Monday, November 22, 2010

Auditions

Auditions.

Just the word makes me excited. I feel like I'm about to put on a show. Which I am, in a sense. An audition is the key to either making or breaking your career.

While I have never auditioned for a part in a movie, I have done a couple for smaller things. In my third semester of drama classes, all of the students auditioned for roles in the play that we were performing. My friend and I were extremely nervous and we were praying for the Rapture to happen before we had to audition. It being our first audition, our teacher went easy on us and we just read the parts from the script. I got the part that I wanted, which was the role of the Witch. I also auditioned for the part of the Magic Mirror. I messed up while auditioning. (I didn't mess up on purpose; I stumbled over the words).

For my second audition, we had to audition to get into the Teen Advanced class. (I love being part of a class where you have to audition to get in). Both Qui and I successfully made it. We had to perform a scene between Lucy and Linus.  I think it was Linus........... I did better on that one.

Now, I have a chance to audition to be in a full scale production--it's the winter All-Star Camp! Auditions are December 11th. We'll be putting on The Secret Garden in March. Well, they will. I might, considering if I get a part or not.  My teacher's encouraging me to audition.

My advice for all those auditioning?

1. Know your lines. Pretty self-explanatory.
2. Know your character. Have a "moment before" planned out and fixed firmly in your head. What was your character doing right before the monologue? What is he/she like?
3. Be confident. There will always be actors better than you. The sooner you realize it, the better off you'll be. Get to know who these actors are and start watching them and learning from what they do.
4. Get plenty of sleep. It won't do well for you to be yawning in front of the auditioners. 
5. Don't be nervous. Everyone has messed up at some point in their career, even the auditioners.
6. Have fun! One of the best parts of acting is getting to be someone else. Revel in that and have fun being someone completely different than the real you.

~Padmé

11 comments:

  1. I loved the Lucy monologue!!! Although by the end I was SICK of it. xD
    Good post Padme. :) Good luck with the Secret Garden!

    ~Qui~

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  2. Well... Don't be nervous isn't really the best advice. If you think about it, being nervous is actually kind of good for you. Pressure makes you do better. Also some good advice would be if you do mess up, don't pay attention to it, and move on. At least, those are my personal opinion.


    -Darth Anonymous

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  3. Unless you're throwing up 2 minutes before the audition. Trust me thats not good. ;3

    ~Qui~

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  4. Well. Too much nervousness is bad. o.o; But a little is good.

    -Darth Anonymous

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  5. I always find I'm more nervous AFTER the performance. Like after Wind in the Willows I almost passed out i was nervous, hot, and dehydrated.

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  6. I've never (well not never, I did one or two plays where I had no speaking roles, mainly dance numbers) but the main thing I audition for is Orchestra. To move up in the Orchestra ladder you need to audition for a higher group. Each time I get super nervous and no matter how hard I practice, I don't get in. I've only tried three times however, and will be working super hard this year!!!
    Great Advice Padme, and good luck
    Jedi~Chick

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  7. I'm the nervous type. I don't to well under stress. =P I was lucky though when it came to orchestra because we didn't have to audition for 1st chair. *phew* We were automatically given seats that reflected how well we did previously during the year.

    I wish you TONS of luck, Jedi~Chick!!! You'll get higher up if you keep practicing over and over! =D

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  8. Thanks. I tried out twice on Violin and now I've switched to Viola to see if it gets me higher up. I'm thinking about getting Star Wars Solos for the Viola and SWS for Violin for the audition, so that way I'll enjoy practicing!!
    Jedi~Chick :)

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  9. I get really nervous about piano competitions. That's really bad because your fingers get really sweaty and shaky and you can't play very well! Luckily, I don't get nervous about ANYTHING else.
    Once you've been onstage, nothing else seems to intimidate you.

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  10. I had the WORST piano recitle experiance in May. My fingers just completely froze and it took me 5 minutes to finish a 2 minute song. It was terrible.

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  11. Did you stop in the middle, or did your fingers just not. move.

    That's terrible! One time I forgot one of my pieces while I was playing it. "froze" as in cold, or just paralyzed?

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