Acting Auditions

Prepare for your audition

Congratulations! You’ve landed an acting audition. Now what?

Whether you will be responding to an open call or have been invited or qualified to audition for a role, you need to begin preparing right away. Acting auditions, similar to musical and dancing auditions, can be extremely nerve-wracking. The sooner you prepare, the better chance you have for landing the role that you desire.

Casting Calls

Casting calls can follow a number of different formats. If you can find out ahead of time what format the audition will follow, you will be better able to prepare, which may make you more successful. At the very minimum, you will need to find out what expectations are in place for the acting auditions you attend.

Some questions you can ask of casting agencies when you are preparing for your audition include:

  • Will I be auditioning by myself or as a part of a group acting out a scene?
  • Should I prepare one or more acting monologues?
  • Will the script be provided or will it be a cold reading?
  • Who will be observing the acting auditions?

If the acting agencies responsible for the auditions have made a script available ahead of time, and if you know which role you will be trying out for, it is important to become extremely familiar with the role and the lines of the character. You need not memorize every line in the script, but you should become familiar enough so that you will not be reading when you audition. Also, you should become familiar with the overall storyline and how your character interacts with other characters in the show.

Preparing Acting Monologues

If you need to prepare your own piece for the casting calls you attend, you should choose a piece that shows the depth and breadth of your skills and indicates some kind of relation between your current skill set and the character you wish to portray.

Audition monologues can be drawn from a number of different sources. You can choose a well-known or a more obscure script. In addition, it is sometimes appropriate to choose a passage from a well-known or representational literary work to use in place of a scripted piece. Acting monologues should be memorized and should also be choreographed to show that you can do more than expressively read a passage. You might even consider hiring an acting coach or attending a private acting workshop to help you prepare for the audition.

With diligent preparation, you can make trying out your first step on the way to opening night!