TheActorsProcess

Audition Monologues: Monologues that make you a better actor.

2012-02-23T08:49:00.000-08:00

Though this fact is often ignored, developing a repertoire of effective monologues is a great way to keep your acting chops in shape and make them ever better. Face the fact that there’s going to be noticeable down time between auditions and performance opportunities and use that time to advance your skills.

Unlike everything else in this business, developing monologues is the only thing that you can do on your own. You have complete creative freedom to explore and expand your capabilities. You don’t have to wait for some director to decide to do a film or play. You don’t have to wait for some casting director to see you as right for the role.

Once you’ve nailed down your basic type, your first objective is to identify different monologues that explore the full range of that type. Build out your repertoire to cover the usual flavors requested by casting directors. Have three or more monologues in each of the following categories; contemporary, modern classic and verse drama.

Contemporary should feel contemporary. That probably means something written in the last 30 years. Google which plays have won Pulitzers or Tony Awards during that time period. At the very least that will give you a list of writers who are considered to be good and who are likely to seem contemporary to casting directors.

Modern classic covers the time period between 1890 and 1940. Most people consider the modern era in the theatre to have started with Chekov and continued with Ibsen, Strindberg, Shaw, etc. Given the march of time Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller and William Inge are also starting to slip into this category.

Verse drama would include Shakespeare, Marlowe and Johnson. However, under this same heading I’d place Moliere. There are many good translations of his work, most notably by Richard Wilber. Also consider Classical Greek plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides.

Next… The improvised monologue.

Audition Monologues: Typing with IMDb

2012-02-14T12:09:00.000-08:00

Even with the guidelines mentioned in previous posts, typing oneself can be a confusing task. One of my recent students, Amanda Goodyear, came up with a brilliant way to identify her type, IMDb.

She browsed the actor section and eventually she realized that she was a Mary-Louise Parker type, which I thought was right on the money in terms of look and quality of energy.

On Mary-Louise Parker’s IMDb page she, of course, found all of the movie and TV projects that Parker had done to date and this gave her a starting place to look for monologue material. All you have to do is either rent the video or purchase a movie script or teleplay on line. However, because Parker is also a stage actress, Amanda Googled Parker’s theater work and found the titles of the plays that Parker had performed in. This gave her another resource. She could review the plays to see if there were any monologues associated with the roles that Parker had played. If you’re not sure if the actor you’re researching has done theater, the best place I’ve found to look is Wikipedia.

In tracing Amanda’s steps through this process I was surprised to see that Parker had played Hedda Gabler in New York in 2009. This gave Amanda the opportunity to find a monologue from a theatre classic that would fit her type.

Amanda’s approach may seem like a long way to go to get a monologue that matched her type, but it’s really not. Just like every big time actor or agent or director or producer you have to search out the good material, the material that’s right for you.

Next... Monologues that make you better.

Monologue Auditions: Don’t fight type.

2012-02-12T12:57:00.000-08:00

For the casting director it’s all about type. When they read a script or a character breakdown, they automatically begin to see each of the roles as a type. They can’t help but do this. It’s almost automatic and as mentioned in an earlier post (11/11/11) the type that they see will be driven by personal taste. By the way, if a given role doesn’t scream a particularly specific type, they will pull one out of their hat. They always have some kind of type in mind.

Last summer I went on a commercial audition. The breakdown called for a Sam Shepard type. It’s a safe assumption that the casting director thought I fit that type, otherwise I would not have been called in. When I look in the mirror and assess my basic human energy, I’d be inclined to agree that I fit into that type. Are there differences between Mr. Shepard and myself? Obviously. But I’m definitely more of a Shepard type than a Jeff Bridges type.

Don’t fight type. Embrace it. Even very successful stars are typecast. George Clooney is basically a Clark Gable type. If you don’t believe me, rent Oh Brother Where Art Thou. If you don’t know who Clark Gable is, go rent It Happened One Night. Is Clooney exactly like Gable? No. But there are enough similarities in terms of look and energy to place the two of them in the same type.

Next… Typing with IMDb

Monologue Auditions: Who am I?

2012-02-10T19:41:00.000-08:00

Before you start searching for monologues, you need to identify your personal casting profile. If you don't do this, you're likely to end up with monologues that really don't fit you. This causes trouble for the casting director. If they can't see your type playing the monologue you've chosen, then they're going to have trouble seeing you in any of the roles that they're trying to cast.

Here are obvious things to consider.

Playable age range is approximately five years either side of your actual age. However, a given individual can play noticeably younger or older than their age. If you're in your thirties but are already going gray, you'll be able to play older. If you are a petit woman in your late thirties but people regularly assume you're in your late twenties, casting directors are likely to do the same. How old you play is as much about your personal energy as it is you're look. I've known people in their teens who’s personal energy places them well into their thirties.

Physical type is important to consider. This is not just a case of weight and build. This too is about your basic energy. I've cast actor's who are carrying more than a few extra pounds but their movements were light as a feather. I cast them for their lightness, not their weight. The important thing is that you identify your primary physical energy. The human energy that you bring into the audition defines you for talent buyers more than either age or type.

Actors bridle at the thought of being typecast. Yes, we are all individuals. However, we all fall into types.

Next… Don't fight type.

Monologue Auditions: Good monologue. Bad audition.

2012-02-06T07:48:00.000-08:00

After 18 posts on monologues, you’re probably wondering when I’m finally going to talk about finding material that is right for you and how to develop a repertoire of monologues that can support an ongoing professional career.

I haven’t gotten into monologue scripts for a good reason. Unless you understand how to evoke a nonverbal environment between you and your audience, the words really don’t make a difference. Even the most well written monologue is doomed to become an empty recitation of the words.

