How Much Experience Is Needed to Become an Actress?

Video Transcript

"If we shadows have offended, think what this and all is mended, but you have, but slumbered here, while this vision did appear. That's Puck, from Midsummer's Night Dream, my favorite role to date. Hi, I'm Janice Creneti, and I'm here to talk to you today, about how much experience is needed to become an actor. I've been performing for twenty five years, and I direct a project, called the Girlstories Theatre Project, of Tampa, with Powerstories Inc, so I've been on both sides of the stage, acting as well as directing, auditioning as well as casting people, from auditions. The amount of experience that you need, really all depends on what you want to do. When you're first getting started, there's lots of different ways to break in. You might want to consider working backstage, as a way of learning the group, learning the organization, what sort of shows they do, but if you're ready to actually think about auditioning, then you can do it, even if it's your very first time, as long as you do a little bit of preparation work, beforehand. First of all, you want to make sure that you know what is expected, at the audition, so that when you get there, you can meet the director's requests. That's going to show that you know how to prepare, for what is expected of you. Acting classes can really help. Improv classes are a great strategy, because a lot of times on stage, things don't happen the way they're supposed to go, and improv is always a great skill to have, in your back pocket. When you're first starting out, you might want to take a small role, or audition for a musical, where there's lots of chorus parts. They're usually using a great big cast. Easier to get into a role, and also, you get to learn by watching the more experienced actors, so even if you're just starting to think about this, go out, find an audition, give it a try, and you'll learn a lot, just from that process. Talk to other people who are auditioning, and find out what they've taken, in terms of classes, what they study, and how they even prepare for an audition. Experienced actors are really your best source of information, about what you need to do, to get ready, so there's lots of opportunities out there, and I encourage you to dive right in. Shakespeare said, All the world is a stage. I'm Janice Creneti, and this is, How much experience do you need, to become an actor?"