How Do We Keep Our Audition Skills Fresh?

Michelle Nolden Dancer turned Actor Currently on Saving Hope

So...if anyone has a definitive answer to the question I posed in the title of this latest entry, please pass it my way. I decided to write on this very subject as it seems that this very thing has come up time and time again. Most recently, I have talked to a few actors who are all wonderful at their jobs, but for one reason or another, have all experienced sub standard auditions recently. If you've been reading my blog, you'll know that I myself have had the same experience. Let's face it, we do not have the industry here in Canada that they do in the U.S.A. Not to say that our American neighbors in this industry do not have their slow periods also, but I'm pretty confident that when it comes to auditioning, Americans usually have the upper hand. Why, because they have more audition opportunities. This past weekend, while having coffee with a friend I hadn't seen in a while, she was asking about all my recent auditions. Her reply to me was "Wow, you've been really busy lately with all these auditions!" In which I then pointed out to her that, excluding callbacks, I had had two auditions, no more, no less. In fact, the last few months, I have had a total of three auditions. Now, given my age and specific talents, I do realize that auditions are not as forthcoming as they would be for a twenty or thirty something actor, but three auditions do not make for a busy period. I remember a little over a year ago I was invited to a Billy Elliott call in NYC. It was exciting, and honestly, this audition was great. It was a small group of men in this call and given that the audition was in and out all through the day, I remember quite clearly two actors juggling two other auditions that day and for them, this was no big deal. In fact for them, this seemed quite normal. My good friend Michelle Nolden who's currently on Saving Hope was telling me of the times she would be in Los Angelos auditioning during pilot season, where in she would have to juggle sometimes up to seven auditions a day. That definitely doesn't happen in Canada. It's a simple fact that we get better at things by doing. This is not a secret. It's been proven time and time again.

I remember all the way back to the casting sessions of Wizard of Oz in Toronto where I was resposible for teaching all the choreography. Now please keep in mind that given equity rules, the time allotted to dance and sing people is not a lot. Most from this audition were cut. I was stunned. Dancers that I knew to be wonderful, were not putting their best foot forward. I was asked by more than one agent why the cuts were so severe. Now, other than type, (which no one can control), It was simple, people were not "Popping" in the call. My agent asked me why I thought this was happening. My answer was this, "We don't audition enough in this country". Sadly, many of the younger dancers and musical theatre artists I know, are not able to work their audition chops enough for various reasons. Often times, it's just not in the theatre's budget to run long casting calls. Many of the calls are closed due to type, age, experience, you name it. Some places now will do a big call once every two to three years, get a roster of performers, and keep those said performers for a few seasons. This practice is not exclusive to musical theatre either. If you think it is, you're fooling yourself. Companies such as Soul Pepper use the same actors time and time again. Great for the working  artist, but not great for keeping our audition skills fresh. The irony of this is, more often than not, we're in our peak audition shape upon graduating from school. The reason's are simple, for many young artists, they have spent the last three years singing, dancing, and acting. Their vocal book is established, and they usually have a couple of appropriate monologues ready and at their disposal. It's once you leave school, where in the responsibility becomes your own, do we usually fall short.

Someone once said to me "It's our job to audition, and if we get the gig, that's a bonus." There's a lot of truth to that statement, no matter what country you work in. Regardless of the amount auditions available to us, it's still our responsibility to keep our skills fresh. Present company included. So how do we do this? I certainly don't have all the answers but I do have a few ideas. Now, I say this time and time again, if you're a dancer, don't become a one trick pony. Be the kind of dancer who can feel at ease in any style of dance call. How do you do this, its simple, take from more than one teacher. Don't just take hip hop, or just take contemporary, be well versed in all of it...including tap. I've seen so many dancers crash and burn at dance calls lately because they don't posses even the most basic tap skills....and I do mean basic. I was at those said calls, and believe me, none of it was rocket science. Studying just one style of dance, with one teacher is the equivalent of just eating pizza everyday. It may be good, you may love it, but after a while, it's the same thing over and over again. I also believe as dancers that we need to treat our class time, much like we would any audition. There's a famous saying that goes "Dance Like No One Is Watching." I love that saying, however, I tell my students "Dance Like Everyone Is Watching!"It's that mind set that will make you pop. Every combination is a performance opportunity.

When it comes to singing calls, for many of us, we are at our most vulnerable as we are so exposed. We need to find more opportunities to sing for each other. An actor I spoke to most recently had come up with an idea of getting an audition night together with industry people where we just go, pay a small amount for the room and the accompanist, and sing for each other. This is a great idea. Ideally it would be great to run something like this weekly or even bi weekly if we could. Maybe this is something we should all explore. I know there is a night such as this that's currently running once a month, called Jill's Livingroom. It's a great event and allows you to get up and do your material with a great accompanist, in a supportive environment. I highly recommend this night. (You can find the group on Facebook.) There are also repertoire nights available with many great vocal teachers such as Alan Reid and Elain Overholt. All of these are great options.
Now I know all of this comes at a cost. Figure out where you fit, what's important to you, and go from there. We're all unique artists with unique gifts. It's up to us to keep our talents in check. But please, if you're going to go to musical theatre calls do know this...Trying to take a crash course in singing or any kind of dancing will not get you the job. I know this sounds harsh, but it's true. On very rare occassion, actors who's resumes carry a lot of weight may be given leniency if they are being looked at for something specific, but know this, they've paid their dues and their resume's speak volumes, and at the end of the day, if they don't have the goods, they won't be cast either.

So...there are just a few of my ideas on this subject. If anyone has any other ideas, please be forthcoming with them. We all need to support each other. Remember this "There's Room for Everybody!

Sincerely Stephen Findlay

A.K.A. The Oldest Male Chorus Dancer in Toronto