Take Shakespeare for instance. He’s considered to be the greatest writer in the English language. If great dramatic literature automatically yielded great performances, then every Shakespearian production would be brilliant. I can assure you, that is not the case.

Actors spin their wheels looking for well written monologues. They’re thinking that great words will automatically elevate their audition. As with Shakespeare, this is not the case.

Relying solely on the words to engage the casting director is misguided for the following reasons.

Reason #1

In an audition you are not selling the literature. You are selling yourself. If someone is holding a casting for a production, they already have the production rights to the script, so they already have the words. What they need are actors who can create a universe in which those words can thrive.

Reason #2

Actors think that by manipulating the words through clever line readings they will automatically evoke the character. Words don’t create the character. The actor creates the character by using the words as stimulus to the creative process.

Reason #3

It’s not about the quality of the words. It’s about the potential that the actor sees in those words. If a monologue doesn’t fire your imagination beyond what the words alone convey, then your audition is condemned to be an accurate recitation of the words.

Next… Who am I?

Audition Monologues: Sure way to leave a bad impression.

2012-01-26T08:20:00.000-08:00

Let’s say you auditioning and you’ve successfully used the previously discussed nonverbal interactions to work your way through your monologue. That means that the casting director is engaged and you still have his or her attention. They have found your performance believable and you have captured their interest.

Here’s where you can blow it.

You say your last line and then you cut and run. You precipitously break contact with your visual mark, drop your character and scurry from the performance area. If you’re doing a second monologue, you wouldn’t scurry from the performance area but you are likely to forget to establish a new visual mark, summon up the new character for the second monologue and sense when they’re ready for the first line.

Even though you’ve done a good performance, your hasty exit calls everything into question. It confuses the casting director. It’s like you flipped off a switch and suddenly they have no access to you. Unfortunately, this final impression is the one that’s likely to stick because it seems so contradictory to what’s come before.

How does one avoid blowing it?

Simple. Say the last line of your monologue. Sense if they received it. Let the nonverbal interaction continue as you mentally bring your performance to a close with a response that signals you’ve finished. Once this nonverbal moment plays out, you break with your visual mark and look downward. Looking down is like the final curtain on your performance and leaves a clear impression that you’ve finished.

This final nonverbal moment has the same potential to impress as the nonverbal moment that precedes the first line of your monologue. It is a powerful way to bring a sense of completeness to your performance.

Next… Good monologue. Bad audition.

Audition Monologues: Monologues should be banned.

2012-01-19T14:24:00.000-08:00

Actually, it's not so much monologues that should be banned. It's how actors think about monologues that should be banned.

Since the actor is doing all of the talking, it's easy to forget that a monologue is supposed to play like a conversation (dialogue). Because there's no verbal interaction between you and the person that you're talking to (the casting director), it's easy to end up talking to no one in particular.

Have you ever been trapped in a conversation with someone who's boring you to tears? As they're droning on you feel that you could scream in their face and they wouldn't seem to notice? This is exactly how the casting director feels.

Thinking monologue instead of thinking dialogue shuts down nonverbal interaction with the people you're auditioning for and also denies them access to you as a person. On the other hand, if you think of what you're saying as a dialogue, than you experience the nonverbal interactions common to a conversation and the casting director feels engaged by what you're saying.

There is no technique to making your monologue play like of a dialogue. It's about thinking. How you think about it is how it will happen. If you're thinking monologue, you will lose your audience. If your thinking dialogue, you will engage and hold their attention effortlessly.

Next… Best way to leave a bad impression.

Monologue Auditions: Why say it if no one is listening?

2012-01-09T15:21:00.000-08:00

Our culture is primarily verbal. Everyone talks everyday and we talk a lot. As soon as you meet someone, you either say something to them or they say something to you.

In a functional conversation where both parties are really talking “to” each other the flow of the verbal interaction is not guided by the content of the words. It's being guided by high-speed, nonverbal interactions (“sensing”). These fleeting events are seldom noticed on a conscious level. Before every utterance you automatically sense if the person you're talking to is ready to hear you speak. When you sense they are ready, you speak. This all happens in fractions of a second. If this doesn't happen, they literally will not catch what you’re saying and you'll have to repeat it.

As soon as you've spoken to them another nonverbal interaction occurs. You automatically sense if they've heard what you've said. If you sense they didn't get it, you'll repeat what you've said. Observe two people in conversation and you will see these two crucial nonverbal interactions at work. Without these interactions virtually any conversation will fall apart.

Let's put these two nonverbal interactions to work in the context of doing a monologue.

You've taken the stage and located your visual mark. As you are experiencing your way through the brief nonverbal moments before you speak, you are also sensing when your viewers are ready to hear you speak. As soon as you sense that they're ready, let the line happen. Once you've spoken the line, sense if they're received it. While you're sensing if they've received it, you're also sensing when they will be ready for your next line.

With the first couple of lines it's likely to take your viewer a second or two to be ready. During those lines they are acclimating to your presence, your vocal quality, look, etc. By the third or fourth line they've acclimated and will become ready to hear your next line more quickly than the first couple of lines. This means that the pace will quicken as you move through the rest of your lines. However, regardless of the pace, you should continue sensing when your viewers are ready for your next line and if they received your last line, and you should do so with every line you speak.

Next… Monologues should be banned.

Monologue Auditions: It's just talking!

2012-01-02T12:11:00.000-08:00

What is a monologue really? It's just a person “talking”. However, the action of talking is far more about what's going on experientially between you and the person you're talking to than it is about the words you are saying. The words are a byproduct of the human interaction, not the cause of it.

When you start work on a monologue you have the words that will be said but you don't have the nonverbal interactions implied by those words. What you get from the script can indicate thought patterns, emotional responses, physical business, etc. but those to are also a byproduct of the nonverbal interaction between you and the person you're talking to.

