Audition for Everything

You may have heard the expression before, but it is so true - audition for everything! Now I don’t mean get carried away and audition for things that will end up costing you crazy amounts of money (either in gas or in show fees), but the more you get yourself seen and the more experience you have auditioning, the better.

Auditioning, like anything else, is a skill: the more you do it, the better you will be at it. While every audition is different, the feelings associated with auditions are usually about the same. If you are a seasoned and skilled auditioner, you will be able to manage nerves, dance combos, and cold reads like a champ. Many theaters like to hire people they know - who wouldn’t? So in order to break into a new theater, you MUST keep showing up. They will see you at every audition and think how fabulous you are and then one day they will see your consistency, resilience, patience, (and will have gotten to know you a bit) and they will hire you. I, of course, can’t guarantee anything, but it’s impossible not to notice the man or woman who comes in time and time again and kicks butt.

This week alone, I have 4 auditions. The reason being, I want to work! It’s as simple as that. You are not guaranteed anything in this business, so you have to put yourself out there and hope something sticks. I’m not holding my breath - I know I may not be right for any of these projects, but it is a free chance to practice auditioning, a free accompanist, and is pushing me to expand on the songs I have in my book. Ideally, one or more of these auditions will result in a callback, but if not I will simply move my focus on to the next one!

All this being said, some shows are just not worth auditioning for. A theater you’ve never heard of that is an hour and a half drive and wants to charge you $300 just to be a part of the show is not one I would spend my time on. If you are looking for some experience on stage before you audition for professional shows, there are plenty of community theaters that will NOT charge you to be in the show and will give you a wonderful experience - seek them out.

Once you are working professionally, you have to invest your time and energy into preparing for and showing up to every professional audition you can find! No one is going to call you out of the blue to hire you if they don’t know who you are - SHOW THEM!