Auditions and How They Aren't the End of the World

     At every audition there are those kids who think that they are just the bee's knees and are better than everyone else. Just because they star in everything, can sing "Defying Gravity" better than Idina Menzel herself and have been in dance classes since before they could even walk. There is always at least one.
     I am not one of these people. Sure I do shows but I'm not winning an Oscar anytime soon. As for my singing (oh God...), my own mother has asked me to stop singing in the car. Dance-wise I'm not terrible but I've never taken a dance class in my life.
     So I have no reason to be one of those crazy confident people. The thing is, I am. I know what I can and cannot do. I know that when I go onstage people are going to look at me; they are here to judge me. That's the whole point of theatre. Hey! Look at me! I'm here to tell you a story! Isn't that an established fact? It shouldn't come as a shock. This is why I get so frustrated with people who are there looking nauseous at auditions. If it makes you sick and uncomfortable, why do you put yourself through it?
     I don't get nervous before an audition; I get nervous immediately after. As soon as I walk offstage I think about how I could've done things differently. How that sucked compared to what I can actually do.  I always have to have faith that the director sees something in me that he/she likes.
     The picture above was taken at an audition. There was a line of chairs along the wall all filled with auditioners. I was second to last. As the auditions went on and the chairs began to become empty I noticed the boy next to me, Alec, kept looking worse. At first we made conversation but suddenly it died. Alec started looking greener than his shirt.
     Because of the lack of conversation, I started to talk to my friend, Natalya. Natalya was across the hallway and was the one who took the picture. She was laughing at how calm I was compared to the now sickly Alec.
     Soon it was my turn. I went in, did my two monologues and even got complemented on my characterization from my auditor. I came back out into the hallway and told Alec it was his turn. His face made it look like I just told him I just murdered his whole family and that he was next. He came out not even thirty seconds later. I asked him how it went and he told me about the horrible experience.
     He went into the room, and said "Hi my name is Alec and-". Then he made eye contact with our auditor and froze up. Then he just walked right back out of the room.
     A piece of advice? If you are someone like Alec don't audition. Work on your confidence. Wait until you know what you can do. Once you know what you can do, show it. Audition your butt off and do your best every time. It may take time but with every audition you get better and better, trust me. Soon you will be one of those kids that has crazy confidence because you've auditioned so much. An audition? No problem!