So what exactly is this “interaction” and where do you find it.

Nonverbal interaction is the simplest form of human communication but it is also the most profound. It automatically happens when you find yourself in the presence of another person. If you're in a room by yourself and someone enters, you can feel it kick in. As soon as you sense them, what you are experiencing changes to include them. In turn this nonverbal interaction opens the way for all other kinds of interaction; physical, vocal, verbal, etc.

“Sensing” the people in the room is a prime example of nonverbal interaction. The words spring from this interaction. With out it the words will seem like an impersonal recitation. Your audience will feel that you are talking at them rather than to them. No one likes to be talked at, including casting professionals.

If you're finding this difficult to grasp, it's not because it's complex. It's because it simple. Let me give you a specific example of how sensing works with regards to performing your monologue.

Next: Why say it if no one is listening?

Monologue Auditions: The line that has sunk a million auditions.

2011-12-30T15:20:00.000-08:00

The reason why the first line of most monologues “crash and burn” is because the line seems to come out of nowhere. In other words, there has been a failure to capitalize on the nonverbal resources that I've been writing about in the past several posts.

In most auditions the interview ends, the actor goes into a kind of mental fog and drifts into the performance space. They don't establish their physical presence or visual mark. They project little or no sense of character. The only thing they are sure of is their first line and they go for it like a drowning man grasping for anything that floats.

No matter how well you speak the line, it will seem false because there is no human context for what is being said. The line plays like a flat recitation because that's what it is. Once this happens, you are “screwed” (pardon my French) for the following reasons.

Since you were not sensing when your audience was ready for your first line, you're not likely to sense when they're ready for your second line. So, you blurt that line out too. Because you never established contact with your audience, your third, forth and fifth line play with the same painful artificiality. Effectively, your audition is over. In the old days of the theatre the director would have been yelling “Next!” Unfortunately, that tradition is no longer in use and you are condemned to keep trudging to your last line even though you know you are toast.

I can hear you thinking, “But what if I do recover from a bad first line.” As unlikely as this may be, it is not impossible. This can limit the damage but it also creates an uncertainty for the casting director. Because your first line was blown, they may not trust your recovery. Maybe you just got lucky. It calls the consistency of your skills into question.

Next… It's just talking!

Audition Monologues: Power of the Nonverbal

2011-12-26T11:44:00.000-08:00

Getting to your mark in the performance space and finding your visual mark is nonverbal action. As such, it can either work for you or against you depending upon how you use it.

Most actors I've seen in auditions don't use the nonverbal at all. They treat their entrance into the performance space like a necessary evil that stands between them and saying their first line.

As mentioned in the previous post, you should be “sensing” your audience as you move through these functions. These nonverbal actions also provide an excellent opportunity for summoning up your character for the monologue.

Both sensing and going into character culminate in a short nonverbal moment before you say your first line. A lot can and should happen in the brief three to five seconds before you speak, so let's breakdown what goes on in that silence.

The most important thing to be doing is sensing your audience because you want your first line to land when they're ready to hear it. This will give your first utterance believability and impact. If you don't grab your audience with your first line, it's going to be far more difficult to grab them with you're second line. When the first line doesn't land well their attention begins to wane instantly.

During these nonverbal moments you should also be responding to the person that you're supposed to be talking to in the context of your monologue. This response (or short series of responses) allows you to engage the casting director's attention even before you've said your first line. Your response(s) orients your viewers in the world of the character and is absolutely essential in setting up your first line.

All kinds of studies have proven that you form an impression of a person that you're meeting for the first time in mere seconds. In the case of a monologue audition the casting director is forming an impression of you as an actor in those precious seconds before you speak that first line. If you don't make an impression before you speak, you're not likely to make one after you start speaking. Establishing yourself nonverbally is absolutely essential to doing an impressive monologue audition.

Next… The line that's sunk millions of auditions.

Audition Monologues: Who am I really talking too?

2011-12-21T21:46:00.000-08:00

Even though you’re not looking at them, you are talking to the people in the room.

The usual retort is, “How can I be talking to them, if I’m not looking at them.” I’ve got news for you. In your day-to-day existence, you rarely have direct visual contact with people when you’re talking to them. You sense their presence. You sense when they’re ready to hear you speak and then you say what you have to say. This all happens automatically so you usually don’t notice it.

This sensing is the important part. In life this happens instantaneously and at very high speed. It’s so fast you don’t even realize that it’s happening. You reflexively know when they’re ready to hear whatever you have to say and you say it.

So, even though you may be looking at the visual mark, you are sensing the people in the room. Think of it as a kind of sonar. You don’t have to be looking at them to sense what’s going on with them. You can tell when they’re ready to hear what you have to say and then you say it.

This especially applies to the first line of your monologue. You’ve made it to the mark in the performance space. You’ve located a visual mark. Ideally as you’ve been doing these two functions you’ve also been “sensing” the people in the room.

Before you speak there is a “nonverbal moment”. This moment is perhaps the most important moment of your performance. This is where you grab them or you lose them.

Next… Power of the Nonverbal

Audition Monologues: See What You're Looking At.

2011-12-16T14:41:00.000-08:00

Let's assume you've found your visual mark and that it is appropriately located.

The challenge now is to remain visually active on the mark throughout your performance. More simply put, really “see” the thing that you've chosen as your visual mark, which is the person you're supposed to be talking to in the context of your monologue.

Here's what usually goes wrong. You successfully find a mark but then you don't actively “see” the mark on a moment-to-moment basis as you would see a person's face when you're in conversation with them.

Having your eye on the mark but not really seeing what you're looking at gives you a glazed, dear-in-the-headlights kind of look. The glazed look in turn makes it seem that you're talking to no one. The result, no matter how appropriately you say the lines, it's going to seem as if you're reciting your lines to no one in particular. That's going to make your performance less than believable.

