AUDITIONS SET FOR DARK COMEDY CLASSIC

‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ opens January 17 at Slidell Little Theatre

Auditions for SLT’s upcoming production of the dark comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace” will be held Sunday, December 1 and Monday, December 2, at Slidell Little Theatre, at 7 p.m. both nights.

The play is directed by Ronald Brister. Performance dates are weekends January 17- Feb. 2, 2014.

Audition updates will be posted on SLT’s website, as well as its social media outlets including Facebook and the community theatre’s blog site. Or, direct your questions by email to arsenic@slidelllittletheatre.org.

All auditions are open to the public. Some cast members may receive multiple roles.

A farcical black comedy revolving around Mortimer Brewster, a drama critic who must deal with his crazy, homicidal family and the local police, as he debates whether to go through with his recent promise to marry the woman he loves. His family includes two spinster aunts who have taken to murdering lonely old men by poisoning them with a glass of home-made elderberry wine laced with arsenic, strychnine, and "just a pinch" of cyanide; a brother who believes he is Theodore Roosevelt and digs locks for the Panama Canal in the cellar of the Brewster home (which then serve as graves for the aunts' victims); and a murderous brother who has received plastic surgery performed by an alcoholic accomplice, Dr. Einstein, to conceal his identity and now looks like horror-film actor Boris Karloff.

Character Descriptions:

MARTHA BREWSTER - female
Kind and sweet elderly spinster who prides herself on having strong social conscience and doing the morally right thing at all times, like poisoning elderly men who are all alone in the world.

ABBY BREWSTER - female
Martha’s elderly spinster sister who also prides herself on having strong social conscience and doing the morally right thing at all times, like poisoning lonely, elderly men side-by-side with her sister.

MORTIMER BREWSTER - male
Martha and Abby’s nephew. A theatre critic who has publicly stated he hates the theatre, he finds himself in love with the daughter of his aunt’s next door neighbor, a minister. His whole world is about to be turned upside down.

TEDDY BREWSTER - male
Martha and Abby’s nephew. He truly believes he is Teddy Roosevelt.


ELAINE HARPER - female
Mortimer’s fiancé, Elaine is the daughter of the Rev. Dr. Harper. She is surprisingly wise in the ways of the world for a minster's daughter.

REV. DR. HARPER - male
Next door neighbor, minister and Elaine’s father. The epitome of a good pastor, he believes that the Brewster sisters are the salt of the earth.

OFFICER KLEIN - male or female
Hardworking officer of the law; with Brophy lays out the background for the show.

OFFICER O'HARA - male or female
A police officer who fancies himself a playwright, even though everything he writes has a double meaning in connection with what’s going on in the house itself.

OFFICER BROPHY - male or female
Hardworking beat cop; with Klein, provides the exposition of the Brewster sisters’ good works as a backdrop for the show.

Lieutenant ROONEY - male
Hardworking law officer who is definitely in command. Can turn a phrase and his attitude on a dime.

JONATHAN BREWSTER - male
Mortimer’s murderous brother. He has no problem in using his aunts to hide his murders even though it might put them in harm’s way. To escape from the law, he has had several surgeries, the last one leaving him disfigured.

DR. EINSTEIN - male or female
Jonathan’s accomplice who is a timid man who would like to escape the life he has been living on the lam with Jonathan, but does not know how to do so. It becomes easier just to do what Jonathan says, because he knows what Jonathan is capable of.

MR. GIBBS - male
A lonely, disillusioned, disgruntled man who feels the world has been against him and that he has nothing to live for.

MR. WITHERSPOON - male or female
Executive Director of the Happy Dale Sanatorium, Witherspoon is lonely, a bit crotchety and unhappy with life in general.

The Northshore’s premier community theatre since 1963, Slidell Little Theatre is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to engaging, educating, and involving members of the community in high quality theatrical productions. SLT is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council as administered by the St. Tammany Commission on Cultural Affairs.

An Interview with Director of "Duck Hunter Shoots Angel"

Travis Brisini is a frequent contributor to the Slidell Little Theatre community, particularly the Theatre

Travis Brisini

for Young Audiences series. A graduate of LSU with a Ph.D. in Performance Studies, Travis has written, directed or performed a wide variety of pieces ranging from the traditional to the avant-garde. When not at the theatre, he can be found reading, writing and gardening.

We recently asked Travis to take a few moments of his time from directing Duck Hunter Shoots Angel to tell us more about himself. We believe you’ll agree with us — he’s a tremendous asset to our community.

