What you see is what you get

Weekly Teaching Tip – Dec. 14, 2015
by Aimee Geddes

I love audition coaching. Probably one of my favorite things to teach my students is how to audition well. Something that I have learned to teach my students after having sat through hundreds of auditions is this:

Show them what you would do if you were cast.

It seems simple and obvious enough, but too often students try to guess what the director is thinking or they have no clue what they themselves want. Really, they just need to give what they’ve got.

I tell my students to focus their energy on the part they want. They should know what it is, even if they don’t think they have a chance of getting it. That way, they can show what they would do if they were cast. What kind of Rizzo would you be? What kind of Radames? What kind of Truly Scrumptious? What kind of rock star? Then they can picture themselves in the role. If they can see themselves as the character, then they can show how they would play it.

They may or may not get cast as what they auditioned for, and that’s as they are working to gain experience. However, I have noticed that those who know who they want to be cast as going into the process and then show what they would do if they got the part, ususally end up getting the part over those who don’t have a clear picture in their head of how they would act once they got up on stage.

Good luck as you coach students for upcoming auditions. I’m excited to hear all of your success stories!