Another thing to remember is that your eyes are not going to stay glued to the visual mark that you've chosen throughout your entire monologue. If you did this you would look like a zombie. (If the character you're playing is a zombie, then definitely keep your eye glued to the mark.)

Your eyes like to move. When you're in a stimulating conversation with someone, you're eye does not stay glued to their face. Your eye is probably elsewhere at least 50% of the time. Your eye will look at them and then bounce away to something else and then back to them. By doing this it “refreshes” (just like a computer) the image of the person's face.

To let the eye function in this natural way, all you have to remember is one thing. The mark I choose is the person I'm talking to. I will let my eye go to that mark just as it would in a conversation. My eye will go to the mark when it wants direct eye contact with the person I'm supposed to be talking too.

When you look to that mark, really see the mark, whatever it happens to be. Let's say it's an exit light at the back of the theatre that you're auditioning in. See the exit light.

Often times actors will say, “Shouldn't I be seeing the person I'm talking to?” If you have great powers of visualization and this is easy for you to do, then great. Do it. However, you should also be seeing the thing your eye has actually chosen as a visual mark like the exit light mentioned above.

Even if you're good at visualizing, are you really talking to the person you're visualizing? The surprising answer is no. When you're performing your monologue, you're talking to the people in the room even though you’re not looking at them. This brings up the most common misconception about performing monologues.

Next… Who am I really talking too?

Monologue Auditions: What are you looking at?

2011-12-07T14:38:00.000-08:00

So you've walked into the performance area and accomplished the first crucial function. You've picked a good place to stand.

In the process of finding that mark, what have you ended up looking at? You guessed it, the mark on the floor. So yes, from the perspective of your viewers you are basically looking down. This is the moment before the curtain rises on your performance and provides another opportunity for your character to come on line. It gives your viewers a moment to absorb your presence, to acclimate to this new person standing in front of them. If they've had access to you up until this point, this brief moment can further fuel their interest.

What do you look at next? Logic dictates that you're going to look at the person that you're supposed to be speaking to in your monologue. Here's where things get confusing.

Almost without exception, the casting director does not want you to look at them or for that matter any of their assistants. The reason is simple. If you visually contact them they will feel that they're being engaged as a fellow actor. This will hamper their ability to simply observe you, as if they were theatergoers sitting in an audience. On very rare occasions they may give you a production assistant to look at but this almost never happens.

So you can't look at any of the real human beings in the room. This means you have to find a visual mark to focus on. That visual mark is meant to be the person you're talking to in the context of your monologue.

Remember you've just arrived at the mark and you're looking down. As you look up, you need to be actively searching for something to look at. That something should be a detail that your eye can easily hook on to (an exit light, a picture, a light switch). Don't try to find a mark in the middle of a blank open wall space. You're eye can't do that. It needs an obvious detail to focus on.

The ideal positioning for this mark is behind the casting staff and to the left or right of where they're sitting. If they're sitting on the same level as your performance area, your line of sight will likely be a couple of feet above their head level.

Here's the reason why you don't want to pick a visual mark in front of the casting crew. Let's say that you focus on a hat rack to one side of the stage. Since your viewers can see the hat rack and see you speaking to it, it will look as if you're talking to a hat rack. Even if they suspend their disbelief this is still going to look strange and continuously remind them that you're not really talking to anyone.

Next… See what you're looking at.

Audition Monologues: The Drag Racing of Drama

2011-12-04T17:14:00.000-08:00

I don't know how much you know about drag racing but let me enlighten you.

There are two high-performance machines evenly match by class (engine displacement, etc.) sitting at the starting line. Both drivers are looking at a lighting array called the “Christmas tree”. The lights trigger from the top of the display to the bottom (the green light) and the drivers slam the pedal to the metal.

In general the car that gets the cleanest start wins (if you don't blow an engine).

This is exactly like monologue auditions.

With monologues it's almost impossible to recover from a bad start. Even if you do, it leaves an uncertain impression with the casting director. If your start was sloppy, they're thinking that maybe you just got lucky. Monologue auditions are exactly the same as drag racing. It all happens at the starting line.

So, let's look at the starting line. You've managed your way through the interview. I'll give you a break here and assume that your auditors feel that they've had access to you throughout the interview. That means they're still interested. As the interview comes to a conclusion they say, “Okay, the stage is yours.”

This is where most monologue auditions “crash and burn”. The reason… actors have no idea what needs to happen before they say the first word of their monologue.

As soon as the casting director says, “Let's see your monologues”, you should be transitioning into character for your first monologue. This should be happening even as you walk into the performance space.

As you walk into the performance space, know where you're going. Sometimes they've given you a mark (spike mark on the floor where they want you to stand). Sometimes they haven't. If they haven't, choose a spot in the center of the performance area (left to right). Divide the space between you and your viewers in the following way. You want two-thirds of the available space between you and the wall behind you to be given to the viewers. One-third of the available space will be between you and the wall behind you. This is where you go. Settle into this location. Get “at home”.

After the opening lines of your monologue, you can move about the space as you wish. However, do not get too close to your viewers. Do not invade their personal space.

The next thing you need to do is find a visual mark. The failure to effectively perform this single function seals the fate of most monologue auditions.

Next… What are you looking at?

Audition Monologues: The Dreaded Interview

2011-12-01T08:44:00.000-08:00

The most under utilized portion of any audition is the interview.

You've just walked in and suddenly everything is awkward. Is this a social interaction? A professional interaction? How are you supposed to handle this? How do you impress them? What do they want you to do?

If these questions are rattling around in your head, I can guarantee you that you won't make much of an impression. In fact you run the risk of losing them before you even get to your monologue. Remember it's all about access. If they don't have access to you during the interview, they're not going to be receptive to your monologue.

