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Prepared Auditions
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Prepared Auditions: Requirements and Tips
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- Your initial audition gives you the opportunity to be included in the pool of people who will be considered for roles in a play. For this purpose, an audition which is prepared can work to your best advantage, and will help us to best evaluate your current ability. A properly prepared audition gets you noticed as being dedicated and committed to working in theater: qualities that predict you will be a good member of the team that works together to put on a show; qualities that are as important as talent. Most of all, it will show your ability to bring a play text to life. This is a first step typical of auditions for admission to most enrichment and training programs, college and professional theater, and many amateur and community theaters as well. It is also the process for admission to our own Honors program.
A prepared first audition consists of a 2-3 minute memorized monologue chosen and prepared by the student. For a musical theater audition, it consists of preparing 16 bars of a song that will reflect your ability (and you should bring your accompaniment music with you in your key). Theater Arts teachers cannot assist you in the form of coaching or monologue/song selection, though we will be glad to answer your questions or give you general advice and encouragement. Students who miss the audition will not be considered further for a role.
You should choose a piece which shows your ability, the strongest characteristics of your acting, including your energy as well as your ability to show depth, create relationship, and demonstrate variety. A piece which presents only a single aspect of your ability may not be a good choice. Pieces that are about extreme or distasteful subject matter are discouraged. Imitating a monologue from a movie is often a weak choice.
In the case of all auditions, your purpose is to show your ability to create a genuine and convincing portrayal of an extended moment in a character’s life. This is a moment which has importance and usually entails a discovery or decision on the part of the character. In presenting your monologue, you must show us your ability to utilize the text to create your character, as well as your ability to interpret and employ the subtext of your monologue. How the character establishes relationship with the person to whom they are speaking (as well as rapport with the audience) is a crucial factor in the success of the piece as well. Depth, complexity, and specificity of feeling are important elements to convey, in addition to the appropriateness and truthfulness of the feeling. The ability to find and use humor in the work (remember, “humor” isn’t comedy or jokes, it is a way of looking at one’s self and one’s position amid the events; it involves creating personal perspective) is the sign of a sophisticated actor. Remember too, this is not a recitation, but a moment for a living person, and you must show us changes, large and subtle, as the character passes through this moment.
Your audition should have an introduction, which should be formal, stating your name, the title, and author of your piece and the character’s name. This is done in a single sentence. A second sentence which give background or puts the monologue into context is suggested. Take a long beat to focus yourself, to find your center, and to establish the moment before. Then begin when you are ready. At the conclusion of your monologue, you should take another long beat to let the character and the moment reach closure. Remember, your audition is about your poise and professionalism and it doesn’t make sense to crunch your introduction and your monologue and your conclusion all into one hurried and blurred presentation.
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10 Hillside Road, Greenwich, CT 06830