While I wait to hear back from two pending auditions, let me just say… waiting is the worst. Can I get an amen?

I have been in a season of auditions lately which is bringing up many thoughts on the subject. Here are three different audition scenarios I’ve encountered and my Do’s and Don’ts for each.

Most young actors, including myself when I was one, go into an audition intent upon showing them that they can play “that” character.  They meticulously familiarize themselves with the play and, if a musical, the score, and memorize the sides they’ll be reading which may have been sent only that morning.  Preparation is all.  How can you decide what to sing for your audition if you aren’t familiar with the musical style of the show you’re auditioning for?  Are you really going to sing a song from In the Heights if you’re auditioning for Carousel?  If you have no experience with or training in commedia dell’arte, then you’d best bone up on it before your audition for Servant of Two Masters.

When you first get into theatre, it can be a lot to take in. Even after being involved in a few shows, you may not have everything together. And that’s okay!  However, when getting into theatre, there are five things that might be useful to have in your arsenal as you find your place in the theatre world. 

Today I want to talk to you about auditions. Unfortunately, nothing is perfect. As much as we want to think that auditions are the beginning of something great… Well, that doesn’t mean that they don’t have their faults. Some of these are annoying things that happen because of the actors, and some of them are things the people casting you do.

For many performers the audition process is a tiresome, nerve-wracking and endless process. It's a task plays with our emotions and exploits our insecurities. So I'm basically saying, it's tough enough already, it doesn't need to be made harder by the behavior of those behind the table. 

Tell me if this story sounds familiar: You leave an audition feeling like you absolutely crushed it. So much so it would be a complete shock if you weren't offered the role. Days go by and you hear nothing until the moment you're told the role was given to someone else.

Aside from being sad and angry, chances are you might be a bit confused. Why didn't you get the role? What did you do wrong? What could you have done better? 

Indisputably, the most-heard song at auditions for about a decade and a half has been "Gimme Gimme", by Dick Scanlan and Jeanine Tesori from the Broadway hit, Thoroughly Modern Millie. There are reasons why it’s so popular. And there’s a ton of reasons why nobody – and I mean nobody – should be auditioning with this song. I’ll go into those in a moment. But, since nothing I say is going to stop the steady parade of role-seekers essaying this epic, I thought I’d talk about how it could be done better.

Every day I think about making it in theatre, or voiceovers, or TV, or film. Something that will make me happy and pay the bills. Reaching that point for an actor can take years, decades even. But, you still have to make money somehow to live until you can reach the point where acting can make things work for you.