Q: What was your earliest involvement in theatre?

BRISINI: I came to the theatre through a roundabout route: literature. In college—as an English Literature major—I began taking courses in Oral Interpretation (the performed interpretation of written text) and it changed my life. Rather than literature being an individual pursuit—and a consumptive one at that—oral interp showed me that it was possible to share my favorite authors and pieces with others through performance. From Oral Interp, my interests moved toward performance art, spoken word poetry, writing my own pieces and a host of other genres of performance. It was almost ten years until I was in a “play,” as they’re commonly understood. My first performance piece was a staged reading of a portion of “Travels with Charley,” by John Steinbeck.

Q: What attracted you to theatre to begin with?

BRISINI: Performance seemed like a meaningful way to get more out of my love of reading and art. There’s a certain sort of camaraderie amongst performers that was appealing to me as well: the theatre attracted people who cared about the arts, were comfortable acting out, and had good taste.

Q: What is it about theatre that holds your interest today?

BRISINI: My interest in theatre/performance today has a couple of dimensions. On the one hand, I find it very compelling as a paradigm for thinking about the world: what does it mean to seriously consider the notion of performance as the state of the world at large? In this sense, it’s a lot like the kind of process philosophy I enjoy. The other compelling feature to me is the capacity of performance to examine non-linear, conceptual, metaphoric or otherwise difficult ideas. Doing a performance about or inspired by ideas, and seeing what kind of conclusions are reached by the audience, is a certain kind of research.

Q: Tell us five plays you’ll never forget, and why:

Travis Brisini, bottom right, with cast of TYA
production of "A Year with Frog & Toad

BRISINI:

1. Cataclysm!—an adaptation of S.I. Witkiewicz’s The Water Hen: This play stands out in my mind as an archetypal example of an imaginative, faithful adaptation. It retained the tone and general sensibility of the original, while tackling a host of issues not originally discussed in the 1930s staging (at least not overtly).

2. Cats—I’m not afraid to admit that I have a real fondness for Andrew Lloyd Weber’s oft-maligned musical. Partly this is because of the source material—T.S. Eliot’s book is a pretty unlikely source-text, and I’m a little jealous someone else got to it first—but most it’s because of the unusual wordplay and general weirdness of the whole endeavor. Its lack of an overarching narrative appeals to me as well, in an impressionistic sort of way.

3. The Lion King—watching this show on Broadway turned me off to musicals for years. Painfully true to the movie, and entirely dependent upon spectacle to trick the audience into forgetting that there was nothing new to see, I left feeling like as long as it was fancy enough, you could trick people into paying for anything. It took me a long time to get over my problems with the musical as an art form.

4.  The Ticket That Exploded—an adaptation of the William S. Burroughs novel of the same name: this work was really instructive in helping me understand how to go about putting together a challenging, disjointed, and daunting performance piece. It made me less afraid of a fragmented narrative.

5. Lay of the Land, by Tim Miller—this piece is an illustration of the powerful effect that a well-written, well-rehearsed, humane story can have on a controversial issue. Miller’s deconstruction of California’s Prop-8 was heartbreaking and inspirational.

Q: What play do you think people should see, that they probably haven’t?

BRISINI: Rather than a particular play, I feel like folks should look into the artists associated with the Fluxus movement: an odd little art movement of 1960s and 1970s typified short, disorienting little performance pieces that blur the boundaries between art and everyday life. The most well-known participants include Yoko Ono (yes, that Yoko Ono), Allan Kaprow, Lamonte Young and Joseph Beuys. I particularly like “I Like America (and America Likes Me),” wherein Beuys wrapped himself in a felt sheet and lived in an apartment with a coyote for a couple of days.

Q: What was the oddest play you ever saw, directed, or starred in?

BRISINI: My entire oeuvre is one big odd event. I’ve played a deranged fascist child, an unscrupulous postmodern medicine-show huckster, and Godzilla. I’ve co-directed 50-minute long fragmented dance numbers about wolves and suicide and written lines for glitter-covered washboards. Once I tied a long string to a bag full of cooked shrimp and hid in an upstairs window so I could pull it across a busy thoroughfare. Another time I released a bunch of ladybugs.

Q: What was the best advice you  ever received about acting?

BRISINI: I had a full-blown meltdown thinking about auditioning for my first singing role, mostly because I was afraid and too proud. My wife—paraphrasing my brother-in-law—reminded me that “you’ve got to humble yourself to learn new things.” This, oddly enough, is by far the most relevant, meaningful advice I’ve ever received about the stage. Pride prompts nothing but the desire to preserve itself; abandon your pride, and you’re able to embrace the new possibilities open to a beginner.

