Lesson: Auditioning
Unit: Acting
Purpose: To teach students good auditioning skills that they can use
when auditioning at the school, community, or professional level. Also,
the skills will be useful at job interviews and other such activities.
Objectives:
· students will practice warming up their body, voice, and mind
for an audition
· students will practice auditioning with a monologue
· students will practice auditioning with a cold read
· students will practice auditioning with improvisation activities
· students will reflect on past auditioning experiences
Plan:
Warm up: body-stretching (student leader has been assigned earlier)
Voice- tongue twister, sirons, etc. (also student lead).
Mind- have students write about their first audition experience (what
did you like? What didn’t you like? What types of things did you
do? Overall how was the experience?) If they have never auditioned before,
have them write about their perceptions of auditions (what do you think
they are like? What do you think they do during them? Do you think they
would be scary, exciting, something else?)
Discussion: Have two students share some thoughts. Discuss types of
auditions they have experienced, and what they liked/disliked about
them.
Monologues: Have each student practice walking in to an audition and
saying their name and monologue they are doing. Helpful hints to students
might be “be confident,” “look like you’re having
fun,” “be proud of your name.”
Have students pair off and practice entering, saying their name, and
doing their monologue.
Cold Reads: Bring students back together, and discuss how another format
for auditions is cold reads. Have them each practice a cold read. Give
them tips on how they can impress directors: Don’t just read the
lines, react to other’s lines. Interact with the other auditioners.
Be brave; try an approach other’s haven’t taken with the character
you are reading.
Improv games: Tell students how some directors use improv games for
some or all of their audition process. Ask students what they think
would be important to remember while participating in improv games.
(be confident, be creative, don’t hold yourself back, participate
fully, etc)
Character walk: Have students pick one of the characters from the cold
read or from their monologue. Have them walk around the room as their
character. Direct them with questions: How does your character feel?
Are they happy, sad, agitated? Where are they coming from? Where are
they going? What is their status in the world? Do they look up and out
at the world or do they look to the ground? How do they react to people
they pass on the street? Do they say “hi” or avoid eye contact?
React to others you pass as your character would. (And other such comments
and questions along these lines)
“What are you doing?”: Have students pair up. One person starts
an action and the other person asks them “what are you doing?”
They answer something completely different than what they are doing.
The person who asked then starts “doing” their answer. The
game continues as they ask each other “what are you doing?”
Tell students to not pre-plan what they are going to say, but instead
to say whatever comes to them in the moment: the crazier the better.
Discuss how directors are looking for people who are willing to jump
into the game. Those who will do whatever their partner sets up for
them one hundred percent.
Wrap up: Ask if there are any questions. Review good auditioning techniques.
Tell them their homework is to audition at a community theater sometime
during the semester (they can audition for experience only, if they
prefer).
Outcomes:
· Students will gain writing skills through journaling
· Students will gain communication skills through speaking in
front of the class and gaining confidence
· Students will gain auditioning skills
Justification of importance of outcomes:
· Communicating one’s thoughts through writing is important
in developing a sense of self. Students will learn more about themselves
through exploring their feelings.
· Communicating through speaking is an important life skill.
Students will need to communicate their ideas clearly and confidently
in front of a group of people. Many careers require this skill. These
skills are important for selling a product and introducing a new business
plan.
· Auditioning skills are useful for getting into the school play,
or into a community theater play for extra curricular purposes. Also,
if students want to pursue acting as a professional career, they will
need to know how to audition.
