VP's BLOG: We Cast You, Not an Idea of a Role

BroadwayWorld.com is excited to introduce its newest blogger - VP Boyle! VP BOYLE is one of the most sought after Broadway audition and life coaches for professionals in New York City and works with actors at every level across the country to spread his irreverent approach to theatrical wellness. He wears many hats in the Broadway community (director, casting director, actor, writer, producer) and is most known in the theatrical casting world for creating The Musical Theatre Forum, a professional casting workshop with every major Broadway casting agency in NYC.

VP currently serves as the creator and Chair of the New York Film Academy's new cutting-edge Musical Theatre & Film Conservatory Program. The two-year program merges conservatory musical theatre training with Broadway professionals and an intensive acting on film curriculum that culminates with an original movie musical film project.

VP will be blogging weekly for BroadwayWorld.com...

The current market favors real people, not cookie cutter types. The current commercial Broadway landscape favors real people willing to expose themselves artistically with bold choices. Not theatre clones that play a broad idea of a character. It’s evolved into something more filmic, more reality based and way more nuanced since the Golden Era that created it. Character development is based on creating truthful experiences within imaginary circumstances. So why then do so many artists shoot themselves in the foot when they walk in the room to audition for a role?

We do not want Julie Andrews’ performance of Maria in The Sound of Music. It can’t be done. Only Julie can pull that off and she has reinvented herself many times over since then. We want someone whose life experience can bring life to a role that is on paper and has some historical relevance. At the end a casting session, after seeing thousands of candidates, I guarantee you that the five pictures on the table will all bring something very unique to the role. And here’s the kicker—they will all be natural extensions of who they already are. Nothing to prove. Perfectly imperfect. A fearless expression of the person they are right here, right now. And totally delicious because of it!

Next time you walk in to audition for a role, just be you. Read the sides like you actually talk. Make choices for the character that you would make in real life: physically, emotionally, spiritually and psychically. What have you got to lose? You might be wonderfully surprised by how you feel when you walk out of the room. Live who you are. Love what you do.

XOXO VP