Acting Auditions - Dealing with the Director
Some Important Dos and Don'ts
What the director says and does, and how you respond to it, can mean the difference between landing that part and being told, “Thank you, we’ll be in touch.” Here is some advice that should help you navigate those tricky, and potentially treacherous, moments when you’re interacting with the director. Hopefully, you'll remember these four things at your next audition.
- Don't shake a director's hand unless they offer it. Of course, you want to say, "Hello" to them as you're coming onto the stage or entering the room, but don't walk up to the table and stick out your hand unless they make the first move. Think about it. They’re going to see 100 actors during the audition and if every one of them insists on shaking their hand, they’ll end up with a dislocated shoulder!
- The director is not your scene partner. Never, never, never use the director, or for that matter anyone behind the table, as a character/focus point during your performance! What you've now done is changed the director's role from one of observer to that of scene partner. Find a focus point that is somewhere near the director, so that they can still see your face, but not so close as to make them part of your scene.
- When the director gives you some direction for your monologue/scene, do it! That's why they're called the director, folks. When a director is interested in you and your talent during the audition, they may see how you handle an adjustment to your performance. This gives them an opportunity to find out if you can communicate with them, not to mention simply taking direction. If you tell the director that you can’t perform Hamlet without using a British accent, that this is the only way you could see or do the character, what does that tell them about how easy it will be to work with you?
- The director is not your Career Counselor. Please don't ask the director if you're any good after you do the audition or say how terrible you were in hopes that they will disagree with you. For that matter, don't ask them if you should be an actor in the first place! They are just there to cast the show, not be your career counselor.
Remember, the director wants you to do well – they are not the enemy.When the director holds an audition they are using up valuable time to find the right actors to cast in their project. They are actually hoping that there will be so many talented actors who audition for them that it will make their job difficult. They don't call in people to waste their time or hope that they will screw-up and humiliate themselves. They want every actor who comes to audition to do well.
So there you have it; a couple of do's and don'ts when auditioning for the director. As a final note, never complain about being called back several times to audition for the same project. This simply means you're doing something right and are still in the running for a role. Besides, what would you rather be doing? Auditioning for a job or watching re-runs of Friends?
For more information on theatre auditions read, Preparing Your Theatre Audition: Learning the "3 Rs” for a Better Audition
Dealing with the Director
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