I did something new in an audition today, and it paid off. For once, I actually took the time to take the note.Earlier today, I drove down to Orange, CA. It's a 50 minute trip in the best of times, and a 2.5hr trek in the worst of times. The traffic was relatively light during my trip, so I got to Orange in about an hour and a half. I was just in time – to try and find the audition room that wasn't listed on the casting notice. Apparently, I had arrived before the director, I later found her in one of the spots I had already searched.
I took a decent first stab at the sides, I was partially off book and I gave a partially interesting read. Afterwards, the director gave me an adjustment (or note) "Imagine that during the second half of this script, your mother is really talking about you needing to take care of your autistic brother for the rest of his life." I felt like I had a good sense of what she wanted and was just about to plow ahead with a second read when I asked "May I have a few moments to look over the sides?" The director of course granted my request.
Roughly 20 seconds later, I knew at what point in the script my character realized what was going on and how he felt about it. My second read went much better, and afterwards the director said "I really saw that you made the adjustment. It was nice to see him realize what was happening. His whole energy changed."
Audition Tip: Take some time after you've been given a note in order to plan out that change. It's not enough to understand the note, you need to know it.
Don't worry about taking up too much of the casting director's time. it's a far greater waste of time for them to give you a note that is essentially ignored because you didn't take the time to follow it.
Financial Note:
Driving to/from Orange and a stop into Pasadena required half a tank of gas. Filling up my car cost me $39 today. Which is to say, it cost me $20 to audition for a non-paying student project. There's something wrong with that.
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