Success at The Actors Alliance

I had my first monologue audition at The Actors Alliance last night with the head a New York City Film & Television Casting Agency. My first real professional audition (The Actors Alliance is a member's only meet-and-greet studio; They're known mostly by word-of-mouth: I first heard about them in How to be a Working Actor, 5th Edition: The Insider's Guide to Finding Jobs in Theater, Film, & Television by Mari Lyn Henry and Lynne Rogers).

I have been having trouble with my monologues lately -- so I've been working with Deborah Carlson/Word of Mouth Studios to hammer out my difficulties, and the difficulties, for me, have always been in starting.

Like most beginning actors (I'm assuming), I thought of auditions as a separate "thing" or "state" I needed to enter into before I started, i.e., in an audition, there's usually a brief introduction, and the auditor asks what you'll be doing. You tell them, and they say something like "whenever you're ready."

At this point, the pressure, naturally enough, steps up, and -- sometimes (actually, a lot of the time) I would just go blank: there was no internal motivation to start the monologue, i.e., no "reason" to start talking other than the auditor is waiting for me to start. This is absolutely the worst place to start from as any beginning or seasoned actor can attest.

Deborah, however, give me some good advice, and -- more importantly -- showed me how she starts an audition. Acting, for me, is in large part, learned by watching others who know what they're doing. It's hard to explain, but "I get it" (more times than not) when I see and hear something done well.

Basically, she said the critical moment before needs to be quite simple and it should come out of the "place" you're in just before the auditor says "whenever you're ready." Don't think you have to somehow undergo a rapid and radical transformation, or psychically teleport yourself, somehow, to some imaginary place. That (for me) is working to hard and trying to do to much. My beginning still need a lot of work, but I'm making progress.

I (somehow) last night did just what Deborah told me to do -- and showed me how to do: I don't know how I did it -- but I did it, and it was the best I've done so far under pressure:

I reminded myself as I went into the room to just start the monologue out of whatever was happening between myself and the CD in the room -- don't think of it as two separate things.

I stepped into the room, she asked what I was doing, I told her, and she said, "whenever you're ready." She jumped into the audition so fast, I didn't have time to think.

I was on my feet, so I automatically moved the chair out of my way and then I immediately did something quite necessary and practical: I looked for place to focus (because The Actors Alliance told me that this CD doesn't like actors to look at them during a monologue audition). Just to her right was two ends of a blue curtain tied into a ball. It served the purpose of giving me a point of focus that wasn't her but was stay facing her, so she could still see my face.

This simple act did something remarkable: it got my attention off of me, off the situation I was in (i.e., an audition) and out into the world.

And then I just remembered to breathe and take my time and really REALLY talk TO that little ball of blue curtain -- tell it all about manhood and what it means (a monologue by "Sydney," a cynical divorce lawyer from John Patrick Shanley's Where's My Money).

I bonded with that damn little blue ball!

Her feedback was both positive -- and funny -- because it really opened a window into how things work in the professional world. She said, in the following order:

1st) She was glad I was non-union, as she works with a lot of non-union.
2nd) She told me to stay out of SAG for as long as possible because given my type (I'm "quirky" looking) and my age, I was unusual in the non-union world (apparently everyone else my age is union, so my opportunities, and hers, lie there).
3rd) She said "given your type and age and the fact that you can act, you're kind of a find, so you should definitely get out there and get seen by as many CDs as you can", and she said she'll definitely be calling me in.

OMG -- I couldn't believe it went that well, even though that's exactly what I've been working so hard towards and have always visualized/imagined myself doing!

It was funny because she listed first all these things I can't control (my type, my age) and then last of all, she sincerely complemented my acting! Someone who is actually in a position to get me paid thinks "I can act!"

It doesn't get much better than that!

Thank you so much Deborah Carlson and Word of Mouth Studios!