Several actors I've worked with here in Chicago have migrated to Los Angeles. Unlike Chicago, a common way to audition actors in L.A. is to simply interview them. No monologue. No cold read. Just, “Hey, let's chat.”

The first time you encounter this, it can be very disconcerting. Even an unquestionably talented actor can be blindsided by the interview being the entire audition. That was the case with an actor that I've worked with extensively. He is a very good actor indeed, but when he first arrived in L.A. he found the “interview as audition” disorienting. He could bring his acting talent into the room. He didn't quite know how to bring himself into the room.

So here's the simple breakdown on handling the interview. First of all do what I suggested in the last post. Before you enter, mentally contact the people in the audition room. Once in the room sustain that contact by mentally inviting them to “look at me”, then give your complete attention to them. This will keep you from becoming self-conscious. A self-conscious person denies access and is not open to interaction.

Very important. Let them conduct the interview. All you have to do is kick back and let them do the work. Don't feel that you have to impress with what you say. Let the verbal interaction go where they take it, If there are more than a few brief exchanges make sure to abide by the improv rule of “Yes, and”. In improv the idea is to avoid saying “no” to situations that pop up. “Yes, and” keeps the possibilities of the interactions open. Whatever is said will be more likely to sustain the interaction.

If you have any unanswered questions about the procedure they'd like you to follow when performing you're monologues, now is the time to ask. The main thing to find out is where they want you to look. I'll run down the variations on this in my next post.

Next… The Drag Racing of Drama

Audition Monologues: Keep It Simple

2011-11-28T19:27:00.000-08:00

When approaching an audition most actors are ambiguous about everything that leads up to the first word of their monologue. If you're ambiguous, confusion sets in. You become disoriented and that causes you to shut down. You drift into the audition room in a kind of fog which makes it difficult to connect with the people that you're auditioning for. To avoid this, here's what you need to get straight, and please, keep it simple.

The first question you need to answer is what am I doing in the waiting room? If you want to socialize with fellow actors because you feel that opens you up to relaxed interaction in the audition, then do that. If you prefer to keep to your self and mentally run through your monologues, then do that. If you prefer to catch up on your texting, then do that. Any of these will work if you've consciously decided that this is the best approach for you.

What is the best approach for you? It's the one that puts you in the best frame of mind for entering the audition room. Relaxed, open, ready to perform…

When your name is called, mentally contact the people that you are about to meet in the room. I know this may sound a bit peculiar. Try it anyway. It's a way of making it clear to yourself that you want to engage the people in the room. That you want to interact with them. They in turn will feel that they have access to you as soon as you enter the room. As I've said before, access equals impact. This means that even before you perform your monologues, you've capitalized on an opportunity to catch their attention.

Once in the room, mentally invite them to look at you. Nothing is said out loud. It's just something you run through your head. Do they know that you're inviting them to look? No. Then why do it? Because you want them to look at you. Most of the actors I've audition literally seem like they don't want to be looked at. The reason they look this way is because they're ambiguous about being observed. Get it straight. If you want to be an actor, then you want people to look at you! The simple mental invitation to “look at me” will help you to, you guessed it, open access between you and the people you're auditioning for.

Next… The Dreaded Interview

Audition Monologues: Walking Into The Room

2011-11-20T18:49:00.000-08:00

The audition doesn’t start with your monologue. It starts with walking into the room. Interacting with the people who are running the casting is every bit as important as what you do with your monologues. The reason? This is your optimum opportunity to establish open access. If you don’t do it now, you’re not likely to do it once you start performing your monologue.

In the last post I said that access can be either simple or difficult. It all depends upon how you’re thinking about it because how you’re thinking about it is how it will happen.

If you think that the auditors are judging you, then they will seem judgmental.

If you are unclear what’s supposed to happen in the interview, then you will be confused and bumble through the interaction. You’ll say things that in hindsight seem forced or inappropriate to the situation.

If the auditors seem distracted or disinterested and you take it personally, then you will attribute their disinterest to your presence in the room.

Forever, actors have been coming back from auditions telling me that they were weirded out by something that the auditor did. “They didn’t look at me at all when they were talking to me.” “They seemed preoccupied and unresponsive.” “One of them gave me a really fake smile.”

The confusion triggered by these kinds of occurrences usually causes the actor in question to break contact with the auditor. Suddenly, there’s an awkward distance between you and the people you’re trying to impress. To the auditor, that awkward distance feels like you’re pushing them away. Obviously, this is counterproductive to engaging them in your performance.

Here’s the irony. When you walk into the room, all you really have to do is be available. Be open to interaction and let the auditor conduct the interview. Do not second-guess them. Don’t try to give them what they’re looking for because you have no way of knowing what they’re looking for. In fact, they are looking for you just as you are. They need that access to you in order to get the full impact of what you will do in your monologue.

Next… Keep it simple

Audition Monologues: Access = Impact

2011-11-15T17:58:00.000-08:00

Think about it this way. Have you ever met someone for the first time and liked him or her instantly? In hindsight you think, “Oh, we like the same kind of things. We grew up in the same suburb outside of Detroit. They really got what I was saying.” Actually, all of those impressions are peripheral. What really ignited the interaction was openness. Each of you, probably without realizing it, gave open access to one another. That openness to experiencing each other is why you felt a connection.

The subliminal part of casting is all about access. If casting directors don’t have access to you as a person, how can they possibly see you in the role? If they don’t have access to you, your performance, no matter how good it is technically, is going to seem artificial simply because they don’t feel that they “know” you.

Here’s an example. When you walk into a monologue audition, everything that happens before you do your monologue is all about access. This brief interview portion of the audition is where you become accessible to the people for whom you’re auditioning. The access you provide literally makes them more sensitive to you, to what you’re experiencing.

