* The producers are not interested in discovering the new. Who in their right mind would bet twenty million dollars on an untried actor? They want the old—and if they cannot have it, they want its facsimile.
* Teachers of “audition technique” counsel actors to consider the audition itself the performance, and to gear all one’s hopes and aspirations not to toward the actual practice of one’s craft (which takes place in from of an audience or a camera), but toward the possibility of appealing to some functionary. What could be more awful?
* I knew a man who went to Hollywood and languished jobless for a period of years. A talented actor. And he got no work. He came back at the end of the period and lamented, “I would have been all right if they’d just sat me down on day one and explained the rules.”
Well, so would we all. But who are “they”? And what are the rules? There is no “they,” and there are no rules. He posited the existence of a rational hierarchal group acting in a reasonable manner.
* But how will you act when you, whether occasionally or frequently, come up against the gatekeepers?
Why not do the best you can, see them as, if you will, an inevitable and preexisting condition, like ants at a picnic, and shrug and enjoy yourself in spite of them.
Look, I try to write about what NOT to do. What NOT to think about. What NOT to read. How NOT to waste your time and energy. How NOT to go in wrong directions. NOT be interested in stupid questions. NOT notice, NOT hear, NOT see....
In short, to be FOCUSED. To have directions.
YOUR OWN directions.
To know what you want is to know what you DO NOT want.
To know what you are is to know what you are NOT.
In acting theory it's called "choices"!
Means -- one, not many, not even two.
Means you have to have MANY and select ONE.
If I can see it -- you have none.
You have to learn how to NEGATE, how cut out....
Yes, I am talking about your daily existence, friend.
List what you did yesterday. And the day before. Take a good look at this list -- cross out what was the waste of your time. Because this is the time when you can -- acting!
[What does this page do in the THEORY directory?]
ANDREY. Good evening, my good man. What is it? [louder]. I say, you have come late. It's past eight o'clock... Dear old man, how strangely life changes and deceives you! Today I was so bored and had nothing to do, so I picked up this book -- old university lectures -- and I laughed... Good heavens! I'm the secretary of the District Council of which mister Protopopov is the chairman. I am the secretary, and the most I can hope for is to become a member of the Board! Me, a member of the local District Council, while I dream every night I'm professor at the University of Moscow -- a distinguished man, of whom all world is proud! (pause) [to the mirror] If you did hear well, perhaps I shouldn't talk to you. I must talk to somebody, and, my wife, she doesn't understand me. My sisters I'm somehow afraid of -- I'm afraid they will laugh at me... Look, I don't drink, I'm not like restaurants, but how I'd enjoy sitting at some small bar at this moment! You sit in a huge room at a restaurant; you know no one and no one knows you, and at the same time you don't feel a stranger... But here you know everyone and everyone knows you, and yet you are a stranger -- a stranger... A stranger, and lonely... (3 Sisters)
Summary
Auditions: * Performer’s name
* Short description of situation where character speaks
* Title of the Play, Writer, Character's Name
Be prepare to answer, if asked:
* Attitude/tone of author depicted in text
* What does the character want in the scene?
* What is the goal or objective?
* What is the emotional state of the character?
* Act/Scene of monologue
* What is this character like?
[ selection of monologue should be appropriate to the ability, age, and sex ]
Questions
Film casting and other "casting" pages: Cast in directing, Typecast in BioMethod, Actors and Cast in Method.
Relaxation / Concentration: to arrive at a "neutral state" ("tabula rasa" -- blank slate) -- to create you must first have a blank slate -- an empty canvas -- on which to place their art. Actors must find vaious ways to achieve this... Wilson and Goldfarb use the term "centering." (45)
Notes
3 basic ingredients of the actor:
1. native ability (talent) 2. training (including general education)3. practice
And here is a list of miscellaneous tips from various producers (copied from and used with permission of Summer Theatre Directory, 2000.) upta.org/suggestions.shtml
Take a chance.
Be specific in your goals.
Don't do "cute."
