Recently in Auditions & Notes Category

Last week I posted my thoughts on the various resources in NYC that facilitate agent and casting director "Meet-and-Greets:" Hopes and Dreams and Goals. Auditioning at The Actors Alliance.

Like most beginning actors, those who are trying to find professional opportunities with the initial goal of creating a professional network of casting agents and directors who know, like, and support you, I felt (and still feel) surprisingly lost, but -- the best way to get past that lost (and sometimes even "stuck" [I'm not going anywhere] feeling) is to just start moving forward and believe you'll find your way as you go along.

And -- follow the leaders! Find people who are successful at doing what you want to do, and 1) ask their advice and 2) do what they're doing. This is a terrific tried-and-true strategy, and it makes me feel less scared and unsure about just simply starting. Auditioning and gaining membership with The Actors Alliance and One-on-One is part of this strategy.

Another component of my strategy has been to ask advice from people who are doing what I want to do, so I contacted Christopher Stadulis, a part time contributor to this blog, and I asked him this:

I wanted to ask your advice about meet and greets, i.e., meeting casting directors and agents, at places like actors connection. I know many actors who do not believe in paying to meet casting director's and agents, or they just don't know how to evaluate the opportunity. I do believe in the value of these meet and greets, but I confess I've had cold feet because I'm not sure how to take advantage of the opportunity they offer. I guess the basic question I have is: how do I best prepare myself? I know my audition skills have to be good, and I continually work on those, but beyond that, is their anything else. The meet and greets do cost some $$, so I want to make sure my time and $$ (as well as the casting director's agent's time) are well spent.

He wrote back with some great advice about "Meet-and-Greets" in general, how to approach them, and how to audition:

This whole exercise of writing down your goals? -- it really seems to work!!!

Quite a while ago, I wrote down that I wanted to work in The 13th Street Repertory Company's production of Line, New York's longest running off-Off-Broadway show, and -- it happened! I auditioned today, and I got cast!

and my audition? . . . well . . . it was terrible!!! :)

Enter: The Actors Alliance and One On One. Both are like Actor's Connection and The Network, i.e., they function as middlemen between actors (sellers) and casting directors, filmmakers, agents, managers and producers (buyers), but you need to audition for The Actors Alliance and One On One to be a member, and then you can take part in their agent and casting director's workshops and meet-and-greets --  and their audition process is not just a formality, i.e., last fall, I auditioned for One On One, but I was rejected for membership, so I've taken the advice and feedback I got from that audition, and I'm going to try again later this month.

However, I decided to try to kill two birds with one stone, and I took One On One's feedback and advice and today I went in and auditioned for membership in The Actors Alliance. Harry O'Reilly auditioned me (a terrific guy, a professional actor and successful businessman with a great ear and eye in terms of training and coaching actors), and he congratulated me on my audition technique and told me that Deborah Carlson's Word Of Mouth Studios had trained me well (I always knew she had, and I've worked hard, but this was terrific validation nonetheless).

I passed! I'm now a member! This has been a MAJOR goal of mine for almost a year now!

I just auditioned for membership with One on One. Like Actor's Connection and The Network, they function as middlemen between actors (sellers) and casting directors, filmmakers, agents, managers and producers (buyers), but their audition process is not just a formality.

I was rejected, but they invited me to try again, and I thought I'd share the feedback I got -- feedback I found constructive, solid and professional.

I had a cold-reading audition tonight, and they cast me on the spot: I was cast in a stage adaptation of the film Angel Heart, directed by Alan Parker.

The stage adaptation and direction is by Christopher Dames. Angel Heart one of my favorite movies from the 80's -- click on Angel Heart link to see the trailer.

I'll be playing two parts in two short scenes -- Dr. Albert Fowler (using my normal wild hair as Albert is a also a junkie) and Ethan Krusemark (a "respected" businessman, so I'll just slick my hair back and do a small change in costume).

It's a relatively short run, but a great opportunities because 1) the story is strong, 2) the original screenplay is great, and 3), it's a first for me: to play two different characters in the same play. (Actually, I'll be working on 3 different characters between now and the end of the year because the second cast for the Jewish Theater of New York's production of The Last Jew In Europe goes into rehearsal the first week of November).

Work at Deborah Carlson's Word of Mouth @ A/C Studios is starting to pay off.