Their heightened sensitivity automatically heightens the impact of your monologue. Your monologue will feel more like an interaction. They will feel that you’re talking to them, not at them. All of this causes them to experience you as a real person in a real situation, as opposed to an actor doing a monologue in an audition.

Access is simple and difficult all at the same time. If you try to manufacturer access, you will be inaccessible. If you simply give people access, than you’re in business. The reason why so many monologue auditions are lackluster is not because of the acting. It is due to a lack of access.

Next… Walking into the room

Audition Monologues: No Accounting For Taste

2011-11-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

Everything that happens in this business is taste driven. And, as the saying goes, there's no accounting for taste.

It's tough for actors to wrap their head around this fact. Most of the time we think we're being measured against some kind of standard. Guess what? There is no objective standard. However, there are a million subjective standards. Every audition you walk into, you've just run head on into a new standard.

Here's an illustration. When I had my intensive 40-week training program going in the 90s, I brought in a professional casting director to assess the actors in the program. The actors did both monologue and scene work. This was an experienced casting director who's work I respected. However, I'd never sat next to her in a casting situation. How she responded to different actors was intriguing.

At first I saw little or no consistency to how she was responding to the performances of individual actors. Sitting next to her, I could sense her “turning on” or “turning off” as she watched performances.

Logic would dictate that the on/off thing was being triggered by the quality of acting. In a few cases, that seemed to be true. However, the majority of the off/on events were being caused by something else.

Following class she gave me her appraisal of each actor. I could definitely see a correlation between her critiques and her on/off behavior. For the most part she wasn't responding to the acting, she was responding to the degree of access that she had to each actor as a person. The access plus the acting created a singular impression. I don't think she realized this in the least.

In one case she was gushing about a given actor. Technically, his performance had been good but not good enough to warrant this level of enthusiasm. Fact is she was simply responding to him on a purely human level. By nature this actor is a very open, affable kind of guy and these qualities were subliminally present in his performance. That had a tremendous impact on the casting director, so much so that she called him in to audition for a major role in a Disney/Touchstone feature.

Next… Access = Impact

Audition Monologues: What the Casting Director Sees...

2011-11-06T21:15:00.000-08:00

Put yourself in the shoes of the people that you’re auditioning for.

If their audition is being efficiently run, they’re seeing 15-20 actors per hour. That’s 15-20 new faces per hour. That’s more new people than you’ve met in the last six months. If each of those faces is doing mediocre monologues (likely), they quickly become indistinguishable one from the other. The feeling is, “I know there’s a person there, I just can’t see them (or remember them, or see them in any of the roles I’m trying to cast).

Let me take a moment to define mediocre. The actor remembers their lines. They speak those lines in a way that makes sense. Their performance seems plausible but does not ring true. The casting professional is painfully aware that they’re watching an actor doing a monologue in an audition. They are not engaged by what the actor is doing. They end up looking at the actor’s headshot (which unfortunately does not look like them) and they quickly become board and count the seconds until the actor goes away. I know this sounds harsh but it is true.

I think before any actor is allowed to audition they should be required to assist at a monologue audition. They should see how grim the process can be for casting directors.

Out of those 15-20 per hour there will be 7 to 8 actors that you just want to go away even before they say the first word of their monologue. You can sense this is not going to go well. They’re fighting a major league adrenalin rush due to good old-fashioned stage fright. They’re not totally off book. They have no grasp of character. They are totally wasting your time. Once again, I know this is harsh, but that’s exactly how it feels to a person who has to sit in a room all day watching mediocre monologues.

Every once in a while, someone comes in and does a killer monologue and suddenly life is good. You remember why you called the audition in the first place. You really want to find the good talent. This is lost on most actors. They see the casting director as an adversary, who calls their talent into question. Nothing could be further from the truth. The casting director has to cast roles and they’re hoping that the next person who walks in will be a perfect fit. Really, they are pulling for you. But, you need to show up with a performance that really lets them see you and your talent.

Next… There’s no accounting for taste.

Audition Monologues: The Truth

2011-11-02T19:13:00.000-07:00

As a director, I’ve never put much stock in monologues as a way of judging an actor’s capabilities. My approach is more hands on, closer to a workshop than an audition. The main thing I’m interested in is can an actor take direction. Are they open minded, adventurous? Do they have a solid work ethic? Can I stand to be in a rehearsal hall or on a shoot with them for hours at a time? Watching an actor do two one-minute monologues yields none of this information?

Truth be told, I think most people in casting feel the same way I do. However, they really do want to see all of the available talent. Unfortunately, they have limited time in which to do this. Monologues let them see a lot of people in a short amount of time. On the downside, monologues yield very little information about any given actor unless… that actor does a really killer performance.

When I arrived in Chicago in the late 70s the standard for monologue auditions was two, three-minute monologues. By the late 80s it was two, two-minute monologues. Late 90s, two, one-minute monologues. Recently I’ve even heard of two, thirty-second monologues. The reason the timeframe keeps getting shorter is to limit the torture of watching bad (not killer) monologues.

This tells the whole story. Years ago, I asked the casting director of the Goodman Theatre here in Chicago how many actors a day she saw in general auditions (monologues). She replied, “ 75 to 85 actors.” I asked, “Out of those 75 to 85 how many performances really stand out?” She said, “On a good day 3 or 4. On a bad day, none.”

I think that says it all. Most monologues seen in auditions are acceptably mediocre but they don’t leave much of an impression. If they don’t break through, what’s the point?

Next… what the casting professional sees when they watch your monologue.

Audition Monologues: Breaking Through

2011-11-01T20:30:00.001-07:00

A killer audition monologue is a thing of wonder. It immediately separates you from your competitors. It makes an impression that lives on in the memory of casting directors. As they do castings down the road, you will likely end up on their short list of people to be considered. They will call you in for more auditions because they want to see more. A great monologue audition is, in short, a real career builder.

