Auditions! Auditions! Auditions!

You have GOT to love auditioning! Right? What a great thing it is to direct a show and be able to sit behind the table, rooting for every single one of your auditioners. It has REALLY changed the way I audition.

Great stories! Good lessons.

Know your show. Directors are trying to cast the show. They're looking for their cast! Audition with something that could very well be from the same show, the same characters we're looking for. Don't make them extrapolate where you might fit in. Show me the money!

Know you are good. Confidence is GREAT to work with.

Don't be a diva. Attitude is right up there with talent! We are watching the audition room. Are you patient, supportive, kind? No talent can compensate for bad social skills. It just ain't worth it! And the "black list" is real, folks. Don't get on it! It's kind of hard to get off it once you're on it.

LOVE your audition piece. You are an actor? You love being in shows? You love doing this stuff? Show it. Enjoy your piece. Know it so well you can enjoy performing it. If you are having a good time, so are we!

Dress to impress. Be professional. Be attractive. It sells. On stage too. And I don't mean you have to be a beautiful person. All the more, beautiful shapes, sizes, colors... all of it. How many times have I cast unusual looking people, for that reason alone? So be confident you have something to offer.

Be coachable/directable. Especially in call backs, when directors have the opportunity to give you feed back. Listen! Take it in! Go out on a limb and try it!

DO NOT choreograph your audition. Sheesh. Ever see "Waiting for Guffman"? Enough said.

Have fun! If you mess up the words, really, it is of NO consequence. Laugh about it. Be embarrassed. Go stand by the piano... and deliver. Voice, face, interp. Not much of the audition process has to do with memorization skills. It's only a problem if it interferes with showing your talent. Have fun! I have cast many many an actor based on how much fun we had in their "bad" audition. And I have never regretted it. I love to cast good people!

Lastly, audition for everything. Chances are, the third time they see you audition, they will think, "Hmmm, this person really loves and wants to be in a show. I think I am going to give them a shot." Woot! You're in!

Break a leg!