As part of my plan to earn my living (or a good part of it anyway) by acting, I auditioned for Ray, one of the talent agents at Actor's Reps Of New York & Lost Angeles, Inc. Because I'm non-union, they'll cast me mostly in background/extras parts (in my book however, that still a paid ACTING job), and with a little luck, maybe some under 5's, which would be great!! Actor's Rep gets a 10% commission of any work they book for me.

Anyway, Actor's Reps require a cold reading, a monologue. It's really an audition to see how you handle text, how you cold read. For a non-union person like me, they really just want to meet me to make sure I'm not (too) crasy -- nevertheless, I took the reading seriously. After the reading, he said "who ever you're studying with -- keep studying with that person. That was a good reading."

That was a great compliment because I'm sure the very short 30sec monologue is something he's heard 1000s of times -- and he's been in the business for 32 years!

Actor's Reps deal with both union and non-union talent. Their their main objective is to help the "start up" actor.

How to Rise the Stakes

A couple of weeks ago, I had a cold reading audition. It went well (though ultimately I didn't get cast).

I thought I would try to get more out of my audition experience by taking the opportunity to do an audition "post-mortem" at Word of Mouth @ A/C Studios. I wrote Deborah the follow email:

Hey Deborah,
       Tomorrow, could we take 10-15 to do a post-mortem of an audition I just did. The sides where from a play (attached), just pages 43-44, and I was Donny. Basically, Donny is a pedophile (another one! :), and the short scene is about Donny trying to convince his wife Ellen to stay home (the real reason being he's afraid of what he might do with his daughter if let alone with her).
       I read the scene once, and then the director said he wanted me to read it again but "raise the stakes." He explained the context of the scene to me, i.e., the real reason why Donny is trying to convince Ellen to stay home, but I already understood this. So, my instincts told me that the director wanted to see a "guilty" Donny, or basically, play/show the "subtext" somehow. I could have been wrong, but that's how I interpreted his direction.
      My next instinct was NOT to do that, i.e., I choose NOT to "indicate" or "show" the subtext, but then I found myself not sure what to do other than what I had just done, but just breathe deeper, slow down, etc. Anyway, my question is -- what should I have done with that direction? Were my instincts correct? I wanted to do a bit of post-mortem, 10-15min or so, and get your advice. Thanks Deborah.

- Cheers,
Christopher

Deborah wrote back:

We’ll talk about what the director meant. You were right to not be obvious or indicate the subtext but I’ll explain what he was talking about . . .

Typecasting is industry lingo used by directors of film, television and commercials for casting generically according to the actor's personality or physical appearance to convey an immediate message to the audience.

Bob Fraser has published a excellent article to help one to discover or understand how casting directors see you.

And, just for fun, I've discovered my own somewhat unorthodox approach. While there's definitely more to typecasting then just looks, I figured out who I kind of look like so I could ask myself what sort of roles these actors are getting.

How do I find out how I look like?

Ask a visual pattern-face recognition algorithm -- duuuh!!

Click here to see who do I look like.

The tool can be found here: share black and white photos with facial recognition technology.

My auditions have been getting better -- not steadily, but more think small but significant leaps forward after periods where I don't seem to be getting better at all, yet I continue to work and push, and I think that's the key to my growth (think Punctuated Equilibrium):

. . . instead of a slow, continuous movement, evolution tends to be characterized by long periods of virtual standstill ("equilibrium"), "punctuated" by episodes of very fast development of new forms.

Having a difficult audition is painful, but they're incredibly useful, if I can learn from them. Here's what I've learned:

I'm auditioning 3-4 times/week. Here's some running notes:

• If I'm talking to one or more people in the monologue, place them in the room before I start.
• If I'm working with a reader, don't use the reader if the reading is flat, remember to do this.
• Treat the audition room and the auditors as a stage, a performance space. That's the mental transition between introducing myself and the piece and starting the monologue.
• De-voicing when I try to relax -- I'm relaxed, but suddenly I've lost full breathe support. Practice at home relaxing w/full breathe under the words.
• Really, really, really listen -- don't just "hear."
• Chickening out: if I get scared of some audition, I usually stay up too late the night before . Always be fully prepared and take the time I need to be fully prepared.

Soliloquies - Vanya is a soliloquy, i.e., he's talking to himself, but don't do it as it's done in life: there's an audience out there, so put myself out there and talk to me out there.

