Dressing the Part

For a recent commercial audition, I was asked to read for a character called 'diner waitress'.  I wore jeans, comfy shoes, and a solid colored plain (no logo) knit top.  At the audition, I saw women sporting aprons and carrying order pads. 

When I auditioned for a scientific expert character, I wore a suit, and watched others walk into the audition wearing white lab coats.

What gives?  To me this behavior is gimmicky.  It's called acting.  In terms of wardrobe for auditions, I always do my best to give a suggestion of the character with clothes that are in my closet.  After seeing this extreme costuming behavior at several auditions, I checked in w/actor friends, and it was almost universally agreed that dressing to give the suggestion of character is the way to go.

This coming Monday, I'm auditioning for a drill sergeant character.  Instructions from my agent were to 'dress the part'.  When I queried further (they don't really want me to show up in fatigues, do they?), I was told boots, khakis, and a plain top.  I think I'm going to bring my mirrored sunglasses as well, in case they want to see them.  I'm curious to see what others wear to the audition...

Resource of the Week: Online Shakespeare and the International Dialects of English Archive

Hey - since I was sick last week, there was no resource of the week.  So for this week, two of them.

1. http://shakespeare.mit.edu/ - all of Shakespeare's plays are online here.  The punctuation can be a little wonky, but the words are there.

2. http://web.ku.edu/~idea/ - the International Dialects of English Archive or IDEA is a resource for recordings of native and regional speakers.  Just choose a continent, then a country, then a state or region, and you'll see a list of recordings with a short biographical note about the speaker.  Each recording begins with the speaker reading a passage that linguists constructed to contain every sound made in English, and then has the speaker talking a little bit about themselves or their life.  Whenever I need to learn a new dialect for an audition or project, I always start here, and pick someone to sound like.

audition prep: research

Here's what I'm doing today.  I've got an audition soon at a small to medium local company that generates its own work.  They've asked me to come in and do some readings to introduce myself to two directors that they're working with in 2011.    That was all they gave me.

So I'm doing some research.  Started at the theater's website.  No 2011 season announced yet it said on the home page.  But, by snooping through the calendar section of the site, I think I've found the two shows and two directors that they're talking about.  Great!  Now I've got dates of shows, a little more info about the two shows, and director names.  One director I know already, so I'm on his fb page to see what new news there might be in his world.  The other director is a new name to me, but thanks to googling, I've found her personal website, and a few different resumes on the Theatre Bay Area website as well.  I can see we've got a few people in common, from companies she's worked with, and I'm good to go.

Thanks internet.  Ready to rock the upcoming audition with a bit more confidence!