2007 ESTAFest

Boy, what fun I had on Saturday, April 14 at the 2007 ESTAFest!

I wish my schedule would have allowed me to be there for the entire weekend! But it was great fun to see some old
community theatre friends both behind the scenes and on the stage.

I conducted a couple of workshops at the festival: Improvisation and Marketing from Armageddon to Zen.

During the marketing workshop, we had a discussion about auditions and audition structure. Erica Carl, from Little Theatre
of Mechanicsburg (PA) talked about a structure she had for a pre-audition workshop and it was agreed that I would put it on
this website. So, here it is!

- Come late.
- Have no idea what the play is about or what roles are appropriate for you.
- Be a diva or present a bad attitude.
- Don't take the direction that you're given by the director or casting committee member while auditioning.
- Don't have song prepared for a musical audition.
- Don't learn the dance for a musical audition.

- Come on first night of auditions, if possible.
- Familiarize yourself with the script.
- Know what roles you are auditioning for and which roles you will or will not accept.
- Be ready to try what the director or casting committee asks of you.
- Relax. If you make a mistake, try again.
- Do your best, especially when reading opposite others (your reading affects their audition, too).

Talk about play
(number of male/female roles, character
descriptions, plot, background, historical
information, director's concept in brief details)

Handout:
~ How auditions will be run (open v. closed, prepared v. cold, callbacks, casting notification)
~ Audition forms - conflicts or transportation problems
~ Schedule (dates, times, locations)
~ If not cast, please work backstage
~ Tech schedule

~ For musicals, prepare a song, preferably in the style of the musical that you're auditioning for, and
provide a copy of the sheet music for the piano accompanist. If applicable, learn dance for dance audition