Do you need to have a song or monologue prepared? How long will the audition take? What roles are available? Will there be accompaniment or do you have to bring in a karaoke CD?
At other times you’ll be given a song. In that case you will probably get it beforehand, if you don’t ask.
Apologize Stammer Flinch Prattle Stare into the director’s eyes Squeal Try to make conversation Beg Brag Kiss up/compliment Go overboard Scurry in/scurry out Act overly excited or hyper Act sluggish or bored Exhibit any obnoxious behavior
Does your character have an accent? If so, should you try to replicate it? Is the character messy or neat? Does he/she have a spring in his step or does he/she mope around? Is he/she mischievous? Does he/she say lines confidently or is he/she less confident? When asked beforehand, these kinds of questions can give you a head start.
If you are too nervous, you will need to calm yourself down. Deep breathing helps some people, so does biting your tongue, or shaking yourself. Different things work for different people. It doesn’t matter how nervous you are, you need to make sure the other people who are auditioning can’t tell. Be an actor and hide it. Directors will ’take into account’ that you are petrified, because if they assume that if you can’t act in front of three people, you won’t be able to do it in front of a hundred. Whether this is true or not doesn’t matter in an audition setting – hide it.
