Should I audition?

I recently auditioned for my first musical (it honestly didn't go well, but I took it as a learning experience). The same theatre is putting on a non-musical comedy called Footlight Frenzy, and auditions are coming up but I'm not sure if I'd be right for any part. In the requirements it says there will be one female role between the ages of 18-28, and I'll be 18 about 3 weeks before the audition but I'm worried I might be too young, and I'm a little discouraged from my previous musical audition. I really don't look my age, I honestly look closer to 13-15 than 18 or older but I'm really missing acting (I haven't been in a play in nearly 4 years). I just don't want to make a fool of myself or not be really out of place.

Audition for everything that comes along! One of my favorite psychological phenomena is called the Mere Exposure Effect. There was one study back in 1992 where researchers had women sit in on a college lecture class. The women either went to the lecture zero times, five times, ten times, or fifteen times. They didn't even do anything in the classes; they just sat there. At the end of the experiment, the other students in the lecture looked at photos of the women and rated them on several attractiveness scales. Despite the fact that they'd never spoken to ANY of these women, they ranked the women who showed up FIFTEEN TIMES more positively than the woman who hadn't.

Why do I bring up this study? Because auditions are a prime spot to watch the Mere Exposure Effect play out. Even if you don't have the greatest audition that day, the casting director is seeing your name and your face. If you keep showing up, she'll start liking you more -- simply because of psychology. (That means if you nail an audition, you're more likely to get the part!) So even if you feel like you might not be right for the role, definitely show up anyway!