Jump In and Take a Risk!
Apr 07, 2015 11:35 am | Deb Bowman
 One of my acting student’s recently had submitted an application to audition for the annual Unified Auditions which take place in Atlanta every spring and if accepted to audition, you have the option of performing two minutes as a nonunion performer or two and a half minutes if you are in the Actor’s Equity Union in more than 35 professional theatre companies in the area. My student was put on the waiting list. Two days before the audition we had a conversation and I asked, “Did you follow up?” He said he had emailed but hadn’t heard anything back. I told him to show up anyway.
He looked at me like I was cross eyed.
Now, the one main concern was not that he might not get seen, but that he wasn’t prepared. If you are invited to audition, you have to submit 50 headshots and resumes that are dispersed to all the companies casting and attending the audition. He said he didn’t have any headshots printed. I said, “Well go buy you a pack of photo paper, get your resume updated and ready to print, and be prepared to go on Monday and ‘crash the audition’.” He was not so sure this was a good idea.
I said, “You never know until you try.”
Here is what happened. He took my advice. Got his photo paper, updated his resume, went to the audition, got seen, had his headshots ready and had a great overall experience. The Wednesday night after his Monday audition, I had a drink with the artistic director of a prestigious theater company before attending a show. He said to me, “Hey, one of your students was really fantastic at the Unifieds.” I guessed who he was talking about and asked, “How did you know he was a student of mine?” The artistic director said, “His resume had your name on it.”
I told him the story about encouraging my student to crash the audition and my student’s initial concern that this would be frowned upon. The artistic director thanked me and said,
“Thank God for working professionals who know how to teach and show their students how it’s done.”
Its true…through blood sweat and tears, I learned that If I didn’t try and always try again, take risks, and put myself out there (even when I didn’t feel like it), someone would beat me out of the race. You have to take risks, you have to put yourself in front of all the competition, stand apart, and you have to be confident in your ability and work hard all the way.
In the end, you will be honored for your hard work.
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