Tips for auditions

Auditions are never as mysterious as people believe them to be.

For anyone unsure about what to do, the directors are more than willing to provide guidance. It's not a secret what they are looking for in an audition; all you have to do is ask.

With auditions for UT's productions of "In the Next Room" and "Oedipus Rex" approaching, interested actors should understand the various aspects of the audition process.

From my experience as an actor, the most important thing in an audition is the actor's capability to take direction. If the director offers suggestions, try it. An actor's willingness to work will be noticed.

The biggest mistake made by those auditioning is misunderstanding what they are auditioning for.

One needs to be clear about the show they want to be a part of and what the director has in mind for the production.

A great way to display knowledge of a production is for the monologue to reflect the theme of the show.

"I would love to see an auditioner find a way to make the familiar [objects] strange, to be surprised by seeing something I don't expect to see," said director of "In the Next Room" Irene Alby, associate lecturer of theatre.

She explained "In the Next Room" is completely about labels and our subjective cultural context.

"The play is about labels and how we label things to make them safe. We see an object, name it, and it becomes ours in a way," Alby said.

The play is set in the Victorian era, a society where everything is labeled by what is deemed appropriate. "The characters label sexual pleasure as something medical, then when they begin to see it as sex there is a lot of panic," Alby said. "I want to incorporate the obvious labels and make things thought of as safe and known, completely unknown."

This can be accomplished with a prop, an object or even through the character the actor portrays. Alby suggests for the created characters to behave in a way that they wouldn't normally.

The other performance, "Oedipus Rex," is a classic made contemporary by Director Edmund Lingan, assistant professor of theatre, who will aesthetically touch on a post-apocalyptic society.

Auditions will be held in the Center for Performing Arts from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. tomorrow and Wednesday.

—Ashley Stephens is a junior majoring in theatre.