Guidelines for Auditions
Audition Guidelines for Dance and Movement
Come at least 15 minutes early to the audition to warm yourself up. Usually auditions won't include a full body warmup. Taking care of your instrument shows your professionalism. Bring a bottle of water. Bring a sweatshirt or other extra body wear so that you can keep your body temperature regulated. Sometimes auditions required you to dance hard and then sit for a long time and then dance again. Take steps to protect your body.
Wear dance shoes appropriate to the style in which you are auditioning. You may not audition in bare feet or in socks. If you don't have dance shoes then wear soft sneakers that are flexible (no black soles). For women it is best to wear leotard and tights but if you don't have dance clothes, please wear soft pants and shirt that you can move easily in with a full range of motion (i.e. sweatpants). Do not wear shorts. (You may need to slide across the floor and skin doesn't slide.) Wear clothes that reveal the shape of your body without confining your movement. All of the above is the same for the men. Wear your hair back away from your face and no jewelry.
Dance auditions do not require prepared material. You will be placed in small groups and taught a dance phrase that could be anywhere from 32-64 counts. You are expected to ask questions if you need help or don't understand aspects of the phrase. This information will not be re-taught so if you are late to the audition, your audition will be incomplete. You will be asked to demonstrate the phrase either alone or in a group to the directors and choreographer. The best way to prepare for this is to familiarize yourself with the musical and the style of dance that is required.
(Tip: In some cases you may be asked to learn an additional more advanced phrase that is beyond your ability. Directors/Choreographers appreciate a serious and hard working attitude and sometimes cast students who may not be able to dance the phrase well because in the audition they proved that they will work hard to achieve fluency.)
As a general rule, everyone auditioning will complete the dance audition whether the role they wish to be considered for calls for dance or not. All auditioning will experience all aspects of the audition process.
For more detailed information or questions, please contact Jenefer Davies at daviesj@wlu.edu.
GENERAL AUDITION GUIDELINES FOR THEATER
Our auditions should be comfortable and unintimidating. We want you to have fun while you learn theatrical pedagogy.
• When you sign up for an audition, you will be emailed "sides" from the script. These are small excerpts that you will be asked to read at the audition. You do not need to know them by heart, but it is a good idea to look them over to make sure you know how to pronounce all the words (and what they mean). This also gives you some time to practice speaking the lines out loud, and to think about what is happening in the scene you are reading and who the characters are to each other.
• You are NOT expected to have your own prepared audition monologue. For some musicals, you may be asked to prepare part of a song from the show. If so, the music and lyrics will be sent to you along with any sides. Once again, you need not be memorized (in other words, you can sing with the lyrics in front of you).
You can request more info BEFORE the auditions.
• If you would like more information about the play, the sides, or the characters to help you prepare for your audition, you can contact the director by email. Just make sure you do it at least a day before your audition to give them plenty of time to respond.
We try to do group auditions.
• Because our productions grow from collaborative rehearsal processes, we try to bring in groups of students for an hour or so instead of having shorter individual auditions. This allows us to see how everyone works together.
• We generally start with a game and/or warm-up together, and then we ask to see pairs or groups of students read the sides together in front of the group. Sometimes these are "cold readings" (where you just get up and go for it right away), and sometimes we ask you to prepare with your scene partner(s) for a little while before presenting to the group. Depending on the number of students auditioning and the length and number of sides, students may be asked to read only one side with one partner, or they may be asked to read multiple sides with a variety of different scene partners.
•• Don't forget that theatre uses both voices and bodies to tell stories! Make sure you are thinking about how your movement and body language is working in conjunction with your voice and the text itself during your audition.
You can always ask to read an additional side.
• If, at the end of your audition period, you have not been asked to read a particular side, you can always request to read it. However, keep in mind that sometimes we are using a side to read for multiple roles (for instance, even for a show with a cast of 12 characters, there might only be 3 sides being read, or a director might see a character in you while you are reading a different role). In other words, don't assume you are only being considered for a role if you read for that particular character during your audition.
IF YOU WANT, after the cast list is posted, you can always request feedback on your audition.
• When requested, the director/choreographer/music director who ran the audition will provide individual feedback to help you understand how you might improve your auditions in the future. (Please note that this is offered to help you grow as a performer and is not the time to argue about casting or compare yourself to others.)
This is a general outline. Individual directors may include some additional requirements based on the specific play/musical they are directing. The producing stage manager for all of the theatre and dance productions is Paula Fritz. pfritz@wlu.edu Please feel free to reach out to her or anyone from the production team with questions.