Student Blog: Tips and Tricks in the Audition Room

Have an Audition you're prepping for? Great! Now the tough part, to prepare the script and the character(s) you may be auditioning for. Not to worry, here are just a few tips and tricks to try out before you get into the audition room.

Play with it

This is going to be my BIGGEST piece of advice I could give anyone going into any audition. 

Think of it this way... There's always different sides/perspectives to a story, so there's always going to be different interpretations of a character, well more often than not that is. 

In my experience both as an actor and as someone in stage management, whenever I have an audition I like to lay the characters on a paper and truly take a look at who they are. I then like to see what the story portrays them as, and then who I see them as. Then once those different distinctions are made try thinking of and writing down different ways the character could be seen. Maybe one moment that was good for that character could be seen in a different emotion. Try taking a few different lines or scenes and running it in different ways, maybe with different inflections or moments.

Be Bold

I know this may be ironic considering I just said to be bold, but sometimes what makes a scene is about the little things, that or even about the more obvious big and bold moments. 

If there's a scene chosen for the character(s) you're auditoning for, great! If not, just pick one or a few. Once you have a scene try really breaking it down and taking a look at what the chosen character is doing in that moment. Sometimes it's obvious things written in the script, and sometimes it's not. In the audition room what you do or don't do in the background of a scene could be the difference between being cast for a certain role or not. That's the fun in audition prep is all the practicing and seeing who the character and the story really is. 

My Experience

In my experience within casting and what I've been told after auditons is a variety of things. It really does depend on what the director is looking for which could be a variety of things. Sometimes the director has made notes on what they want for the action and direction, so make sure to pay attention! When I've casted or had a hand in casting, I always look for someone who makes the character their own. Yes there may be a certain description down on paper for a character, but what truly makes the character come alive is how someone plays it... pun intended. 

When auditioning, remember to listen to any notes being made or feedback being given because sometimes that helps for the future, or even if you're given a second act. Ultimately, just make sure to enjoy the auditions and to never be hard on yourself. 

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