Hi everyone,
I’m a Junior at a BFA Acting program that’s (statistically speaking) pretty difficult to get into. My teacher came back from Unified Auditions a few weeks ago in a hell of a mood, and ranted about why most of the auditions he watched completely failed. I was talking to a girl from my high school about auditioning for BFA programs, and she appreciated hearing what he said, so I wanted to post it somewhere where it could possibly help more people as well.
There were two main things that the majority of auditioners did that upset him: yelling the monologue and “being official.”
He understands the impulse to give the monologue everything you have, but as an evaluator, he he said it was “hellish to be yelled at all day” and I could tell he wasn’t being petty- it really got to him. All of the acting teachers I know are super perceptive and sensitive to a person’s energy, so don’t think they need to hear you “project” any louder than the room demands. And know that if you go too loud, it can completely turn them off. A lot (if not all?) of the teachers my school sends on the audition tours teach voice, so if they hear you straining it’ll take them out of enjoying your monologue and into worrying about your voice.
The harder one is the “officialness,” which is a note he gives students here all the time, too. He said that so many auditioners would come in clearly nervous, and then struggle to give the “official” version of the monologue, i.e. how they thought it should sound, how they practiced it, or what they thought he wanted to hear. Or, and another teacher said this too, an auditioner would be really nervous but know that their monologue was “angry,” or “sad,” so they would try to hide the nerves and play angry or sad. He said he wished someone who was shaking with nerves would simply “speak from the nerves.” He tells us all the time, especially in auditions, to “exist as you are,” to “be a real person,” because that’s much more compelling to watch than a strained or put-on interpretation of a character. I know it seems counter-intuitive, but what he really was looking for was for someone to be themselves.
I was talking to my friend afterwards, who actually auditioned for this teacher to get into the school, and we both picked monologues that cut pretty close to who we actually were at the time. She was trying to think of ways to break up with her high school boyfriend, and she did a breakup monologue. I was super young and insecure, and I did a super young and insecure monologue. I highly, highly recommend you do this, (if nothing else, it makes your job 100x easier) but even if you don’t, know that they aren’t looking for the Perfect Henry V. And what they are looking for is easier than you think! Also, don’t yell. I know most of you have already auditioned, but to those of you who have late auditions or callbacks, break legs!