PYT
   





































 

Auditions

Nothing in an actor's career embodies such a combination of hope, despair, nervousness, competitiveness, exhilaration and mystery.  We're hoping to change some of that.  We'll start with the mystery.

For the professional actor, feedback for a particular audition has only two possibilities: I got the job/I didn't get the job.  We at PYT prefer our feedback to be a little more detailed, especially as part of our mission is to train and educate actors.  This is why we are using audition feedback forms.  It is an effort to give each actor a little guidance about what they may be able to do better the next time they audition.

Here are some answers to answers about other aspects of auditions that will help. 

  1. Why do I have to audition at all?

Auditions, at their best, provide the artistic staff with an accurate assessment of an actor's talent and current skill set.  We want every actor to do his/her best.  Not just because it is more fun for everybody and makes the actor feel good, but because we are hoping to see what an actor is truly capable of.  Skills can change, which is why actors audition for each show even if the director ahs worked with them before.

  1. What is the director looking for?

Certainly directors are looking for talent, but that is only part of it.  They are hoping to get a sense of who the actor is as a person and as a performer.  This is part of the reason that actors introduce themselves and their audition piece. It gives the artistic staff a brief moment to see the person before he/she begins acting as someone else.  They are also looking to see how well prepared the actor is. (Do they truly know their monologue/song? Do they know what the character wants/needs?)

  1. What about Callbacks?

Callbacks allow the artistic staff to get a better and longer look at an actor.  It allows the director to try the actor out in a variety of characters to see which might fit the actor best or sometimes even go against the actor's usual casting.  Sometimes seeing groups together will influence the direction of casting and sometimes a single actor will do so well or capture a certain nuance that the director feels compelled to cast a certain way.  Sometimes an actor does so well at every reading that , instead of getting the lead, the director puts them in the one role that on one else read well for because the director knows that particular actor will make it work.

  1. How does casting work?

While talent does carry a significant weight in casting there are other considerations.  Casting is something like putting a big jigsaw puzzle together except you won't know what it actually looks like for another six weeks.  Some things determine who can be considered at all.  If a character sings a very high note and the actor can't do it, odds are they are no longer being considered for that particular part.  With youth theater we have added the complications of carpools, schedule conflicts and casting youth in adult age ranges.  Someone may play polder simply because they come off as more mature on stage.  While every director thinks they cast well there are inevitably one or two actors who, during the rehearsal process, show more talent and initiative than the director may have originally given them credit for during their audition.

Which brings us back to why we want every actor to do his/her best at the audition! 

 

Hopefully this will help clear up at least some of the mystery of auditioning and casting!

Dexter Fidler
Artistic Director, Peninsula Youth Theatre