'Duck Hunter Shoots Angel' Audience Guide Hits Webstands

The latest edition of Prologue, Slidell Little Theatre’s audience guide for main stage productions, features articles by award-winning writers and storytellers and even includes artwork by a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.

In this edition of Prologue, readers are treated to the backstory behind Mitch Albom's hilarious comedy Duck Hunter Shoots Angel, onstage at Slidell Little Theatre October 4 – 20, 2013. Within its pages, readers can explore more about the play and it characters as well as discover more about the writer, the director, a little equity playhouse in Chelsea, Mich., local duck decoy carvers and Slidell's duck-hunting past.

Here’s a brief glimpse of the talented people freely offering their time and talent to this edition of Prologue:

Kathleen Bader DesHotel

Kathleen DesHotel

I am a southerner raised in New Orleans, La.  My roots have been washed away by Katrina along with all our family photographs.  But, well, ah… things happen, and life is all about the next step and  maintaining the faith. Learning was encouraged, nay required of me, in being told to go to college and make something of myself.  After a few sputters at other careers, I gave in to everyone’s advice and became a teacher.  After 30 years of loving teaching, I retired to follow a path to my own creativity in writing. I have a loving husband who patiently supports and/or tolerates all my hyperactive endeavors.  Even when my body is tired, my mind revs ideas and plans.  I generously call myself a multi-tasker; yet, perhaps I am more of a tornado at times.    Life is unpredictable; I figure it out in pieces every day. It is important to feel good about myself and even more important to help, not hurt others.  I have written an art column for almost eight years for the Slidell Times Picayune and now for The Advocate. To relax, I take photos, write poetry, crochet, build and paint artwork on birdhouses, read, and reorganize the clutter being a tornado creates. In spite of all the twists and turns of life, I am continuously happy to be alive and making new discoveries about myself and my world.

John Case

John Case

John is a native of Brookhaven, Miss. and graduate of the University of Mississippi.  He is married to Brenda Lowry and they  have lived in Slidell, La. since 1973. John and Brenda own Lowry-Dunham, Case and Vivien Insurance agency and they have two sons Christopher and Alan. Writing is a hobby and John prefers to write historical fiction, however he has written some historical non-fiction.  Most of his work has appeared in Slidell Magazine but some has been in various newspapers and trade journals.

Bob Marshall

Bob Marshall

Pulitzer Prize-winning environmental journalist Bob Marshall has joined the staff of The Lens, where he will bring his widely recognized expertise to bear on issues of wetlands restoration, flood protection and coastal erosion. Marshall was a reporter and columnist at The Times-Picayune for more than 30 years.

Don Redman

Don Redman

Don Redman currently serves as vice president of Marketing on the Slidell Little Theatre Board of Directors. An award-winning journalist, playwright and published author and poet, Redman was awarded the St. Tammany Parish President’s Literary Artist of the Year Award in 2006 for his adult comedy, Who’s Afraid of Virginia’s Wolf Note? When not volunteering for SLT, Redman is the associate editor of a regional travel magazine, and creator and sporadic contributor to The RedmanWriting Project blog.

Now celebrating it’s 51st Anniversary, Slidell Little Theatre is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization operated entirely by volunteers with no paid staff. SLT is dedicated to engaging, educating, and involving members of the community in high quality theatrical productions. SLT is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council as administered by the St. Tammany Commission on Cultural Affairs.

'Magi' Director Offers Audition Tips

Auditions for Slidell Little Theatre’s production of The Gifts of the Magi, directed by John Giraud, will be held October 6th and 7th at the theatre, beginning at 7 p.m.

Nov. 29 - Dec. 15
Poster by Cameron Metrejean

Music by Randy Courts, and lyrics by Mark St. Germain and Randy Courts, The Gifts of the Magi is a heart-warming, captivating musical treat, drawn from two short stories by O. Henry.  It is Christmas in New York, but for two young lovers, Jim and Della, the prospects are bleak, as both are out of work and penniless. But as those familiar with the famous O. Henry story are aware, their dilemma is solved when both part with their most precious possessions (she her beautiful long hair, he his heirloom pocket watch) in order to buy presents for each other thereby creating, at least for a magical moment, an aura of warmth and giving in the cold, impersonal winter city. In addition to their story there are glimpses of various city folk going about their holiday business, and the hilarious plight of a cheerful bum who wants only to get arrested so he can spend the night in a cozy cell, all gracefully enhanced by tuneful songs and neatly tied together by a newsboy-narrator, Willy, who adds his own melodious contribution and informative observations to the delightful proceedings.

Performance dates are: Nov. 29, 30, Dec. 1, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, and 15.

The director is seeking to fill six roles, featuring two females and four males. John Giraud provided a brief description of the character roles he’s seeking to cast:

• Willy (tenor)- teenage boy, able to sing sustained high G’s. Must be able to deliver lots of dialogue.
• Soapy (baritone/tenor)- comedic male role, 40’s-60’s. Must be able to move well on stage and have good comic timing.
• City Her (mezzo-soprano)-must be able to play many different characters and move well on stage while singing harmonies, 30’s-60’s
• City Him (baritone)-must be able to play many different characters and move well on stage while singing harmonies, 30’s-60’s
• Jim (baritone/tenor)- must be able to sing, act, and move well on stage, early-mid 20’s preferable.
• Della (mezzo-soprano/soprano)- must be able to sing, act, and move on stage, early-mid 20’s preferable.

Please be prepared to sing one verse of song- either from musical theater or a Christmas carol. Also be prepared to read lines from the script (which will be provided at the audition).

We asked John to provide us with his Top Ten Tips to Prepare for Auditions. Here is his advice:

1. Smile.
2. Breathe.
3. Don’t make faces if you mess up.
4. Stay in character while you are auditioning.
5. Don’t make yourself hoarse by over-singing before you reach the theater. Save a little for the audition.
6. Practice your audition in front of a mirror.
7. Practice in front of Maw Maw, the cat/dog, kids, anyone who will listen.
8. Make a recording of your audition piece and then watch/listen to it.
9. Even if you feel less than 100% on audition day, sing/act with the best voice you have on that particular day. If you participate in enough productions, you will eventually have to perform when you’re feeling a bit under the weather.
10. Every one of the directors has auditioned many times. We know how you feel. So please remember that WE WANT YOU TO SUCCEED.

Slidell Little Theatre is located at 2024 Nellie Drive.

SLT Receives DAF Grant

Slidell Little Theatre is pleased to announce it has received a $5,250 grant from the Louisiana Decentralized Arts Fund (DAF) for fiscal year 2013-2014. The taxpayer-funded grant is utilized by the nonprofit community theatre to help defray expenses for utilities.

Administered locally by the St. Tammany Parish Commission on Cultural Affairs, DAF grants are awarded through a competitive application and review process. Not all grant requests were funded and no grant received full funding. Thanks to the efforts of SLT’s Grants and Fundraising Director Teresa Augustine; SLT received 14% of the grant money available.

"I cannot take all the credit for obtaining this award as it was a collaborative effort of all my fellow board members and SLT volunteers," said Teresa. “We appreciate every grant dollar we receive to help us keep the home lights burning on our various productions, programs and activities.”

The Louisiana DAF program provides state tax dollars in the form of grants to artists, nonprofit organizations, community groups, and local government agencies in every parish. In recent years the pool of available money has shrunken dramatically. Just three years ago (FY 2010-2011) SLT received an $11,000 DAF grant to cover utility costs. Since that year, local arts organizations have seen the available grant dollars slashed by nearly 42 percent. The total DAF budget that year for St. Tammany Parish was $86,323, compared to today’s budget of $35,963.

Electrical bills at the community theatre can average as much as $1700 per month. Currently SLT is self-contained with its own water and sewer system, but if the proposal to tie into Slidell municipal utilities is approved later this year, the organization will face additional utility expenses for water and sewerage services.

While the grant is certainly appreciated and will enable the continued efforts of SLT to reach all ages of the Slidell community and beyond, the 48 percent cut in financial aid will mean that SLT must make up for the lost revenues in other areas.

One important way you can help is to become a member of Slidell Little Theatre, if you are not one already. Memberships are the financial lifeline of SLT. It is through this support that the Theatre can fulfill its mission to “engage, educate, and involve members of the community in high quality theatrical productions.”

If you are not already a member, we invite you to support the Performing Arts by investing in Northshore’s premier community theatre and becoming a valued patron of the Slidell Little Theatre.

Sign up today at membership@slidellittletheatre.org.

The Northshore’s premier community theatre since 1963, Slidell Little Theatre is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, all-volunteer organization dedicated to engaging, educating, and involving members of the community in high quality theatrical productions. SLT is supported by a grant from the Louisiana Division of the Arts, Office of Cultural Development, Department of Culture, Recreation and Tourism in cooperation with the Louisiana State Arts Council as administered by the St. Tammany Commission on Cultural Affairs.

 

Slidell Little Theatre Unveils Audience Guide E-Zine

by Don Redman

Slidell Little Theatre today rolled out the first edition of Prologue, an audience guide published as an e-zine (ē · zēn – electronic magazine). The purpose of the online publication is to serve as an educational tool that will evolve to include a variety of mediums – written, oral, and visual – filled with the backstage stories and related topics that will provide audiences with a broader understanding of the play, its creators, and the local talent bringing it to life onstage.

"Prologue" first edition

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery and I hope the folks at Goodspeed Musicals feel really flattered because the entire premise of Prologue was totally inspired by their excellent publication, Audience Insights.

Our inaugural publication was published using a free service through FlipSnack.com, which promised to convert our massive pdf file (portable document format) into an easy-to-download page flip format. Otherwise it would have taken for evah to download.

It’s not without its limitations (what free service isn’t?), but for the moment we are happy with the results (here). Two pages didn’t make the cut – FlipSnack allows for only 15 free pdf pages and our document was 17 pages – so we’ll work on a way to get those pages posted elsewhere at a later date. In the meanwhile, we will soon link the original pdf file to our website and explore our options, including upgrading to a fee-based site.

The key to the success of Prologue will depend heavily on the director of each of our Main Stage productions and their cooperation in granting us access to backstage stories, insights, drawings, photos, videos and interviews. Of course, when for the moment you’re essentially an editorial staff of one, getting help in generating the stories will also be essential in producing a quality publication.

I'm not sure we will be able to equal the standard set in the first edition and that's largely because of the talented Joanna Messina and her incredible illustrations in the style of Dr. Seuss. She really deserves a ton of credit for the e-zine's whimsical look and feel. Joanna's complete biography can be found in the current (August/Septemeber) edition of Prologue.

Director Scott Sauber is greatly appreciated for his cooperation and willingness to talk about his vision for Seussical, as well as allowing us a glimpse into the person he is.

There are some detractors, of course, who are worried that divulging too much behind-the-curtain business will "ruin the magic," or "spoil the awe factor," but I am of the belief that simply knowing how something works or looks doesn't have to spell the end of imagination or the theatrical experience. A case-in-point: our production of Stellaluna. Travis and Kelly Brisini wrote an excellent article here about how they made the puppets for Stellauna. There were no secrets left untold. And yet, when the puppets hit the stage, two things magically happened -- the puppeteers disappeared and the puppets came to life. The magic was alive and well onstage!

One of our core missions at Slidell Little Theatre is to educate the community in theatrical productions, and I like to think that the information we expect to provide in future editions of Prologue will further enhance that mission, as well as tell the untold story of the talented people in our community who oftentimes labor in obscurity to bring live theatre to our audiences.

As noted earlier, the plan is ultimately to involve all mediums, including audio bites and video clips in future publications.

But for now, baby steps. Of course, we would love to publish a paper edition, but without a corporate sponsor to help defray the costs, it is simply cost prohibitive at this time.

Even before the last champagne bubble has burst in our celebration of the launch of Prologue, we are already working on the layout for Volume 1, Number 2 – Duck Hunter Shoots Angel.

If you have an interest in contributing to any edition of Prologue (or even this blog), please feel free to email me at VPMarketing@slidelllittletheatre.org. We’d love to have you.

About the Author:
Don Redman is a volunteer member of the Slidell Little Theatre Board of Directors, serving as Vice President of Marketing. He also the self-appointed editor of Prologue, a position he intends to hold until the second someone else steps up to take over the publication. He is a former multiple-award-winning journalist and former managing editor of a now-defunct newspaper on the northshore. He currently is employed on the editorial staff of a regional travel magazine.

Ten Audition Tips From Travis Brisini

Thinking about auditioning for a play at Slidell Little Theatre? During the course of the season, Slidell Little Theatre is asking each of our directors for advice that we hope will provide you with the information you need to better prepare for auditions and give you the encouragement you need to audition again and again.

 

On Stage Oct. 4 - 20

Just as we launch the new season in just a few days with the opening of Seussical, we immediately set our sights on the next show on the slate – Mitch Albom’s comedy, Duck Hunter Shoots Angel, directed by Travis Brisini.

Auditions will be held Sunday, August 18 and Monday, August 19, beginning at 7 p.m. at Slidell Little Theatre, located at 2024 Nellie Drive.

In preparation for auditions, detailed character descriptions for Duck Hunter Shoots Angel can also be found elsewhere on our blog here.

We asked Travis to provide us with his Top Ten Tips to Prepare for Auditions. Here is his advice:

1. Do Your Research: The first step in a successful audition process is to be as well informed as possible. While it’s important to become familiar with the piece for which you’re auditioning, being truly well informed goes beyond simply knowing what the play is about. Look up the director on the internet—what else have they directed? Do you see a pattern in the type of person they cast for the sorts of roles you’d like? People develop patterns of behavior over time, and directors are no different.

2. Make Sure You’re Aware of the Audition Process: Will you need a monologue? A solo vocal piece? Will there be an accompanist, or should you bring your own backing track? Is there going to be a cold reading aspect? Are there going to be multiple days of auditions, or is it one day only? Making sure you’re well prepared will lessen your overall anxiety. 

3. Strategize: Once you’ve learned as much as you can about the piece for which you’ll be auditioning and how the audition is going to be run, it’s time to start strategizing. An important (and overlooked) element of the audition process is choosing a complimentary monologue or vocal sample. This is done by assessing the overall tone of the play for which you’re auditioning (Is it funny? Serious? For adults or kids? Dark and disturbing? Wacky?), then picking something similar but not identical. The thought here is that you can demonstrate the particular set of skills that are relevant, without using the actual songs or text from the piece for which you’re auditioning.

4. Your Best Is Not Always THE Best: People often get confused and think that their audition song or monologue should be the song that they sound best singing, or the piece that best shows off their acting…regardless of whether or not that piece has any complimentary characteristics to the piece for which they’re auditioning. In other words, your very best vocal sample may be a truly impressive Wagnerian opera…but that’s not going to demonstrate to a director that you’re suitable for “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown.” By selecting a piece that demonstrates relevant qualities—while still sounding good or acting well—you make it easier for the director to imagine you in a role.

5. Timeliness: Arrive early for your audition. This is a courtesy to the director and to your potential future cast-mates. It prevents you from interrupting an audition-in-progress, and helps assure the director that you’re going to be a timely, responsible cast-member. As an added bonus, having a few minutes to look around the space, familiarize yourself with the setup, and calm your nerves will make worlds of difference in your audition performance.

6. Eagerness: As a director, I have no interest in cajoling people into getting on stage. My ideal cast members are those people who are eager to perform, comfortable with the idea of standing up in front of total strangers and giving it their all (don’t forget: you’ll be doing a lot more of that, if you’re lucky). When the director asks for volunteers, put yourself out there. Remember that you’re making an impression the entire time that you’re at the audition—not just when you’re on stage.

7. Don’t Overestimate the Talent of Your Fellow Auditioners: It can sometimes be daunting when someone stands up immediately before your chance to audition and makes a big impression: a wonderful dancer, beautiful singer or emotive actor. Instead of getting discouraged or intimidated, it’s important to remember that you’re not quite sure what the director is looking for, just yet. It could be precisely the sort of acting at which you’re best, or the type of character you were born to play. There really is some wisdom in doing your best: the right parts will inevitably come to you.  

  

8. Be Gracious: It’s important to thank the people who are giving you the chance to get involved in the theatre. This includes the director, the producer, the accompanist, the music director and anyone else on the production team that’s present at the audition. A simple “Thank You”—particularly to the accompanist—is enough to set you apart from the sea of people who take the labor of the theatre for granted.

9. Warm It Up: Heading into an audition without properly warming yourself up is a recipe for disaster. Stretch, warm up your voice, move around and work out the nervous energy. There’s no telling what you’ll be asked to do by the production team; better safe than sorry.

10. Relax: The audition process, like anything else in the theatre, is a skill: it takes time to become competent, and about the only way to get better at it is to do it. If you get the part, that’s a wonderful outcome. If you don’t, take consolation in the fact that every time you audition, you’ll get more comfortable and confident. Acting is something of a long-con: the more you do it, the longer you’re surrounded by it and the more you pretend to be good at it, the better you’ll actually become.    

About Travis Brisini

Travis Brisini is a frequent contributor to the Slidell Little Theatre community, particularly the Theatre for Young Audiences series. A graduate of LSU with a Ph.D. in Performance Studies, Travis has written, directed or performed a wide variety of pieces ranging from the traditional to the avant-garde. When not at the theatre, he can be found reading, writing and gardening.