Hi Diddlee Dee...

Probably the hardest part of being an actor is the audition-to-job ratio, meaning the number of auditions you have to go on before you get a job. Couple that with the fact that when you are working, you have to be thinking about your next job. Unless you're on Broadway in a huge hit show, you need to be thinking ahead to the day you no longer walk into that theatre.

Doing regional theatre is probably the best example of this point. You get hired to work at a theatre many miles from your home, you start rehearsals, go through technical rehearsals, and you think "this is great. I'm a working actor." But then the show opens and you are counting down to the last performance, knowing that in three to four weeks, you are not only going to have to say goodbye to these wonderful people that you are working with, but you will be put on a plane back to New York, Chicago, LA or wherever, and have to go back to waiting tables, bartending, temping, or just hit the unemployment line the moment you return. No amount of good reviews and acclaim from your peers can prepare you for that.

Probably your best bet in these situations is to scan the audition web sites, call your agent, contact people you've worked with before and try to line up something else before you close the show. The harder you work to get another job while you're actually working, the less downtime you will have between jobs.

But really, the only thing you can do to get through all of the post-show depression is to feel a sense of accomplishment for the good work you just did, to know that it's another notch on your belt, and to know that it will happen again. Maybe not for a while, but it will.

What NOT to say to performers

Just in case you don't watch "Step It Up And Dance" on Bravo, here's a rundown on the topic today:

Cody Green, an immensely talented dancer and contestant on Bravo's "Step It Up And Dance" (and also currently in the revival of Grease on Broadway), has a problem letting the emotion of what he is doing show through in his dancing. In the episode aired 5/29/08, he was told by Nancy O'Meara, one of the judges on the show, that his performance was "snobby," when she merely meant that it lacked emotion. When he asked for a more constructive adjective to describe his performance, she gave him "cold," but then went right back to "snobby." If she was at all able to see what that word did to him, she might have realized that she should rephrase her criticism. In fact, later in the show when she was given the opportunity to critique his performance again, she used the same word, and when confronted by the host of the show that her criticism was not helpful, she pressed on with the same course of action.

What Cody needs, and indeed what all actors/dancers/performers need is to be given constructive criticism. Artists are very sensitive to criticism, and to tell them something not constructive is to derail their artistic process. He is stuck, and is at this point unable to translate the criticism he has been given to anything quantifiable. Ms. O'Meara, having been a dancer, should realize that.

I am all for honest criticism. In fact, when I coach actors, I often remind them of the reality of the profession. I am the first person to tell an actor that their piece is not working for them, they need to get more training, etc. That kind of information is very important, but must be presented in a way that helps the performer get through their own particular blocks.

I personally have had some teachers who have no business teaching because of the way they treat actors. Some teachers seem to feel that they need to break you down to submission so they can build you back up. A sort of "no pain, no gain" approach. I believe that learning to deal with the pain in your life is very important - you learn to open yourself to the real emotion of any scene you have to play. But that's all yours, and it does not belong to anyone else.

Sometimes it pays not to think about it...

Recently, after all these years of auditioning and working in the professional theatre, I was reminded that it is so easy to get off your game by playing mind games with yourself.

Last week, I auditioned for a major Regional Theatre, a theatre that I had auditioned for years before. While I was standing there waiting to go into the theatre to do my two audition pieces, I started to fear that I was going to go up on my lines while I was in there. Now, these two pieces are pieces I have done many times each and often together. I just could not shake the feeling that I was going to go up.

Luckily, the audition went very well, but I had to remind myself halfway through the audition that I knew the material. What I realized is that sometimes, no matter how confident you are in your abilities, there is always that nagging voice (or "gremlin" as my friend Shelley McPherson would say) in the back of your head that must be dealt with.

If you have a comment or question, please post it.

Welcome to The Audition Blog

Welcome to The Audition Blog. Here you will find questions and advice about auditioning for Theatre, Film, Television, Commercials. I welcome input from anybody, because we are all in this together as artists. Please post as much as you like, and lively discussions will ensue.