Other Side II

This is actually a picture of Carnegie Melon's blackbox theater, but gives you a good idea of what the audition space feels like from the perspective of the auditionee. Imagine standing in the center of the floor and looking up at all of those ... interested/hiring/sleepy/bored faces.

The best part of my LOWT volunteer experience was observing several groups of auditions, from the vantage point of the auditors. I actually saw a few of my friends audition! This was a huge learning experience, because I was able to determine which auditions were successful and which were non-successful, by observing the actor as well as how they were received by the auditors (who had already seen hundreds of other actors that week). Although ninety seconds feels like a blink of an eye to the actor, it is more than enough time to know if you want to call someone back. Scary thought, right?

From my notes (because yes, I did take notes) here is was I thought made for effective ninety second impressions:

Confident and genuine introductions. Look awake and happy to be there, and know how to pronounce the name of your pieces. State them clearly, I want to know what you are doing. It is customary to say "Thank you" at the end of your audition, but please, don't be bitchy. If you think you did well or poorly, don't reflect that in your final thanks.

Body Language. You can add a lot to your piece by projecting with body language. Especially if they were doing two contrasting pieces, a change in body language helped make that differentiation clearer.

Move, but please, move with purpose. There were effective auditions that stood still in one place, but the ones that moved were more interesting. One girl rearranged her chairs to create a "set" and walked up and down the stage to exit at the end of her piece; that was not particularly effective.

Who are you talking to? The best ninety second monologues were crystal clear in their scene partner. They weren't deeply profound or covered a large emotional base (how much can you realistically do in that short a span of time?), but they were very clear in who they were addressing their monologue to and how they felt about that person. RE: Body language.

When in doubt, go comedic. Even after watching one hour of auditions, I was craving lighthearted and comedic pieces vs. deep confrontational monologues about women's violence.

Dress comfortably, i.e.: Heels you can handle. To the auditionee's great surprise the stage was still constructed from the show last weekend, which had a very steep rake. This means that they were basically standing on a hill. Some girls looked like they were about to topple over, and when they exited after their audition, you could hear their shoes clacking down a long hallway. The ones that wore shoes they could handle gave better auditions. Honest. As a proud 4-inch heel wearer, this is a concept I'm struggling with; perhaps high heels are not the default shoes for auditions.

This was a fantastic experience and I will be volunteering as a monitor at more auditions in the future, hopefully in NYC.