Tips & Hints:

Always use lots of air, words have colors, let the passion and emotion in the words out

Goal of a monologue -- no overt/endogenous attention, at all, should be on what I'm feeling/experiencing. My attention should be fully on the other, making sure everything is crystal-bell clear. Make sure they understand me, every word.

Stop extraneous movements when they're correlated with "thinking between the lines." Practice/rehearse moving nothing except what I need to use to breathe. Practice/rehearse by lying on my back, lots of air under each phase. Let myself be overly dramatic.

Audition Prep: 1st) physical voice warm up, intone, journal of the thought, etc. whatever I think I need to do 2nd) Review -- "breathe in" the vertical, the deep meaning, then let it all go.

Audition Notes: Starting is still difficult for me -- the most important step is still the hardest. Rehearse a simple task, a simple way to start -- use that to center and focus me. Also, I'm still rushing the beginning, the moment before. Remember that great monologue audition with Vanya at The Impact -- remember how I just spontaneously, organically took me time? It was completely unplanned, as if the gods loved me that night and gave me a great gift, but I think I just focused and took my time without worrying about or being conscious of starting -- usually I feel awkward and self-conscious, and I tend to rush starting the monologue. This is so hard for me, yet it was perfect that night. Practice each day doing that, whatever that was ...

Audition death -- certain death: trying to recall memories and images that will make be feel. I can either do what the character/monologue/words are doing or I can be trying to drive the performance from the outside, from the "top-down."

Advice for the actor. Restoratives for the soul.

Great, invaluable, practical, and insightful, veteran working actors share what they've learned about how to manage the practical and technical aspects of the audition process.

While some trial and error learning will be inevitable in learning any skill, this book will help bring clarity and focus to the acquisition of your audition technique, to the strengthening of your audition skills, and believe me -- it is a skill, and high one at that. You'll learn hard won insights, tips, and revelations that will help you set your audition targets -- and once you know what your targets are, where you weaknesses are, then all you need to do is continually practice setting your sights on those targets. That is the real value of this book. Some highlights are:

AUDITION PREPARATION STRATEGIES:

• how & why to practice your sight reading, a critical cold reading skill: see strategies #8 & #38 (Professional Sight Reading Techniques).
• how to maintain persistence and determination, and why they, not talent, are your true leverage in eventual success & mastery: see strategies #11 (The Power of Habit) & #21 (Fail To Plan And You Plan To Fail).

• how to start an audition (starting off on the right foot is everything): see strategy #42 (Starting Strong) & 63 (Center Yourself).

• how to be clear -- slow the hell down! See strategy #82 (Speed Kills).
• when to know that 'no real acting is required:' see strategy #93 (The 80/20 Rule of Drama).

With this book in hand you gain the most from each of your audition experiences -- and if you stay positive (and that's no mean trick because that's something else to learn), you'll find yourself quickly becoming a much smarter actor in the audition process, and that's the best way to free your talent.

"Something happened with me. It was like a monkey off my back or something. I didn't feel armored any longer as an actor; I felt like I could -- whatever I did -- was going to be alright. It was a beginning for me, of a kind of subconscious work."
- Gene Hackman

Working with Deborah, employing Patsy Rodenburg's approach to breath, voice, and text, and benefiting from Deborah's extensive performance and audition experience -- this is just start of a new way of working . . .

Audition: 13th Street Theater
Location: 50 West 13th Street between 5th and 6th Avenues, New York City.
Director: The directors group, Edith O'Hara artistic director
Monologue: Gabe, Dinner Wish Friends

Positives:

     I did it, finally! Took the stage, positioned the chair as I introduced myself and the piece.

Negatives:

First, the audition was in a theatre, so the performance space was large, and I wanted to be intimate with Tom and I was sitting in the chair, but I needed to fill the space because the directors and company interns were sitting all over the place. Because the space was large, filled with people, and I was sitting rather than standing, I was pushing my voice -- not too badly, but still pushing.

      Solution: work with Deborah on projection and how to be "intimate" to the back row . . . this is physical-vocal technique/work.

Second -- it was hard not to "act" at some points, i.e., being theatrical with my voice & body. Why?

