Audition Retrospective

I love auditions – it doesn’t matter from which side I am approaching it, auditionee or auditioner, I always am in need of a good audition. Perhaps it is because it is like New Year’s Eve in some respects, a chance for a fresh start, marking a new era. For auditions though, it is less about proclaiming resolutions and more about gaining proper footing for a new creative endeavor.

This being said, I was both excited and daunted by the task of choosing my actors for my Performance Studio project. Excited to begin a new process but daunted because I had no idea what this process would entail. Usually, when I’m auditioning others, I already have a working script in front of me – I’ve been able to sit down and spend time with the performance piece and figure out what I need from the actors based on the requirements of the script. Yet, with this project, I had no written script. No cast lists and character descriptions. All I had was a few days to brainstorm what I want to create over the next 3 months. This proved to be challenging for me, since my directing style has been notoriously based in planning in my past experiences.

I knew, though, that I wanted to work off of my ideas from my own auditions for Performance Studio, in which I was folding socks. I loved the idea of working off the mundane, the every day. I decided this is what I would want to work on – an exploration of every day life, of routine, of habit. I decided I wanted to pull the beauty, humor, and tragedy of normalcy on to the stage. I created a list of vocabulary words that I wanted to give my auditionees to think about in terms of my project, so that they would get a clear idea of where I’m going with my work.

Now knowing what I wanted to work on, I needed to decide the kind of performers I wanted to work with. I always go into auditions knowing what I want in my actors, but still trying to keep an open mind to those that don’t fit my predetermined needs. I decided I needed people who would be aware of nuance and detail in their performances – to portray every day life with honesty, I was going to need people who made the most out of “normal” experiences. I also knew that I wanted people who could quickly build depth and humor into characters. Finally, I knew that my directing style requires performers open to using their own life experiences to inform their stage work.

With all of these things in mind, I created an audition exercise that would allow me to quickly see which performers would be right for my piece. I chose a partner exercise in which the partners tells an improvised story, but only with their hands (no facial cues, no words, nothing but hand interaction). After the story has been told, I wanted each person to think of a single statement that summarizes their story from their hand’s perspective, and perform it in character.


When I got to our actual auditions, I felt ready to go. I knew what I was going to do with my 10 minute time, and I knew what I wanted to see. While I was last to present my exercise, I got to sit back and observe the other choreographers’/directors’ working styles, as well as the performers working in different capacities. Watching the performers audition for others was endlessly helpful, since each of the choreographers and directors were looking for something different in their actors. Because of this, I got to see a wide range of performance, allowing me to pick out performers that were well rounded when working with text, movement, and sound. I quickly picked out 5-6 performers that I wanted to work with, and kept my eye on them throughout the entire process.

When it got to my presentation, I was excited to get going. I believe that, overall, I did a good job presenting my exercise and engaging the performers. However, I had to keep clarifying my exercise, as the auditionees had a lot of questions. This was my fault, and I am looking to clarify my intentions for exercises in the future, so that I’m not interrupting the flow of the warm-up or improvisation.

By the end of the audition, I had a firm grasp on who I wanted to work with, and what I wanted to do. Interestingly enough, I was already pulling out specific statements and movements that I had seen at auditions that I wanted to start bringing into the rehearsal process. More than anything, this auditioning process got me thinking more clearly about what exactly I want to accomplish with this piece – a declaration of every day life and practice.