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8 Tips for Choosing and Preparing Monologues and Songs for Youth Auditions

4/27/2016

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My goal is for every child to have a positive audition experience each time they attend an audition. The most effective way to achieve this is for your child to have chosen the very best material and to have prepared it sufficiently.

The task of selecting excellent monologues and songs is daunting to most parents and young actors. If you follow these tips, your child should be able to leave each audition feeling happy and successful!

1-Choose age appropriate material! 
This seems obvious, yet I cannot tell you how often people either disregard this or just use poor judgement. Nothing makes an auditor more uncomfortable than a young child acting older or more mature than their age. Also, since “acting” is about authentic connection to material, children need to have something in their own lives to draw from when making character choices. For example, if the monologue or song is about the loss of a grandparent but your child has never lost a close relative, they could still perhaps draw from the grief of having lost a family pet. On the other hand, they cannot connect to romantic love and heartbreak when they have never experienced those types of relationships.
Remember, when a child is auditioning for a part, they are auditioning for the part of a CHILD. So, the material should match that. Directors want to see kids be kids! 

2-FInd Monologues From an Actual Play and Read that Play.
A great place to start looking for monologues is by asking for suggestions from your child’s acting teachers and doing internet searches such as, monologues for kids, monologues for teens etc…Once you have found some monologues you like, I highly recommend reading the entire play that it is from. First of all, it will give you MUCH more insight to the character you are portraying and even more importantly, the relationships your character has with other people in the play. This will allow your child to make very strong acting choices and a deeper connection to the words they are speaking. Often times a director will ask if you have read the play, and again this is an opportunity for you to show how well you prepared for the audition and how seriously you take your acting career. If you can’t read the play for some reason, at least try to watch the play if it is available online. 
Try to stay away from books that write stand alone monologues for children. Directors strongly prefer pieces from published plays.

3-Prepare Two Contrasting Songs and Monologues
This is your chance to show range. For songs, you need one uptempo and a ballad. Selecting one that is contemporary and another that is classical is also a good idea. Your songs should be selected from musicals. With your monologues you may want to find one that is dramatic and another that is comic. Your child needs to LOVE their pieces, so even though they need to be contrasting they also need to be able to connect personally to all of their choices. 
Most auditions will ask for one song and one monologue, so choose your piece that best matches the style of the play and character your child is interested in portraying. Bring BOTH songs and monologues with you, fully prepared, just in case they ask to hear more. This is a great sign-don’t worry that this means you didn’t perform your first pieces well. It means they like you and wonder what else you can do.

4-Select Songs and Monologues that Demonstrate What You Do Best
You will not get “extra credit” for presenting material that is really challenging in an audition, so don’t do it. Auditioning is a time to show off what you can do really well. You only have between 2-5 minutes most of the time to show your auditors what you are capable of and who you are, so use that time to show them your very best stuff. Remember, the goal of this initial audition is to make them like you so much that they want to see more, which will lead to receiving a call back audition.

5-Slate with Confidence and Friendliness
Most directors will say that 85% of their impression about you is made up BEFORE you begin your monologue or song. The way you enter the room and greet people and how you slate your pieces are extremely important, yet most young actors do not spend enough time practicing this. This is such an easy way to improve your audition! The most important things to remember when slating are to stand with your feet planted firmly on the floor, to not wiggle or fiddle with clothing or hair etc…, to make eye contact, to clearly state your name, the title or your songs and or monologues, and to seem open, friendly and confident. This is when they decide if they WANT to work with you for 3 months or more. Are you likable? Do you present a positive energy? Do you enunciate and project well?

6-Be Memorized! Be overly Memorized!!
For many young actors, auditioning can be nerve wracking, and when you are nervous it is easier to forget lines and lyrics that are not fully ingrained into memory.
Perhaps even more important, showing full confidence in your performance rather than stumbling on words will demonstrate to your auditors that you really want the job and were willing to prepare for it. You also don’t want to give your director reason to wonder about your ability to memorize material and whether you will be able to meet “off book” deadlines.
Plus-it is very difficult to be free in your movement and character choices if you are holding a piece of paper in your hands during an audition. Many auditors will not allow you to present material that is not memorized-it is just not professional.

7-Stay Away from Iconic or overly popular Songs and Monologues
Anytime someone hears the song “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” they will undoubtedly compare it to Judy Garland. Most young people cannot sing it better that she did, so don’t put your auditors in the position of having to compare you to a legend. Also, try to choose material that isn’t overly popular or overly done. I was once at an audition in which two little girls walked in and were wearing the same dress, but in reverse colors, asked each other what the other was singing and it was the SAME SONG. Yikes! Auditors will get bored hearing the same thing over and over again. They will remember and appreciate you for choosing something different. You can find lists of overly sung musical theatre songs by googling just that.
There are many excellent song books available for children and teens that include a practice cd. Hal Leonard has a whole collection of them. This way if you or your child does not play piano, they can still practice their song with accompaniment tracks at home!

8-Hire an Acting Coach and Leave the Coaching to Them
Most parents are not themselves actors and are best advised to hiring a coach to help their child prepare for auditions. This will definitely boost your child’s confidence before an audition. Often times parents will tell me that their child refuses to practice their audition pieces at home for them. This is pretty common. Parents, please remember that acting is a very vulnerable experience in which others are being invited to pass judgement on one’s performance. Your child may not feel ready to share their process with you or they might feel conflicted if you make a suggestion that is counter to what their acting teacher or coach is suggesting. It is also a process of discovery, and we as parents tend to want to give the answers to our children rather than allow them to discover it for themselves. We do this because we want our children to be successful, however the greater success will come when they discover these things for themselves.