     Solution: I was not clear, not specific enough with each part: the middle did not flow from the beginning and the ending did not build out of the middle. I'm afraid people did not know exactly what I was talking about as the monologue is Gabe's answer to Tom's venting about marriage and getting older. The monologue was moment-to-moment, but it lacked forward motion.
                   One thing that I tried in class was to simply start with the end in mind, however, while that definitely gives the piece forward motion, i.e., I know where I'm going to end up, Gabe's monologue is more about "finding" the end. It's clear he feels this way (some people blow up their homes), he "works it out" as he's taking is the best way I can describe it. I need clear impetus and reasons to move from the beginning to the middle to the end . . . and maybe there, before each section, having an idea about where I'm going with that section might work: each "chunk" is a thought or a point, and those are what's in Gabe's mind before he speaks. Rehearse like this and try the monologue again in class.

Third. I need a clear routine to go through on the day of any audition: physical and vocal warm up to be sure, but then -- how to prepare while waiting?

      Solution: Ask Deborah about what she does, and write down a routine.

Audition: The Dark Lords of the Trailer Park (original work)
Location: East Village, The Kraine Theatre, the Red Room, just above KGB Bar, 85 East. 4th Street, New York City.
Director: Chris ...
Playwright: Lee ...

I participated in a reading for this play in fall, and I was invited to audition tonight for the same character, Kevin.

Positives

From my showcase experience at Weise-Barron, I threw out all "images/ideas" of Kevin and instead try to find him viscerally, in my body. I also made a conscious choice to try play against the "mood" of the scene, which is 'Kevin is angry and pissed off.' I was shooting for variety and contrast . . . and, as always, surprising spontaneity.

To a large extent, this worked, and I was pleased with the audition -- it was one of the more connected I've had, which is always great.

Negatives

Interesting . . . I really need to take a cold reading class. The foundation of what I always do is Guskin's "taking-it-off-the-page" for spontaneity, and my sense is I'm very moment to moment, responding & reacting. The "overall objective," however, feels in the back seat, and what Kevin really wants is missing -- or rather, the high stakes are missing, and so the reading seems to lack a bit of focus and, overall, it's restrained . . . I have so much to learn.

On the bright side though, I can sense (almost) how it should be out there, and I can feel myself inching closer to it: something that's focused, simple, connected . . . there. My readings are 'correct,' interesting' (I think), but . . . not as exciting as they could be, and that's because I'm missing too much of what's at stake for the character. In short, I think I'm bringing in more and more elements of a good cold reading, and I'm handing those elements better than I have before . . . but much is still missing.

All I can think to do, outside of an explicit class, is keep auditioning, keep noticing, keep groping for these critical elements, learning what they are, identifying them, mastering them . . . so help me god! If I ever have the type of cold reading that I want, that I imagine . . . I think I will have died and gone to heaven . . . and the best part will be: I'll experience heaven right here, right now (where I've always suspected it is ...)

Working again tonight -- getting back into the habit. It's like physical exercise for me. Sometimes I don't feel like doing it, I get lazy, I blow it off, time passes . . . then I think I really start to feel out of sorts: I feel frustrated with everything -- I get compulsively obsesses with doing minor things I don't really care about. I don't know what I'm doing with my life and feel lost and adrift, and I think -- at least in large part -- it's because I lose touch with this. I don't know why it's my sail, my guide.

OK -- I'm setting the bar higher now:

Gabe's monologue. Really get the content, the thoughts, the ideas -- I haven't zeroed in on them yet, but that's my target. In the past, I've worked too often from the outside-in, and I'm doing too much, going moment by moment, but nothing is strongly binding the moments together. Time to set the bar higher.

(from Jack Poggi's The Monologue Workshop, chapter 7): Improving on the content:

1. Using improv -- build up the 'structure' of the content, the sequence of thoughts, points, ideas.
2. THEN use the character's words
3. Go back and forth between #1 and #2 until I've "grasped" the content.
4. GOAL: Find the one simple thing that the monologue is about -- this will bind together the moment-by-moments.

The big question: What it is that Tom doesn't "get?" My homework is to keep reviewing critical scenes in the play that lead up to this moment. I think with this monologue, for me, that may be very helpful. Tom doesn't "get" something -- what is it, specifically? When I know that, when I'm filled with that, then Gabe will be there.

Rosemary and Howard, Picnic, William Inge, Act III, scene 1.

From last rehearsal. Start working from a general description and opening, middle, and closing attitudes/feelings. NOTE: Really try to find out what Howard is doing, what's his behavior. This will give rise to something close or related to these opening and closing attitudes.

Rosemary: A proud woman who needs to be seen as a "lady." She hides her loneliness and fear behind her identity as a teacher. A good friend. A contributor to the betterment of her community. She's in good standing, well regarded. Confused by men.

