Auditions are a fact of life for actors. You go in there and show your stuff in the hope that you will get the opportunity to portray a character in front of an audience or camera. If you don't get chosen, it is really easy to feel personally rejected.
Maybe after you become a big star they won't make you go through the process but, until then, you might as well take a cool look at the reality of audition situations and get yourself prepared to compete. I wrote a book on this subject, "The Audition Book (Winning Strategies for Breaking into Theatre Film and TV)", now available in a revised third edition. If you have never read it, I have a hunch you would find it useful. Go to the home page, you'll find links to Amazon.com for all of my books.
For now, here is a Top Fourteen List of suggestions for presenting a winning audition.
(1) Monologues are needed for stage auditions and occasional for talent agency interviews but rarely are required for film or television auditions. You should have at least half a dozen drop-dead wonderful monologues ready to present any time and in any physical space. I knew a New York actress once that kept twenty-five monologues polished and ready.
(2) When presenting monologues for a stage audition, you will generally have the opportunity to do contrasting pieces - one comedy and one drama. Sometimes they ask for one classical and one contemporary. The mix really depends on the place and the occasion. If you present a classical comedy, then accompany that with a contemporary drama. Or vice versa.
(3) When presenting monologues for a talent agent, stick to contemporary comedy. The money in acting is in television, and television is largely about comedy. The agents butter their bread there. Don't go into an agent's office and so some anguished tear jerker. You may enjoy that kind of role, but the agents are looking to get paid. Actors that can do comedy are much more likely to get paid than actors that cannot.
(4) If you are presenting a monologue that is being videotaped, play to the camera itself as a scene partner. Look directly into the lens.
(5) If you are presenting a monologue to live auditors, you'll have to make a decision about whether or not to make eye contact. Many of them don't like that. Probably the best bet, if you want to play directly to an auditor, is to ask if that's okay before you begin. If they object, then make sure your imaginary scene partner is positioned downstage.
(6) A monologue is really a duologue. It is a scene, and scenes have conflict, negotiation. Do not think of a monologue as someone standing on stage talking to himself. Even Shakespeare's famous soliloquies are best when the actor talks to the audience.
(7) "You-oriented" material is generally easier and more dynamic than "I-oriented" material. In other words, if a monologue begins with, "I remember when I was a little girl.." or "That was a funny thing that happened down at the car wash.", you are dealing with an "I-oriented" piece. It will be easier if the material begins with, say, "I don't care how adorable you think you are, I want you to stop seeing Stella!" Or, "Think carefully before you convict my client.". See what I mean? This is a favorite pet peeve of mine, in fact. So many monologue books on the market are chock full of "I-oriented" stuff, and they tend to be a monumental, self-serving bore. Acting is about reaching out and touching someone, not about standing alone in a room diddling with yourself.
(8) If presenting monologues for a stage play, try to use the full stage. Actor after actor is going to come into the room and stand or sit center stage. Try to stage your pieces so that you do not stand where everybody else does. Find something, for instance that will allow you to get down on all fours and crawl around. Contrast that with a piece that is standing and still.
(9) Even with heavy drama, do not forget about sense of humor. Nervous actors tend to view anguish as a friend at auditions for some reason. You'll come closer to getting cast if you hold that mirror up to nature. Even in our worst and heaviest moments, we humans rely on humor to get us through. If there is any way at all to use humor in a heavy audition, do so. You won't always be able to do it, but keep that in mind anyway.
(10) Women can get a lot of mileage out of cross-gender selections in Shakespeare. Speaking for my own self, I love to see a woman come out on stage and do Iago or Mark Anthony, followed by something contemporary that is gender specific. And I think most directors will like it, too.
(11) Women might want to look to Moliere instead of Shakespeare if asked to present a classical piece. Moliere came along a hundred years after Shakespeare, and he wrote wonderful, strong and lusty and bright women. His plays are in verse which scratches much the same itch as a request for Shakespeare. It demonstrates an ability to handle the classics.
(12) When presenting a monologue, keep the introductory comments brief. They don't care about them anyway. They just want to see you act.
(13) In the moment before you begin the first line of the monologue, do not turn your back on the auditors to meditate. This is another of my pet peeves. I hate it when an actor introduces himself and then turns around to "prepare". The heck with that. Get on with the acting.
(14) Remember, in the actor-audience contract, the actor leads and the audience follows. Actors are shamans! When you present a monologue at an audition, you should have the dynamic of a leader. It is self-defeating for an actor to sort of slink into an audition room, trying not to take up much space or to create too much of a spectacle. It's your audition, so get up there and have at it. Welcome the auditors to your world. Swing the cat.
