performance. If you give the indication that you're paying careful attention to what the director is saying, that you're taking it in, that you really want to do something with it, you are on your way towards creating a relationship with that director, which is really what's happening when they?re telling you something to do. They might say, "giving that with more volume", they might say, "put the climax of that speech three sentences earlier", they might say, "can you think about the hidden depths of the character". Often when someone is speaking to us in a stressful situation we take the first thing they say, the first couple of words and fill in and try to make sense of the rest of it. Remain open, listen and be aware that you're beginning to create a relationship already with this director who is talking to you. Be patient and listen."