Applying to study acting at Actors Centre Australia? Welcome to the ACA Way! It can be quite different to other audition environments.
All of the staff and student helpers look forward to sharing in your work and supporting you in every way they can. So even though auditions can be stressful, with the right environment, you’ll find you can indeed work at your best.
What you can expect on the day you audition:
- Arrive at ACA, sign in, then either relax in our large theatre foyer or you might choose to warm up in our designated rehearsal room.
- You’ll then be called into the audition room to meet the Head of Acting and some of the teaching staff. The atmosphere is welcoming and friendly. Your morning or afternoon session will be detailed so that all of your questions are answered about what to expect.
- You’ll then engage in a group warm up along with some of our degree students who are there to support you. The warmup lets out some unwanted energy (nerves etc) and focuses your attention on connecting with the group around you, with your speeches, and with the characters you are about to inhabit. Everything is directed at you being able to step into a place of relaxed alertness, where your focus is sharp and centred and your mind is clear about the work you’re about to share.
- Now you will perform one of your two pieces. There will be current degree students available if you choose to use them as the person you are speaking your speech to.
- There is applause after each person’s monologue. The culture we create is a warm and responsive one, a creative atmosphere where you feel you can work at your fullest capacity.
- Once everyone has shared their first piece, there will be a 10-minute break to unwind and where you can get to know other applicants as well as ask the current degree students any questions.
- Then you will perform your second piece.
- After this, once again, there is a 10-minute break, followed by a wrap up talk that explains what to expect next in the process. This is also an opportunity for you to ask the panel or current students any questions you may still have.
- If the panel would like to see more of your work, you will be invited back for a recall audition. You will be informed of this by phone call by close of business on the day of your first audition. ACA does not follow up with unsuccessful first-round applicants.
- You will either be asked to bring the same pieces to your recall, or be given a new one to learn, while still keeping your original two prepared. If there is a new one for you to learn, we will schedule your recall so that you have sufficient time to learn it. How the recall session runs depends on what the panel want to see. It will vary depending on the work you present. They may choose to rework one or both of your pieces; they may not. They may ask you to perform it in a way quite different to what you have prepared. This is to test out your flexibility and it moves the dynamic in the room to a deeper rehearsal mode. Various choices as well as the depth and range of a piece are discussed and explored. Again, we’re all working together with good will and full support.
- A final wrap up brings the recall session to an end.
For further insights, see the thoughts below from ACA’s Founder, Dean Carey:
Control vs Command
As an actor, you learn very quickly that in an audition you have very little control over the final outcome. In an audition don’t waste an ounce of energy trying to control what is not in your control. What you do have in abundance is command; command over what you focus on and what you give your energy to. This is completely within your control. Focus on your character: what they feel, want, desire, are confronted by, can’t live without, must have. What circumstances are they living in? How do they want to change them? What needs to happen in their life next for their survival? This is what an actor focuses on and gives their energy to in every audition. Trying to please or impress or convince diverts your energy from where it needs to be.
Love to Share
You can’t share anything authentically which you are not invested in sharing. Each piece you choose for your audition must be a piece that you love – you love the ideas, the images, the relationships, the needs that drive the character, the subject matter, your character and the people they relate to those around them. The essential drama needs to be something you deeply connect with, and which excites you to embody and share with an audience. Take them on your journey, a journey which you are completely invested in sharing.
Consistency is death
By this, we mean that characters are in a huge state of flux: mostly in fight or flight mode, under enormous pressure or dealing with unknown variables that are affecting their lives at the core. Our characters then are changeable, unpredictable and constantly trying to adapt to their prevailing conditions. Uta Hagen once said that MOOD is DOOM spelt backwards. Not allowing your character to change and dip and dive may mean you’re trying to control the dynamic of your piece. Open yourself up to the full range and depth of your character’s journey.
Full Permission
I worked with an actor who was about to perform a monologue of Hamlet’s. He stood onstage, paused, gathered his energies, then took a large breath and was about to begin. I stopped him and asked, “Why the large breath?” He said, “It’s a long monologue.”
You as a character are not aware of the length of what you are about to share. Your character is completely in the moment and 100% immersed. Therefore, you as the actor must give your character 100% permission to dive deep. There is no ‘audition’ or ‘audition monologue’ that your character is aware of. Give them full permission to be completely in the here and now from their first syllable to their last. Everything is happening in the ‘now’; allow it to evolve as it needs to. No pressure, no obligation, no deep breath to begin. Take it moment by moment, step by step, breath by breath.
Flashpoint
What is happening right here and right now that makes these moments for your character absolutely unique? What triggers and forces are at play? What is your character combating and why is it so important and potentially life-changing? No audition monologue is ‘business as usual’ – it’s about upheaval, whether good or bad. You have to know what is essential about this moment in time for your character. This question will take you into the heart of the matter and plug you into the scene’s engine and energy.
Obligation Free
You’ll notice we’ve not talked at all about being impressive, imaginative, engaging, valid, or creative. Why? Because none of these things are important. No actor is obliged (unless directed by themselves) to be these things. These are all extrinsic and not intrinsic to the world and senses and sensitivities of your character. Is it an audition or r a performance? We believe it’s a performance: you’re giving us your character, you’re taking us into their world, you’re sharing their deepest feelings – that’s the focus of this performance event.
No Cure for Curiosity
We believe that a character’s curiosity unlocks everything in a monologue or scene. Once curiosity is activated there is no cure for it. An active curiosity by the character about their situation, how they got there, what might happen, and who or what can help them, will open a myriad of interesting avenues and choices. Nothing is solid or consistent: everything is a question. This will activate choices that engage an audience as they will become curious along with you . Character and audience become in sync.
BREATHE
It may sound incredibly simple but breathe: breathe in the moment, breathe in your character, breathe in the circumstances engulfing them. Breathe in being in the room, with all of the people in it, and know your character is key: what they need to share is everything. Nothing else matters.
It isn’t an audition. It’s a performance. So, give it and your character everything required.
Finally, let go and have fun! Performing is fun, stepping into a new world and taking the audience with you is fun. Let that bright and free energy fuel you.
ACA is approaching its 40th birthday. Our staff are as passionate as ever about education as well as taking each student to new heights of their potential. We look forward to meeting you!
