Audtion rudeness- Page 2

[Phantom2]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 5:51pm

When at an audition, I suggest not speaking to anyone or maintaining eye contact.

[LyTeMyCanDyI]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 9:03pm

I jsut remembered this one.
At my school's auditions for Grease, this kid (one of my best friends) who we all knew was getting cast as Danny got up to sing. He was so good that two lines into his song, the entire group of kids auditioning were screaming and stomping so loud that he could barely be heard. The casting director had to stop him, tell all of us to shut up or leave, and had him go on. Everyone kept screaming. It's nice to compliment him like that and all, and it was definately deserved, but come on now. Let the boy finish his song!

[Jwei123]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 9:06pm

I have countless stories of obnoxious stage moms at auditions

"well MYYYY daughter was annnie on brooooadway" haha

[felineofavenueb]

Posted: 1/15/05 at 9:18pm

Jwei123 - Augh, stage moms drive me up the wall. It wasn't at an audition, but I was stage-managing the musical for my middle school show choir (once I was a freshman and was out of this choir), and one of the girl's moms (after the girl got in a HUGE catfight with another one of the cast members) goes "Well, hon, you're a professional actress and even though you're above this kind of show you just have to remember that not everybody here is as talented and has as much experience as you do and it's up to you to set the professional example." I wanted to slap her - the mother, that is.

As for auditions, I've had a song stolen to - I worked with my friend for weeks picking and then learning a song for show choir auditions, only to find out the day of the auditions that she went right before me and sang my song because "Well, I didn't like that other song, and I sound really good singing yours." Subtext - you don't. I got in, she didn't, which sounds spiteful but I can't help it.

[CatieElphie1]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 1:02am

Ugh..Stage moms creep me out!! There's one stage mom who's famous at my school for coming to "closed" auditions with a notebook and pen and careful scruitinizing (that's a spelling error...) everyone in the cast and then complaining if someone she "didn't want to see at call backs" was cast in a lead...which is funny, becuase the directors always seem to be like "um...closed auditons' and then she just goes "I'll just sit really quietly in the back" HELLO??? CLOSED auditions means CLOSED
she also makes all her daughters costumes, which are always ten times better than everyone elses...argghhh.

[ShineOn]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 10:42am

I hate open calls with a passion. I get intimidated very easily and then I don't audition well. I think the previous advice of keeping to yourself and avoiding eye contact with the girls in the room is the best advice yet. Be friendly to those who you're auditioning for, though, because they're actually the one's who are your friends... they want you to be good. The other auditionees don't. It's something we all tend to forget when sitting in that room.

I don't think I've ever had anyone be outwardly rude to me at an audition, but watching other girls insecurely show off is rude in its own respect. They're trying to get under your skin, and in my case I usually let them. A bad, bad trick to fall for.

Just remember, they're every bit as insecure as you even if they don't appear so.

[Amneris]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 11:10am

daisy, i could not agree more... especially the girls who get there at 5am at the front of the line and come in with curling irons and all their make up kits at chelsea studios... and take up their own mirror wall space and when you walk by they say "YOU'RE BLOCKING MY LIGHT" what bitches lol.. it's always the same girls too. and i also very much dislike the girls who feel the need to flaunt VERY loudly whats on their resume. It's like.. Glad you've worked before but, no one cares.

[Phantom2]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 11:15am

"I think the previous advice of keeping to yourself and avoiding eye contact with the girls in the room is the best advice yet."

I was talking about the boys, but hey, if it's good for the gander, it's good for the goose...or something like that!! HAHA

[ShineOn]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 11:28am

Caddy girls and gay men alike! Too much estrogen in one room is NEVER a good thing!!!

[GypsyRoseLee]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 11:42am

Now I've definetly experienced some divas (both male and female) at auditions, but the last audition I went to, I was SHOCKED at how NICE everyone was! It was for the Governor's School (It's a summer program at Richmond University) you have to be invited by your school to audition and it's very competitive so I was expecting people to be super creepy and mean, but everyone was so supportive of eachother, I made so many friends during the time we were waiting to audition.

