BWW JR: Confessions of a Stage Mom- The Reality of Holding Room Etiquette

Any parent with a kid who has big dreams of being on Broadway knows how difficult the business can be. Take it from BroadwayWorld's resident stage mom Juliet Wall (a mother of a professional child actor in NYC), who has much to share about the challenges of getting your child into the industry. Below, check out the latest edition of Confessions of a Stage Mom- The Reality of Holding Room Etiquette:

Your child was invited to audition for the next big Broadway show. You and your child arrive at the building, find your room number, and head toward it. Children and their parents are pouring out into the hallway outside of the holding room, practicing lines, singing, and loudly chatting. Wow, you think, the holding room must be packed! You look inside the holding room and, surprisingly find it only half full. Two kids are repeatedly doing triple pirouettes in the center of the room. Another three kids are in the corner of the room, one child teaching the audition dance to the other two. What is that horrible odor? Your look around and see a parent and their child eating sub sandwiches dripping with onions and sauce. Apparently, you stare a little too long at the offenders because the mother nods hello to you and announces in an apologetic tone that her child has so many food allergies and it was so incredibly difficult to find any food choices nearby that her child could eat and he was so hungry and...You tune her out but smile and nod. You see casting people sitting behind a table with a sign-in sheet, and you get in line behind a mother who asks the casting people if her child needs a resumé and headshot. You get your child signed in and spot a few empty chairs in which to sit. As you begin to put your belongings down next to the chairs, a mother a few chairs over tells you that you can't sit there, that she's saving those seats for her friends. You and your child sit there anyway and she gives you a nasty look. You look around some more to see if there are any familiar faces and you spy a child changing clothes right there in the holding room. He changes into what appears to be an actual costume from this show for which the kids are auditioning. The boy on the other side of you is wearing a jacket and hat from a show he was in, and the father proudly announces to you that his child is a Broadway kid. Two moms on the other side of you are now talking trash about a few kids at the audition. A casting director walks into the room, and starts to make an announcement, but has to wait for all of the parents and children to stop talking over her. Finally, everyone is quiet and she smiles through her frustration as she announces that all children and their parents should be inside the holding room and not in the hallway. She leaves the room and the talking resumes, this time louder than before. A child runs in to the audition room with his music book in his hands and dashes toward his mom. He loudly proclaims how well he did in his audition and how they told him that they loved him! A child next to him begins to get teary-eyed, and his dad tells him to man-up. Another parent interrogates their child, asking him what his strategy is to book this audition. The kid, about nine years old, just cowers and shrugs.

This scenario didn't actually happen...all at once, that is. But every single scene I've mentioned here is something I've personally witnessed in the holding area at auditions. To clarify what parents and their children should and shouldn't do in auditions, let's review.

1. Stay IN the holding room, not in the hallway. There are several auditions going on at once, and hallway noise can be a distraction to those inside audition rooms. Also, you may miss out on important announcements by the casting director.

2. Do not practice your lines, songs or dances in the hallway or the holding room. Be prepared before you arrive. If your child needs a space to warm up their voice, arrive early and ask the front desk if there's a room you can rent for fifteen minutes or a half hour. The second (worse) option is to warm up your voice in the bathroom, but your fellow bathroom-dwellers may not appreciate it and you still may be able to be heard in the hallway. It is OK to stretch in the holding room before a dance call, but please mind your space.

3. Instruct your child not to teach or learn dances, songs or sides from other children in the holding room. This is not professional.

4. It's OK to eat quietly in the holding room, but not dripping subs with onions. Bring non-messy snacks with you so you can accommodate your child's hunger and food needs, without having to search for food outside the venue. I suggest bringing nut-free snacks to be thoughtful of others around you. And always have a full water bottle for your child. No other drinks besides water are appreciated because they can be really messy if they spill. The only exception to that is coffee for the adults (and I have seen coffee spill too, so please don't leave it on the floor next to your chair).

5. Your child should always have with them a headshot and resumé stapled to the back. Do not ask the casting director if you need one. If they don't need it once you enter the room, they won't take it.

6. Empty chairs in holding rooms can't be saved for others. If someone is already sitting there and ran out to use the bathroom, that's a different story. Otherwise, it's fair game.

7. Don't let your child change in the holding room. And don't have them wear a costume-like outfit - casting directors have seen this too often and it can come across as over-zealous.

8. Have your child bring card games or other small games with them and invite a few kids to sit in the corner and quietly play. Other options would be bringing books to read, or electronic games your child can play by himself or in a group.

9. Be respectful. It's good to chat with other parents, but not so loudly that you don't even notice the casting director when she walks into the room. And please, don't be a resume- rattler, which is a parent who brags about everything their child has done. Wait for people to ask, and be humble. Even worse is saying derogatory things about other children! Every child in that audition room has talent.

10. Teach your child not to talk about what happened in the audition room until you two are somewhere completely private. This will avoid hurt feelings or feelings of intimidation if another child doesn't feel they've done well. And for goodness sake, remember that your child is a child, and do not berate or interrogate them. This will only destroy their self-esteem.

Even if you don't see casting assistants inside the holding room, that doesn't mean that they're not watching your behavior and your child's behavior. Casting has been known to plant people in the casting room to observe, so they can get a feel for whom may work well together, is respectful and professional. But please, don't follow these etiquette rules out of fear; do it out of pure courtesy and kindness.

Photo Credit: Kevin Thomas Garcia