Welcome back to “Auditioning – On the line!”. This month I tackle and address that awkward moment once you are finished with your audition song, have showcased your best back flip, have brilliantly shared how you can wiggle your nose while impersonating your best pig squeal, and have exhausted all that is requested of you in the short 2 minutes you are allotted.
The answer to this post audition MOMENT is quite simple —- “vamoose”, “leave the room”, or in stage terms, “exit stage left!”
Once your audition has ended, it is time to collect your music from the accompanist, give a nod of appreciation or perhaps express a polite “Thank you”, and subsequently — get out! Too often an auditionee will leisurely stroll and awkwardly delay their exit in hopes that before they leave, they will hear — “WAIT, you are the one we have been searching for”, “the part is yours”, “we want you!”, OR — as they saunter towards the door, they smile longingly at the director with puppy dog eyes, give an awkward look back to the casting director, or fumble and drop their music to kill some time to avoid leaving the room.
Sadly, this type of behavior displays a lack of confidence, a sense of desperation and ultimately wastes everyone’s time. If they like you, great, if you are not what they are looking for, the door could not be a better friend.
In all seriousness, it is not a good reflection on your audition if you linger in the room in hopes of soliciting a response or attempt to seek validation from the panel. It just makes everyone uncomfortable. If they have something to say, they will say it. Otherwise, the audition is over – at least for now.
Expecting feedback or an “on the spot” callback, especially after you think you nailed that quadruple pirouette and/or sang that high C, — all the while still wiggling your nose, is not a given. The nature of our biz is one where casting decisions are often made with little to zero control on your end and once you have sang, danced, juggled, played the ukulele, or brought them to tears with that Shakespeare soliloquy, your small role in the audition process is “finito”!
With that said, once you have graciously and professionally exited the room, there is nothing more you can do. The decisions are out of your hands. Hopefully you have done your very best and have knocked their socks off. If you have had a bad day, learn from the experience, prepare for future auditions with greater conviction, dust yourself off and move on. One thing you can count on – there will always be another audition – and future opportunities.
Auditioning advice
My best advice is the following: Do what you do best to showcase your talents, be respectful to the casting folk and the auditionee following you, and then — let it go! The next steps will reveal themselves if warranted and by exiting stage left, with purpose and confidence, you will remove that awkward feeling and sense of anxiety. As a reward for all your “due diligence” treat yourself to a nice cup of tea, hit the gym, meet your friends at the local pub, or go take a nap – your work is done. 😉
The art of auditioning is one to be mastered and perfected. Pat yourself on the back for a good audition, be confident that you gave it your all, and then move onto the next audition with even more knowledge and experience. With persistence, and a little luck, you are bound to get the part and be one step closer in mastering auditioning – on the line!
“Porky Pig” character is owned by Warner Bros.Coming next month:
