I know an actress who auditioned for a very prestigious acting program with a piece from a play she wasn’t too familiar with but she really liked the flow of it. This was before you could whip a scene up on YouTube and watch it! She worked on it very hard and had it “down.” The audition day came and she did her piece – and nailed it. However, the main admissions person took her aside and asked her very nicely “You’ve never seen this play, have you?” She said she hadn’t. You see, the play was a comedy but she didn’t know that and so read it really intensely. When he told her it was a comedy she felt totally crushed and embarrassed until he told her that he loved her take on it, but mostly how fully committed she was to her choice. He admitted her to the program on the spot (which was not the normal protocol).

We’ve all heard the story of how Robin Williams auditioned for the role of “Mork” for his break-through “Mork & Mindy” role by standing on his head during the audition. I imagine the casting directors were thinking one of these: “This guy’s insane. Call Security!”, “This guy is a genius.” or “This guy’s insane but it’s EXACTLY what we need!”

And as Yoda said to Luke Skywalker: “Do or do not. There is no try.” OK, we are techies over here after all and it’s hard to get through the day without some Star Wars reference, but Yoda’s point totally applies here. If you “try” at an audition, the casting folks will see THAT. But if you fully commit and “DO” then THAT’s what they’ll see. It’s very different.

So while we can’t tell you what to do or recommend standing on your head (“seen it”) we do recommend that whatever direction you decide to go with a character for a role – commit to it! The casting people may not like what you did but they’ll never be able to say you didn’t commit and that will make a huge difference in your auditions.

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