Just thought I would bring some positivity to the thread!

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 12:07pm

At open calls in Toronto you usually don't have any personal space because you're crammed into the tiniest room possible. And, since it's Toronto, you usually know people.
I much prefer going to an audition where I don't know anyone.
I always arrive with my hair and makeup done so I don't have to worry about any of that, and I warm up my voice before I come in case I don't get the chance to at the call. When I get there i start stretching, and once I've done that I just usually sit in a corner and read a book till I'm called.
There's no reason to continually go over your audition song or monolouge if you're comfortable enough with it and have practiced it enough. I like to take my mind off the audition altogether while I'm waiting, which is hard to do, but at least it helps to block out the noises of the divas and such. If you don't get into anyone's way they won't get into yours.
I don't like auditioning with people I know, because of course you feel you should talk to them (and often times they're people I haven't seen in years and I'm happy to see them) but it does take away from the whole keep-to-yourself thing. I also don't like becoming involved in conversations about anything to do wtih the show or the people involved in the waiting room, be it good or bad, because you never know who is listening.
It's so true that the audition begins the second you walk into the building, not just the audition room.

[Switz78]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 12:38pm

my favorites are the folks who are all done up and ready to go at 5am standing in the NY winter in a skirt freezing their butts off. One time I went at 7:30 or so and this girl was freezing. She had started an unofficial list and I was like 25 or something. Well, I was cold and needed some breakfast, so I left the line with a friend and walked past her and this girl stopped us and asked "where do you think you're going?" I said to get a bite to eat and she told me if I left she was crossing my name off the list. I was livid and asked her if she was with the casting people, to which she said no and I said "then I don't think you have any authority over that list or me, which means I can go get a bagel and come back. In fact I'll bring you something too, if you like, or better yet I'll come back and hold the list so you could go in for a minute and not get frost bite out here in your miniskirt and heels in the middle of February. Would that be ok with you?" She just looked at me and said sorry.
Now mind you the only reason I got a tad upset was because this girl is repeatedly the first at every audition and puuls this on younger folks because she thinks she can get away with it.

[InTheMoney]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 12:38pm

The last audition I was at, 2 of the other girls auditioning were all mates with the 3 who already had parts (and with the choreographer, which didn't help!), so they're all standing round chatting, and I'm a bit older than them and act it (they act like trailer trash & have absolutely no commitment to the show - the director will be giving us notes & they're dancing around and talking and not paying the slightest bit of attention. But for some reason they get away with it because they're "enthusiastic"! Eh?!?) so I'm not really talking to them whilst we're waiting.

The panel calls us in & we run over the song a couple of times because I'm the only one of the 4 of us who's bothered to learn it - to the extent that the MD tells ALL of them to listen to me. Then he sends us out & says to decide who's going in first. So we walk outside & they're umming & ahhhing so I just say "I'll go first then!" and walk in. As I go in I hear one of the other girls (one of those who already has a part) saying in a sarky tone "Ooooh confident!". Mind you, she's one of those who thinks Mountview will just welcome her with open arms when she auditions for drama schools in a year or so but really has neither the talent or the attitude to make it big.

Sometimes I like things like that. It gives me the extra push to show just what I can do. I was nervous as hell about the dance audition but when I heard that comment I thought "Ok, maybe I can't dance as well as the other girls, but I'm gonna show you what REAL singing is!". Bitchiness can be good providing you don't let it get to you. Make it work FOR you. If you change the way you consider these comments, you can go into the audition feeling a lot stronger. Remember, people who brag before auditions are WAAAAY more nervous than those who don't.

