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.
Labels: audition monologue casting director