Though I personally don’t use monologues when I’m casting, I’ve always included monologue development in the professional programs that I’ve taught. I want my actors to make the most of these brief opportunities to impress.

Recently an actor who studied with me in the mid-90s scheduled a coaching session. She’d been a way from the business for a couple of years and was intending to return to the fray. Alyssa is a talented performer but she knew that she was a bit rusty. We spent a couple of hours tuning up a monologue from A Lion In Winter. The tune-up mainly consisted of breathing life into the nonverbal world of the monologue because that’s what makes a monologue really work.

Alyssa called me following her audition. She’d had a genuine breakthrough and her audience had definitely noticed. The entire experience had been liberating, Most importantly, she felt that she had genuinely embodied the character. Alyssa’s experience reminded me of the possibilities of monologue; it also reminded me that many actors don’t have a clue about realizing those possibilities.

I’m going to devote the next several posts to monologue development. I’ll consider monologue from the point of view of the actor and the talent buyer alike. My intention is to be exhaustive because I think there’s a great deal of misinformation about monologues floating around out there.

Next time… the truth about monologue auditions.

Last Performance of 200 Funny Things!

2011-05-17T10:04:00.000-07:00

At least for the time being, this coming Saturday evening will be the last performance of the current incarnation of 200 Funny Things.

The cast has been great and the show has definitely grown since we previewed in January. It's not an easy thing to keep a show evolving after it opens but this cast has done an incredible job of keeping the experiment fresh in each and every performance.

One thing I find interesting is how doing 200 Funny Things has changed the cast's perception of acting and their own capabilities as performers. No one has reported any negative effects from the rather extreme approach used in developing and performing the show. In fact, it has been quite the opposite. It's opened up their work in unexpected ways. They're more comfortable in auditions. They feel freer and more responsive to whatever the audition throws at them. Several of the cast have been performing in other shows during the run of 200. Those working in improv shows at IO definitely feel that the IO process and the 200 Funny Things process feed each other helping to bring more spontaneity into the work. Others of the cast working in scripted shows have reported that they feel working on 200 has expanded their ability to develop roles in these more traditional productions.

Doing 200 Funny Things demands a lot from an actor. Since so much of the show is totally new each performance, doing 200 is kind of like acting without a net. This cast has walked that high wire flawlessly. I can't thank them enough.

200 Funny Things rolls on...

2011-04-18T16:55:00.000-07:00

This Saturday marks our 14th week at Collaboraction. Crowds have been good and we're continuing the run at least through May 21st. As usual we cap off an evening that features Scetchbook Reverb (starting at 7), Our new start time is at 10 pm.

Due to other commitments Drew Anderson, Audrey Bertaux-Skeirik and Ashley Moret left the show at the end of March. We've brought Chris Mueller, Scott Merchant, Dani Bryant, Josh McGrane, Calliope Porter and Shawn Escarciga in to fill out the ensemble. Bringing on new cast forced us back into rehearsals, which was a good thing. The new crew caught on super quick and we were able to get in some very interesting experimentation that's expanded the shows approach to free improv. Check out the video for an excerpt of the Crazed Quintet.

The "Entity" Thing

2011-02-01T13:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I did an online interview with Sarah Rosenblum from Centerstage Chicago. One of her questions regarding entities prompted a different take on the subject. I thought I post my response as a compliment to my previous descriptions of what an entity is and how it works.

Rosenblum: Your rehearsal process for 200 Funny Things involved the creation of entities as opposed to characters. Can you discuss the distinction? What relevance does it have?

Ivcich: When you talk about a character in a play, you're really talking about a literary device. The literary character derives it's existence from the words of the author and the situations implied by the plot. It is knowable as a type of person who inhabits a known world. Unlike a literary character, an entity is not derived from words. It is derived from what the actor is experiencing on a moment-to-moment basis. Essentially, the entity is a continuously evolving chain of experiencing. Each time the actor evokes an entity it will be different because what they are experiencing at that moment is different. The entity can experience itself as human or subhuman or superhuman or not human it all. It's really an experiential universe that continuously unfolds in the consciousness of the actor. To one degree or other literary characters "make sense". Entities do not. They are completely abstract, and yet, the audience comes to know them through the shared experience of that abstract behavior.

Our next performance of 200 Funny Things is Saturday, February 5th at 10:30 pm. Visit collaboraction.org for all the details.

Processing 200 Funny Things

2011-01-29T12:28:00.000-08:00

Check out this video with voiceover commentary by yours truly. It is the 200 Funny Things cast engaged in "open floor" work. They can work on any or all of their entities. Since an entity has to evolve continuously to survive, this kind of a setup gives the cast a way of continuing to grow and diversify their entities. In this run of open floor work they were also working to bring more randomness into the evolution. Random events that seem to come out of nowhere feed continuous evolution. Essentially, the randomness is a kind of stimulant or lubricant that keeps the experiential work environment humming.

Remember, if you're in the Chicago area, we've got a performance tonight (Saturday, January 29th) at 9 pm. For all the details go to collabroaction.org and click on 200 Funny Things on the home page.

The audience is the crucial ingredient

2011-01-25T20:29:00.000-08:00

I was hoping by now to have some video up from the 200 Funny Things rehearsal process. That's actually on the way. I should be able to post it by early next week.

As of now, we've had two preview performances in front of audiences which has been very important. How the performers and the audience interact in such an unstructured environment can be very volatile. The actors have to engage viewers instantaneously. If they don't, it's really easy for the audience to get lost.

Remember, the actors have invented these entities which can morph on a moment to moment basis from subhuman to human to superhuman. They can evoke these entities on demand but what happens in the interaction between the entities is up for grabs from there on out. We've been experimenting with ways to bring limited structure into the open improvisation but we still have a ways to go in that regard.