If you follow these 8 tips your child has a very good chance of leaving each audition with a spring in their step and a decent number of call backs and bookings. Every director, whether they cast you in a particular production or not, will enjoy your audition if you are friendly, memorized, confident and present material that you love and connect with, and is appropriate for your age, and the production. They will likely even remember you when you audition for them again in the future. Break Legs!

This is part two in a series of blogs about children auditioning for community and professional theatre. Next up in this series I will discuss what to expect when you attend auditions. Stay tuned for more helpful hints!

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Is my Child Ready to Audition for Theatres? 5 Crucial Questions to Answer in Order to Make the Best Decision.

4/22/2016

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Is my child ready to audition is a question I get asked a lot, and a crucial one to answer carefully before deciding to have your child audition for a theatre company.

Here are 5 key questions parents should ask themselves, and their child, in order to determine if their child is indeed ready to begin auditioning for productions.

#1: Is your child begging to perform on stage? (This is the easiest question to answer!)
When you take your son or daughter to a live theatre performance are they the child saying, “I want to be on that stage!” or “How can I do that?” 
It is imperative that your child is driven to perform because, if they are cast in a show, a lot will be asked of them and it will be their passion and drive that will get them through the long and sometimes tedious hours of rehearsals and performances.

#2: Who wants this more, the child or the parents? (Who doesn’t love to watch their child perform?)
This can be a really tough question for parents to answer honestly. When a child has natural talent, parents might feel compelled towards having them audition for local theater productions even though the child is not really interested in doing so.  We as parents LOVE to watch our children perform, especially when they are good at something! However, parents need to 
remember that if their child lands a role, their child will be doing the work of memorizing lines, cues, blocking, lyrics, choreography, costume changes, etc… and it is not fair to the child, the director, or the rest of the cast and crew if they are not 100% invested and wanting to be there. Also, if parents have children audition before they truly want to, it can turn them off of performing altogether. What a shame that would be!

#3: Is your family willing to make the sacrifices and commitment? (Your child is the actor, but you become manager, chauffeur, and bank!)
Once a child actor begins to audition and get cast in shows, it becomes very time-consuming, and costly, for both the child actor as well as the parents! In fact, it can become almost like a part time job for a parent to act as a manager for their child. 
Some of the tasks and costs involved are:
-organizing head shots
-creating and constantly updating a resume 
-staying connected to sites that list auditions and signing up for audition time slots 
-supporting the child in choosing and preparing monologues and songs for the auditions 
-taking your child for private acting and voice lessons to work on the material so that it is audition ready
-driving to rehearsals all over town up to 5 days/nights per week
-helping the child with memorization
-oftentimes volunteering for the theatre company with ushering, PR and more. Most shows have a rehearsal time of 5-8 weeks before the show opens, and then can run for 3-6 weeks.
This will mean many evenings when a parent isn't home to prepare meals, or to support other children with things like homework or bedtime, and it may also mean missing out on siblings’ activities and events.

#4: Is your child mature enough to handle long rehearsals and maintain good behavior and focus? (They can still be kids and have fun-but need to know how to behave well and listen too.)
I think this one is pretty self explanatory. Theatre communities tend to be pretty small and tight knit groups. You wouldn’t want your child to get a reputation for being a challenge to work with just because they may need a little more time to become mature enough to handle the demands that will be placed on them. I always say to our students, “Treat every rehearsal and performance as if it is an audition.” That means be on time, respectful, prepared, and focused!

#5: Is your child capable of handling rejection? (This part is soooo hard on Kids-and for parents who do the consoling!)
The fact of the matter is, there will always be more rejection than success in this industry regardless of how talented someone is. If a child's young ego, or self-esteem is too fragile, this can do some real damage as well as possibly turning them off theatre for life. There needs to be a balance between pursuing their gifts and interests, with understanding this harsh reality of being a working actor. 

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If after answering these 5 questions you feel confident that your child is wanting to audition and perform more than you were wanting it for them, your family is fully willing to support the time away from home of both the child actor and a parent, they are mature enough to behave well and stay focused through out the rehearsal and performance process, and they are capable of handling disappointment and rejection on a somewhat regular occurrence, then your child is probably ready to begin auditioning for local theaters. The exciting journey begins….


Other blogs in this series will cover information regarding where to find out about auditions, preparing the best material, head shots and resumes, what to wear and bring with you to auditions, what to expect at auditions and callbacks and MORE!



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    Lisa Mitchell

    Spotlight Principal

    Lisa Mitchell received her BA in Education from Western Oregon University and her MA in Teaching from Pacific University. Lisa's life long teaching career began with the  Beaverton School District and took her as far afield as the Singapore American School in Singapore. She has always loved working with children and has had a passion for the arts since she was young. Lisa has performed in local theatre and as a child in television commercials. Spotlight Musical Theatre Academy is the perfect way to fulfill both interests while sharing the performing arts with a new generation of students. Lisa's father and grandfather both enjoyed lifelong careers in the film industry, so she was raised visiting film sets around the globe. Lisa has 3 children, and they love to travel and have lived in many different countries together.

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