It's fine to smile! (a common refrain)
If you can sing/dance - show it.
Never apologize, never explain.
Don't make excuses why you're not in voice "today."
Don't get bent out of shape if things go wrong.
Don't try to show every human emotion in 90 seconds.
Never audition a capella (unless it's asked for in a call-back).
Use material appropriate to the season being cast.
If you have the opportunity, a firm, solid handshake.
Be nice to everyone you meet connected with the audition. (There are spies everywhere!)
Be yourself.
Maybe, I thought, I will make it one day in -- Director's book.
All acting textbooks have it -- How to Audition.
You know, you read them.
I understand; after all the auditions is THAT thing between you and the show.
Since you read about auditions, I don't have to repeat what you already should know.
I rather make a few points about the sensitive matters. Like.... a talent.
Does it exist?
Oh, yes, it does!
How about "luck"?
Absolutely!
But if you are lucky, you do not have to do anything, do no need to skills or knowledge, nothing -- including the talent, right?
But what is this thing "T"?
Listen, can you tell me first, why do you want to know? What difference would it make if I will tell that you have a talent? Will you work more or less?
If you will work more, I am telling you -- Yes, you have it!
If you work today less than yesterday, my answer is -- No, you have no talent!
Russian pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein used to say that when you do not practice one, you notice it it. Two days -- your friends notice it. Three days -- the public knows it.
Okay!
Actors (short list):
Generally remain within your own basic age range and physical type.
Select characters with whom you can identify.
If you'll audition with two selections, try to provide monologues with distinct contrasts.
Use material that reflects clarity and unity.
Read the whole play not just the extract.
Time your selections carefully.
A good monologue selection is one that causes the actor to do something, and if it's physical all the better.
Try not to use material that has been made into a popular movie. There's no need for comparison.
It's o.k. if you take material from a novel instead of a play.
Don't confuse a comedic monologue with a stand-up act.
Relax!
PS
Auditions are no less important for a director. Every director knows it. Real director, I mean.
[ see other auditions pages in acting directories! ]
Mono Studies:
ANATOL: There really isn't any more to it. I had known her only two hours and I knew that I would probably never see her again once the evening was over--she told me so herself--and yet I had the feeling that I was loved madly in that moment. It wrapped me round--the air was heavy and fragrant with this love--do you understand? And again I had the foolish and divine thought--"you poor, poor child." The episodic character of it all came so clearly to my consciousness. While I still felt her warm breath on my hand, I seemed to be living it over in my memory--as if it were already a thing of the past. She was just another one of those over whom my path led me. The word came to me then--that arid word "Episode"--and yet I seemed to feel myself as something Eternal. I knew that this poor child would never lose the memory of this hour--I had never felt so sure of it as in just this case. Oh, I often realize that by next morning I will be quite forgotten. But this was different--I was all the world to this girl who lay at my feet--I felt the sacred, enduring love with which she surrounded me--one can feel that--I know that in that moment she had thought for nothing but me--and yet for me she was already something that was past--something that was fleeting--an Episode. (The Affair of Anatol, Arthur Schnitzler)
MAX: Well, friend, you have the solution of one of those enigmas which have puzzled the most brilliant men for ages, in your own hands: you need only speak, and you will know all that you wish to know. One question -- and you will know whether you are one of the few who are really loved exclusively -- or you can learn who your rival is and how he won his victory over you -- and yet you will not speak this word. You have been permitted to question Fate -- and you will not. You torture yourself day and night, you'd give half your life for the truth, and yet when it lies before you, you will not stoop to pick it up. And why not? Because it might happen that a woman whom you love is really just as you would have her, in all your imaginings, and because your illusion is a thousand times dearer to you than the truth. Enough of this trifling now. Wake the girl up, and be satisfied with the proud consciousness that you -- might have accomplished a miracle.
Cosider auditions a performance... for the best audience!
Never mind your questions! Do me and yourself a favor. Introduce yourself, your character, the play, the writer. Turn around and turn back in character. When you are done, bow -- and don't say "that's it" and etc.
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