Quick Audition Tips Series-Tip #2: TAKE & MAKE THE ADJUSTMENT

Welcome back!  I hope you have enjoyed our Quick Audition Tips Series so far. For this series, we are focusing on three key areas that guest blogger/CD Danielle Eskinazi and I have agreed are essential Audition Tips for actors everywhere:

1.  Don't Over-Rehearse! (7/15)
2. TAKE & MAKE the Adjustment (TODAY)
3. Make A Choice! (7/29)

Please comment away and we would love to hear your feedback on Twitter and the blog comments itself.   Enjoy! 

TIP# 2: Take and Make the Adjustment

BH: A few weeks ago, my family and I were heading over to a friend's house to swim at their pool. Pools are always an exciting thing for my family.  However, I had to divert the plan so we could get some gas. Almost on cue, my two kids didn't want to take the sidetrack. They wanted to get to the pool sooner.  They didn't want to adjust or deviate from the plan. This was a great time for me to share the importance of one of my favorite quotes and life principles: BE LIKE WATER.  I talked to them about the properties of water and how water can be liquid, frozen or a gas.  I talked about how water flows so fluidly and how powerful water can be in nature and our our lives.  The valuable lesson on this seemingly insignificant sidetrack to the gas station-was that we all need to learn to be fluid and flexible in life. 

We must, like water, flow and change as we encounter the ebbs and flows of life. My kids needed to learn that sometimes (A LOT of the time) the plan changes.  Detours will happen.  Roadblocks will occur.  Directions will change.  It doesn’t really matter how many of these obstacles get in our way.  What really matters is our response to them.  Do we stand still, freeze up or get stuck?  Or do we find ways around or through the obstacles in front of us.

Bruce Lee said it this way:   "Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend."

I think this anecdote and quote is true for actors as well.  Adjustments, new direction, and suggestions are a part of most casting and performance situations yet so many actors honestly don't know how to take direction. This is a strange phenomenon considering that the ability to take direction is one of the qualities most sought after by CDs and directors alike.

DE: Bruce Lee was a smart man, learn to adjust to your surroundings. An actor came in for one role (a callback) and the director thought he would be better for a different role, but he could not get his head around that and could not make the adjustment needed. He lost both roles.  Sadly, I see this happen a lot and it's painful to see when an actor has trouble being flexible. 

BH: This harkens back to being too prepared or over-rehearsed. There is so much value in listening to an adjustment and making it. Failing to make any suggested adjustment can communicate a sense of stubbornness, egotism or lack of awareness.  Simply put, if you can't take a simple adjustment during the audition process, what will you be like during the craziness of the production process?  These are things that we think when actors don't take and make the adjustment. It doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be attempted. We need to see the taking AND making. When asked to make a change or try something different after a performance, TAKE IT, and MAKE IT!

Remember that receiving adjustments and direction does not mean that you have screwed up in some way.  There are many times where we just want to see something different, or make an attempt to try something interesting to help fit the casting needs.  If you take each adjustment as a personal front in your acting ability, you are missing out on the joy of discovering something new or fresh.  

DE:  This is so important as you learn and grow as an actor you are also discovering a lot of who you are as a performer and as a person.
Never stop growing, never stop learning, and never stop breathing in the knowledge that actors are so hungry for. This is what makes you a well rounded actor and a person.  Be open and flexible and be your authentic self.  We want to get to know YOU first.

BH: A valuable reminder that YOU are who we want to see in the casting situations.  We don’t want to see a fake version of you.  We want to see the best version of you, and that includes being poised, professional, and above all else: HUMAN and NATURAL.  The more authentic and organic you are, the easier it will be to TAKE AND MAKE the adjustments that often come up during an audition.  Learn to be like water with your adjustments. Show us that you can be flexible and open to new ideas, and not rigid or clueless.