                Opening, middle, and closing attitudes/feelings: pre-occupied & empty --> determined and frustrated --> emotional, vulnerable, frightened.

Howard: Insecure, shy lonely man who has fallen into an identity that keeps him safe. Sees himself as independent. Wants desperately to be liked. Threatened by romance.

                Opening, middle, and closing attitudes/feelings: anxious & defensive --> embarrassed & evasive --> confused, extremely nervous and threatened.

Interesting. When I tried to come up w/a description and attitudes on my own, I saw Howard as comfortable in his life, liked his independence, and wants to keep things the way they are. I saw him going from defensive/evasive to guilty. I definitely got his behavior -- but I missed the why.

If I was going to audition this scene, my description of Howard, while correct, would have lead to pretty flat reading. I knew I was missing the why, but I didn't quite know what to do. A good character description can really fire the imagination, and here I needed to come up with one on my own, but I wasn't quite able to do it. I think the clues/keys/insights are in the text, and I didn't really spend enough time with it.

-- I resolve to better develop my theatrical logic and instinct to come up with some character description that makes "sense," theatrically, given the dramatic potential of the scene.

Enough for tonight.

Don't just leave work or the loft and run off to a monologue audition (cold readings are a different matter): spend a good 30-40-60 minutes thinking, feeling, getting into it, looking for further connections, insights, and then . . . just relax and go.

post-note: Feeling (again) overwhelmed with trying to master monologues, cold readings, learning to audition (by going on actual auditions). First, I'm good with exercise -- I've got a good weekly routine that easy to follow (it's now a habit), and it's really paying off. I need to develop the same routine for nightly work and going out on auditions. Working 4-5 nights or days/week, 1-2 hours, and 3-4 times a week, 15-20min voice. Set a schedule.

Monologues, cold-reading, sight-reading: Monday, Tuesday, (Thursday or Friday), Saturday and Sunday: Week nights: start 9, 9:30pm. Weekends, afternoons, 1-2 hours.

(Right now, preparing for the showcase [scene work] and 13th Street Rep [monologue] is setting my weekly schedule -- but if I can keep to the MT,T or F, SS schedule, I should be well prepared)

Voice work: Monday, Tuesday, Saturday, Sunday, 20mins

Auditions: at least once a week -- experience, Experience, EXPERIENCE!!!! GET IT (IT'S FREE!):

        Do you rehearse? Do you memorize it and fake that you're reading? How do you study for the part? Do you develop a character? Do you make specific choices? Do you give a film performance? Do you give a stage performance? Do you get coached? What approach will work best for this particular audition? You have plenty of options, but what's the answer? Experience is the answer. For each audition you will eventually learn how to produce results.

           - Jeremiah Comey, The Art Of Film Acting (p. 215)

OK -- The goal here is to keep track of 1) how I'm rehearsing for various things and 2) to note what's working and what's not

Monologue: Gabe -- Dinner With Friends. This, I think, will be a tough monologue to nail, but if I can nail it, it will great.

      I'm going to try to outline a general procedure for myself:

     Since I'm just starting out, the first step is grasp the content, the ideas, the intent of Gabe. Tonight it was just "pictures and words" (from Jack Poggi's The Monologue Workshop, chapter 7). Basically, I'm just alternating between taking-it-off-page (Guskin's approach), with the goal of personally connecting and grounding the text in my own real/imaginative experience, and improv. Taking-it-off the page helps with making things specific and real. Improving helps me to grasp the content/ideas before I find the exact words to express myself. Not sure how long I'll do this -- probably 2-3 more times.

    Idea -- for Gabe, things have been building (through most of the play) until the scene with his monologue, and Tom starts pushing buttons in this scene. I need to write out exactly what Gabe thinks of Tom, what he's done, how he feels about it. It doesn't say all this to Tom, but -- it comes though in the monologue: the end of a friendship.

   It's a sad, beautiful monologue -- or it will be beautiful if I can infuse it with hope near the end (my take on it all).

Sight-reading: Spent about 10-15min tonight. Do this every night. It's breathing, taking the phases off the page, and throwing them out, directing them to the listener. Hold the page up, no head bobbing. Keep practicing this until it's automatically nice and easy. It's not cold reading but it's handing the mechanics of it.

