Top Ten Audition Tips from Gary Mendoza

Gary Mendoza

Gary Mendoza is the director of SLT’s production of Doubt, A Parable, opening Feb. 27. Auditions are being held Sunday, January 18, 2015 at the theatre, beginning at 7 p.m.

Details of the audition can be found here and are again repeated at the end of this article. But first, Gary’s Top Ten Audition Tips:

(Director’s note: These are in absolutely no particular order, because they are all equally important)

Top Ten Audition Tips:

1.    Preparation is the key! An audition is basically a sales pitch. You, as an actor, are selling yourself and your skills to a director. The more prepared you are to make that sale, the better. Be familiar with the play and the characters, especially a character that you are interested in playing. A cold reading is naturally rough, but a little prep work goes a long way to smoothing out that roughness, which can go a long way to helping you get cast.

2.    Commit! When reading on stage, make a choice and go for it...even if it's the wrong choice. It's better to take chances and try than to just sit there and be just another person standing on the stage with a script. I tell my students all the time that if they are going to fail, fail gloriously! Because the wrong decision can be fixed, but no decision can only be forgotten about.

3.    DO NOT BE AFRAID OF LOOKING FOOLISH IN FRONT OF OTHER PEOPLE! (everyone else there will look equally foolish that night also) You must have confidence in yourself.

4.    Be Humble. Attitude trumps talent every single time. Most people would rather work with a great person who is okay on stage than with a great talent who acts like a jerk with a big ego. Some people at auditions may be less talented than you, but that doesn't make them less important.

5.    Have Fun! Yes, I realize that Doubt is a serious play, but I do not mean have fun with the material. Have fun and enjoy being on the stage and pretending to be someone else , because if you don't, then what's the point of doing it?

6.    Be ready to get on the stage when the director calls for you.

7.    Once on the stage, don't waste time. Act like you're there for a reason and take the audition seriously and show everyone in the room that you mean business.

8.    Make sure you know all of your conflicts that you may have. The people in charge can't work around conflicts if they don't know what they are.

9.    Dress for success! Don't wear a costume, but don't wear jogging pants and a t-shirt either. Look like you want to be taken seriously.

10. Give and take! Even in a monologue audition, eventually you may have to share the stage with another person for a cold reading. Whether that person is also auditioning or just helping out, it doesn't matter. Give them something to play off of, because ultimately it could end up making you look better. 

Slidell Little Theatre is proud to announce auditions for the Pulitzer and Tony award-winning drama "Doubt, A Parable," by John Patrick Shanley and directed by Gary Mendoza

Audition Date: Sunday, January 18th at 7p.m.

Call backs only, Monday, January 19th

Audition Location: Slidell Little Theatre

2024 Nellie Drive, Slidell, LA

Need 4 actors: male mid-20s to late 40s, female late 40s to early 70s, female in her 20s, and an African–American female late 30s to mid-40s.

Show Dates:  Feb. 27 – March 15

Rehearsal schedule will be tailored to best fit all parties involved and not necessarily the traditional Sunday thru Thursday.

• Please bring a headshot for use at registration.
• Please be prepared to list all conflicts through the final performance date. 
• Audition will be cold readings only.
• In addition to scene work, any male auditioning for Father Flynn will have to perform a cold reading of one of his sermons.
• Dialogue samples will be available in the lobby before auditions.

All auditions at Slidell Little Theatre are open to the public of all ages.

In this powerful drama, Sister Aloysius, a Bronx school principal, takes matters into her own hands when she suspects the young Father Flynn of improper relations with one of the male students.

Characters:

Father Flynn: (M) Priest, pastor, and teacher in St. Nicholas Catholic School, articulate and personable.

Sister Aloysius: (F) Nun and principal of St. Nicholas Catholic School, protector of the children.

Sister James: (F) Nun and teacher in St. Nicholas Catholic School, young, sincere, caring, and inexperienced.

Mrs. Muller: (F, African American) Mother of student in St. Nicholas Catholic School.