How to Audition to Become an Actress

Video Transcript

"I told you he was a frantic fool. Hiding his bitter jests in blunt behavior. Well I guess I better figure out what that means before the audition. Hi, I'm Janice Creneti, director of the Girlstories Theater Project with Powerstories Inc. in Tampa, Florida. I'm here to talk to you today about how to audition to become an actress. See, auditions are a very necessary part of actually performing. Directors want to make sure they choose the absolute best cast for any show that they're putting on. Auditions can be scary and really intimidating if you've never gone to them before. But there's some very simple things that you can do to walk in and give a confident, competent audition. Very first thing you want to know is, what is it that I'm auditioning for? Am I auditioning for a straight play? Am I auditioning for a musical? Or is it film work, where they're going to be doing a lot of work up close, and I really need to think about my facial expressions. Then look at the audition notice. Make notes of times. Do you have to make an appointment to make the audition. And what exactly do they want you to do when they get there? For musicals, for instance, you may very well be ask to bring a prepared song, pay attention to how many bars they ask you to sing, sixteen or thirty two, because if you sing too much they're going to cut you off before you get to your big finish. Are you going to need to be prepared to dance? If so, make sure that you have the right clothing to do that. Sometimes they'll ask for a one minute monologue. That's just you, reciting some speech from Shakespeare for instance. Where you're going to have to show that you can act all by yourself. Then they'll probably ask you to do some cold readings too to see how you work with other actors. All this stuff is great to practice before you go to the audition. Get as comfortable as you can with the material. And if you have a chance, get a hold of a copy of the script. Be familiar with the play and the characters so when you walk into the audition and they say, what part do you want to audition for? You'll be able to answer. Like I said, auditioning can be intimidating at first. But I had a friend of mine say to me, I just look at it as another chance to perform. And hey, that sure is fun. So, get prepared, go in, and have a blast. I'm Janice Creneti, and this is how to prepare for an audition."