Go-see for WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 28 for a casting for an INTEL PRINT JOB (NoHo Studios, studio D, on Broadway, 3PM) - ref. by Desiree.

Print work is an area that I'm interested in, and if audition opportunities come up, I go, despite the fact that I really don't know how to put my best foot forward -- still counting on luck. While luck is always a factor, I want to start stacking the odds in my favor: there is a very good book, but I haven't read it yet.

It went well -- a bit better than I expected (the audition was about 45 sec -- two "poses:" headshot' and a 'groovy dude' look). She almost dropped her camera and I thought that was funny and I relaxed a bit -- the best thing you can do is look natural and at ease while still attempting to project what the client would like to see . . . it was fun, I felt good, but still . . . I was just winging it, and being an armature is starting to feel a bit old now

Feeling overwhelmed again -- as if I'm trying to do too much, spread too thin. It's great to take advantage of every chance opportunity, but it puts me in more of a reactive rather than pro-active mode, and because I'm not experienced, I feel I can't really take full advantage of these chance professional opportunities, yet I hate to pass up the experience.

So . . . still struggling with finding and/or keeping to my priorities. I'm a bit torn being focusing on what I want to focus on and focusing on what I feel I should focus on because it would be good for me for various reasons, and trying to do both is spreading me a bit thin. Hummmmm . . . Ok. This weekend: prioritize my goals and set deadlines between now and the end of the year, and STICK to my priorities . . .

I don't know if I'm getting better or staying lucky -- keeping my nose to the grind stone seems to be the genesis of both.

I've been thinking an awful lot about monologues & auditioning, i.e, Michael Shurtleff's Audition (a great Christmas present from my sister), Brette Goldstein's (excellent) monologue workshop at One On One Productions, and Jeffrey Zeiner's no nonsense, challenging, excellent, 'right to the heart of it,' on-camera audition technique class at Weist-Barron, and our own private 'audition workout' group that meets on Saturdays at The Barrow Group. All of this has been helping to improve my dramatic instincts, which is exactly what I've been wanting.

Every audition/monologue book talks about stakes, high stakes. I'm starting to get a much better handle on this -- at least I hope so. Shurtleff talks about this as what are you fighting for? Jeffrey asks where/how is the character most vulnerable? Put these two things together, and you can (at least some of the time) really find what's at stake for the character -- and one way or another, it all comes down to them fighting for their lives.

I can't easily see this in every scene or every monologue -- it comes easy with only very few pieces, but it is always there. It has to be. It's what I Love about acting, theatre -- finding this, and then watching the universe and eternity open right up in front of me, and I've never felt more alive. It's enormously gratifying and rewarding to find this. This is what I strive for, and to bring those high stakes, reliably, into performance.

I was auditioning for a short play festival. They required a monologue, and all I had was the one I had written -- it's not a great (or even good) monologue, but it is an interesting piece (that's the usual feedback, i.e., "hummmm, that was ... interesting"), and I do connect with it, and learning to connect was really the whole point of writing it. So that's what I did -- it's all I had.

After the director said "hummmm, that was ... interesting," she asked me to cold read some sides.

Cold-reading with a reader. I've always talked to the reader, but I spontaneously discovered last Saturday that I don't have to do this. Suddenly the other person was not where the reader was sitting but was somewhere else in the room. The trigger, I think, was when the reader/director pointed to a tapestry on the wall and said 'use this as the closet.' Since I could pretend that was the closet, I could easily pretend that the other character was at another location that seemed to make sense. This had two effects I think:

1. It forced me, on my feet, to use the space, shifting focus and attention from what was happening in the closet to this imaginary person at another location in the room.
2. It was less inhibiting talking to an imaginary person than to the reader.

Whatever it was, it all must have worked somehow -- the director called me on Tuesday and offered me the part. It's a short run, Thursday July 21st evening, Saturday July 23rd evening, Friday July 29th evening, Saturday July 30th matinee.

Had an invited audition on Wednesday -- reading prepared sides. The material was very well written (the plays have been accepted for the New York International Fringe Festival). I had several days to prepare, my cold-reading skills have been improving (thank god -- I've been working hard enough at it), the characters they wanted me to audition for were clear, and I felt I understood them quite well . . .

Very minor differences win and lose auditions. (p. 158)
      - JoBe Cerny, I Could Have Been a Cabdriver... but I Became an Actor Instead: A Practical Guide to the Business of Professional Acting (Career Development Series)

It is striking to me (and ha