Re: sheet music. A couple of the girls at our amdram group want to borrow my music for some concerts. There is very much a "My song" atmosphere there, so rather than lend them the book and risk never getting it back or them singing the song I want to do, I always offer to photocopy the song they want instead. There is one girl I've lent the book too and we'll be sharing the song, but she's a very close friend so I don't mind that so much - we'll both pull it off well & support each other so no problem.

[CatieElphie1]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 6:51pm

"It gives me the extra push to show just what I can do"
Too right!!! The people who screw off at auditions are always the ones who look shoddy and stupid on the stage..if they get cast at all!

[My Fair Lady]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 6:57pm

I had an audition for a talent show right after my Grandma died. I was already nervous and a girl comes up to me and says, "Don't even bother auditioning. You're not going to get in." I was really upset and even more nervous. Thankfully, I got in (Gimme Gimme from Throughly Modern Millie) and she didn't because she sucks.

[CatieElphie1]

Posted: 1/16/05 at 10:25pm

I've seen some rude stuff, but hearing that from another performer is SO rude...you have much more self control than I...I prob'ly would have decked her!!

[CatieElphie1]

Posted: 1/17/05 at 12:00am

A bit of a debate going on right now with my friends: Is it "good" ettiqutte to wish everyone luck at an audition? I say yes (if you mean it) but my friend says no b/c people will take it the wrong way...I say be nice, but just wondering what you guys think!

[CatieElphie1]

Posted: 1/17/05 at 2:39pm

Anyone?........anyone?....no?
okay!

[FabalaCohen]

Posted: 1/17/05 at 3:02pm

I had a lot of friends involved in theatre in HS, and I always wished them good luck in auditions.

As for rudeness...I had (well, have) a friend who thought anyone in her group of friends-herself included- who auditoned should have gotten a larger role instead of being regulated to the chorus. Mind you, our school was a bit political, but there was an argeement that we had a fair amount of talent (several students have gone on to do local theatre, a good friend of mine got into WVU on a full music scholarship, two students got callbacks to the PA Governor's School for the Arts). Either way, after any cast listing was posted, she would grumble something along the lines of "That bitch! She can't sing! Can't act!"

[Dreamcatcher]

Posted: 1/17/05 at 3:22pm

I was with one of my friends who was auditioning for a school play and this one girl just looked her up and down and said "I wouldn't hold your breath if I were you...." Needless to say, I was ready to give that girl a good kick in the ass.

[CatieElphie1]

Posted: 1/17/05 at 4:32pm

See, that's the difference between me and you---I would have!

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 1/17/05 at 7:21pm

My favorite was years ago. I went to audition for a play. It was cold readings and I didn't know much about the theatre company. I arrived and signed in and gave the assistant manager (or whoever it was) my headshot and resume. I then saw them take the entire stack and put them in the office. We all sat in the house and the director proceeded to call up various people she knew to read. Everyone laughed (it was a comedy) for each other and everyone seemed to get a chance to read. Everyone except me. After about an hour of this, the director thanked everyone for coming and we all left. Now, I could have said something and probably have had the chance to read, but I really saw all I needed to know it was not a production I wanted to take part in. The funny thing was, the director called me the next night. She said she really enjoyed my audition, but she was not able to use me in the show. However, she asked if I would like to take part in their children's production. I let her know quite politely that she never actually saw me audition and that she never even acknowledged that I was in the room. I also told her that it would have been pretty difficult to call me up to read when she had nothing that identified who I was. She stammered embarassingly and asked me why I didn't ask to read. I told her I shouldn't have to.

I eventually went on to better things, anyway, so I chalked it up as a learning experience. Unfortunately, Chicago is not much kinder to strangers, which is why I've only attended two auditions in the last two years.

Updated On: 1/17/05 at 07:21 PM

[Dreamcatcher]

Posted: 1/17/05 at 7:23pm

hahaha well I figured it wouldnt be all that professional (or helpful to my friend) if I started an all out war with some complete stranger in public. I just suited myself with imagining what she might look like with a pencil stuck in her forehead.