HOOVER HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA

Find new and interesting tips throughout the year that will strengthen your auditions and make you more prepared as an actor. Below you will find Audition tips and as the year continues, more tips and tricks will be posted along with interactive features and drama games! Check often to see what's new on this page!

Preparation

1. Read the play before you audition!

This is key to understanding the play and the audition that you are about to attend. Reading the play is the best way to get to know the characters and which part(s) you want to focus on throughout the audition process. Knowing the play before you go into an audition will allow you to understand character interactions, meaning of lines, and character traits. If the play can not be found at the public libraries or the Hoover library, take a trip to the good ole half price books store. You’d be amazed at what you could find. However, if all these lead to a dead end, search online for a plot and character synopsis.

 2. Watch other performances

The best way to learn is to watch other people perform. Whether they’re bad actors showing you what not to do or great ones giving you inspiration on what you could do, it’s always great to watch others perform. Rent the movie version of the production you want to audition for and study the characters and why they make the choices that they do. Go to Youtube.com and watch other high school’s performances of the play. Watching and learning and adapting a performance to your style are the best ways to prepare for an audition. However beware; directors and judge panels don’t want to see a character imitation. Directors want to see what YOUR interpretation of the character is and YOUR decisions as an actor. Don’t get another performance stuck in your head to the point where you’re reading lines exactly like another actor you saw did.

3. Dress prepared

How you look and the way you present yourself to others means everything. You don’t want to show up for an audition that involves choreography dressed in a short dress or slacks and you don’t want to show up to an audition for a dramatic play dressed in a tank top and sweats. It just isn’t pretty. Knowing the play and imagining what you will be doing at an audition will be the deciding factor in what you should wear to the audition. If you have a character in mind, go ahead and dress similar to what that character might dress like, just not to the extremes. For example if the character is a cowboy, you could simply wear jeans, boots, and a white t-shirt. If you are undecided on a character or don’t care which role you receive, neutral clothing would be best. This way the director or judging panel could imagine you in any of the roles.

4. Warm up

Make sure to warm up your body and voice before an audition. Show up to the audition area early and find a spot where you can stretch, do vocal exercises, and prepare yourself for the experience you’re about to have. By the time the audition starts, you should be completely energized and ready to give your audition your all.

At the audition

1. Remain professional

The director and/or judging panel will be watching you throughout the entire audition. Make sure that they don’t catch you texting, talking at an inappropriate moment, or being disrupting to the process by not taking part in those activities. Professionalism is an important trait to uphold in any audition situation, but it’s especially important for Hoover auditions. Be respectful to others who are auditioning, understand what the director is asking you to do, and thank the judging panel and director at the end of the audition. Be sure to smile throughout and show how positive an influence you could be in the production. 

2. Project

When you’re on a stage you have to speak louder than you normally would so that the director can understand the words you are saying and the meanings you are trying to convey. Speak loudly, and use a lot of diction. There are several exercises that you could try during your warm up period if you have poor diction or don’t speak loud enough.

3. Commit and take chances

Directors want to see real characters on the stage, not high school students pretending to be someone else. In order to become your character, make sure to COMMIT to your character. Think what your character would be thinking, walk the way your character would walk, move the way your character would move. Become a different person and it will show. A lot of students are afraid to commit or take chances at an audition because they don’t want to look like the idiot. But taking huge chances really do pay off in the end one way or the other. No matter what, if you take that chance that no one else took, you will definitely stand out from the crowd.

4. Act for your life

Every time you are asked to go up to the stage to read or perform, assume that it is the last time you will ever be asked to do this. Give that performance your all and put everything on the table. Act for your life. The director will be incredibly impressed to see such strength and commitment each time you are asked to do something.

After the audition

1. The Wait

After every audition there will be a wait to see whether or not you received a part. There may be a call back after the initial audition. Don’t over-analyze whether or not you received a call back. It may mean something and it may mean nothing. To some people this wait seems like it drags on forever and forever and others find that the time goes by quickly. The worst thing to do during a wait is to analyze everything that you did at rehearsals. Doing this will tear you apart and make you go crazy. Just be patient and calm until the list is posted.

2. The Cast List

Depending on the play, the director’s goals for the show, and other factors, casts vary greatly in size. There are some plays with over a hundred actors and other plays with only eight actors. With smaller casts there is often greater disappointment among those who auditioned. If you did not receive a part in the play, the best thing is to be respectful of those who got in and be appreciative of your opportunity to audition for a show. It’s natural to be upset if you didn’t get into a show that you really wanted to be a part of, but try to be understanding of the process, grieve in privacy, and keep your chin up for the next audition. If you did receive a part in the show, you have long weeks ahead of you full of rewards, fun, pressure, exhaustion, disappointment, and lots and lots of work. GOOD LUCK!

XOXO,

-Your trusty thespians