In any case the cast has been getting laughs. In both performances they logged 200 laughs in less than the 45 minute time limit. In the first performance they got there in 30 minutes, second performance 40 minutes. The issue really isn't getting laughs. It's getting the right mix of movement and immobility, silence and sound, words and vocal sound that keep the audience engaged without burning them out. Given the way we're working, it's really easy to overwhelm them. If you overwhelm them, they don't have time to laugh.

Experimenting in front of the audience is the only way to figure out how to proceed. All we can do in rehearsal is work through options but we really don't know how these options will work until we try them on an audience. It's kind of like acting without a net but that doesn't seem to bother the cast. Every performance opens up new possibilities and they keep putting those possibilities to work. So far it's been a great ride.

We've got performances on Friday and Saturday night at 9. If you're in the Chicago area, drop on by. Get all the pertinent information at collaboraction.org.

Later.

200 Laughs in 45 Minutes

2011-01-10T19:36:00.000-08:00

At Collaboraction we're a little bit better than half way through our rehearsal period for a show called 200 Funny Things. I'm directing and we've got a really great (fearless) cast that includes Drew Anderson, Audrey Bertaux-Skeirik, Mark Canfield, Jason Economus, Carolyn Hoerdemann, Ashley Moret, Stephanie Palko, John Wilson, Joe Zarrow and Walter Breitzke. Ever since I conceived the show I've been doing my best to come up with an adequate description of what it is and how it works. For better or worse the following will have to suffice.

There is no overarching story line to the show and the only real structure is that the actors know the progression of the scene setups (solo, duet, group, etc.) that will occur in any given performance. The actors don't have a clue regarding what will happen in any of these setups but they do know who they're playing. In rehearsal each actor has developed 3-4 different "entities". An “entity” goes well beyond the idea of “character”. An entity is a mini-universe that is continually evolving. It never manifests in quite the same way twice. There are no limits on range of expression when the actor is doing an entity. If a human being can do it, it can occur. The action often goes beyond “socially acceptable” behavior. The stage becomes a kind of asylum for abstract expression and interaction. The resulting environment looks somewhat like a very active day room in a mental institution devoted to laughter.

To say that 200 Funny Things is an actor dependent show is a vast understatement. The actors create the show right in front of the audience each and every performance.

In rehearsal the cast has had to assimilate an entirely new way of working. In every rehearsal they're tapping into resources they didn't know they have. For me, it's incredibly rewarding to see them putting all of the experimentation I've done over the last 30 years to good use.

In the next several posts I'll take you ever deeper into the work and the world of 200 Funny Things. In the meantime, go to collaboraction.org and click on 200 Funny Things on the home page for our performance schedule.

I'd like to make a correction relating to my last post about Two Birds Casting. Two Birds founders Hanna Fenlon and Erica Sartini have a background in theatre and acting but they are not actors. They are full time casting directors.

Here's a couple of snaps from 200 Funny Things in rehearsal.

Ashley Moret doing the entity known as Pleenta

John Wilson dong Zombie Acid and just behind him Audrey BertauxSkeirik doing Princess

Jason Economus (entity "Cosmos") and Mark Canfield (entity "Jan Brady")

Ashley Moret doing Pleenta and Joe Zarrow doing Party Guy

A great resource for Chicago actors

2011-01-05T14:28:00.000-08:00

Just before Christmas Collaboraction held auditions for 200 Funny Things. I'm directing the show which will open in Collaboraction's new space on January 22.

The audition process was run by Two Birds Casting and they did a fantastic job. They're incredibly organized and very actor-focused (they're actors too!) and if you haven't submitted your headshot and resume to them, you should definitely get on it. Just go to www.twobirdscasting.com click on "Contact".

As far as I'm concerned Two Birds is an amazing resource for the Chicago theatre community because they provide a crucial link between actors and theatre companies. They really seem to know the talent pool and were able to call in the right actors with the right skills. Since 200 Funny Things is a bit of an insane experiment in improvised comedy, that wasn't exactly easy but they nailed it.

Although Two Birds primarily handles theatre, I think they'd also be a great resource for indy filmmakers. Their rates are very reasonable. Even extreme low-budg films could afford their services.

In my next posting I'll introduce you to 200 Funny Things. This show is all about the actors, so there'll be a lot to talk about.

Steven

Glad to be back...

2010-12-18T13:31:00.000-08:00

After several years working as a writer and media director/editor, it’s good to be back in the neighborhood of a vital community of actors and the Chicago theatre scene in general. That’s really where I’ve spent most of my career as a writer/director/actor. It feels very comfortable and yet stimulating all at the same time.

Things have changed since I shuttered my intensive 40-week actor-training program in 2000. If you said the word “blog” at that time almost everyone would have thought you were mispronouncing “bog”. The closest thing to blogging in those days happened when actors would hit the bar after class or rehearsal or the curtain call and get into deep discussions about their “craft”.

I’m starting this blog because a) I can and b) because I’ve always seen actors as my most important creative allies. As a writer/director I learned pretty quickly that no matter how good your script or how brilliant your directorial concept, if your actors can’t pull it off, it really doesn’t amount to much. In a way I became an acting coach out of self-defense. I dug into the art and science of acting because great acting is the only thing that can make a great show. On top of that I really enjoy acting. I love the spontaneous possibilities that just come out of nowhere. It's way more fun than writing a script.

I’m going to use this blog to do what I don’t have the time to do in an audition or a rehearsal or a class. I’m going to ruminate on acting and the actor and I hope it encourages my visitors to do the same. In the next blog I'll catch everyone up on my latest show, 200 Funny Things. It's about the most actor-driven show your ever likely to see.

Best of the season to everyone,