Ok perhaps because we are conditioned with all these reality shows that competitors or people vying after a coveted spot..we are conditioned to think auditioning with ones fellow competitor is standard but is it professional practice?
Recently I attended a callback audition for an off-off broadway showcased play. The playwright had all the actors she wanted to consider in the same room. She had us actors/actresses cold read the same scenes... IN THE SAME ROOM, doing our audition in front of each other. Is this typical? It was very uncomfortable to focus knowing that I was reading the same scene only seconds before the person I was sitting next to knowing she was being considered as well.
Typically the actors are called in one by one or in pairs to audtion byt this practice of having all the actors audition in front of each other seemed..weirdly wrong.

Yes, this does happen and I don't like it either.

It happens sometimes for commercials. I have an audition today at Comedy Central. Every commercial I've auditioned for there has the SAME situation you described.

In a room with 4 other actors watching. I was first to audition and when I finished they asked me if I'd like to stay to watch the others.

????? That was a weird question. I answered, "Well, I don't know if the other guys want me watching."

"Oh, don't worry, everybody stays and watches."

Me: Oh, okay.

It's not the norm but it does happen and when it does I don't like it.

I don't like having a line of people watching me posing for a picture at a print go-see either, but this is the biz.

Make EVERY audition experience work FOR you. Go with the flow, accept what is and do your thing.

What PB said; happens once in a while, not often. I just did one where the other actors were so hysterical I had a blast!

That's the dilemma I have with it. In principle I know it's wrong, because let's be honest..actors are already feeling insecure, and while I'm making choices about how I want t do my cold reading of a charcter how can I not be but influnenced by what I see. And then start second guessing my choice! And yet I tell myself go along and don't openly object because that will set an uncall negative tone "impression".

I was wondering perhaps this is just a typical practice because it was a non-paying off-off broadway production. Do union Sag or Equity auditions have this practice?

I also went to an audition with all the actors in the same room. It was the first and till now the only time it has happened. I had just walked inside, the door might not have closed yet behind me, and the director asked if I was ready. I was prepared and had studied the side sent to me and said that I was ready and stepped past the others to the set and auditioned with the writer of this indie film about to be made.

You could have heard a pin drop. All those eyes were glued to me. I flubbed a line but that could have happened whether we were alone or not. Than the director asked me to improv with the writer which I was glad to do because it comes natural to me and I think it went well.

When I walked in the director was talking to his "best friend" actor and so I didn't think I would get cast because that is some huddle to get past. I didn't stay to see what the others did, it really didn't matter.

Later in the day I got a call from the writer saying they cast someone else(really!) but would I be willing to come back to audition for a "recurring role". Not sure what that meant but said yes. It was kind of fun actually.

It definitely is an experience but one I had to get over. Granted none of the actors had sides provided to us prior to the audition so it was really a cold read. Here's the scene you read with this actress or actor...
I've had a day to digest it all and will just chalk it up to paying my "dues".

I've never had it happen.

I'm not sure what I would think. I for sure don't want to sit there and watch other people after I'm done, though it can be confidence building to see how bad the actors before me suck (which they often do, I can tell if I can hear them through the door sometimes).

Still, it strikes me as unprofessional.

ive had it once...

it was for a one line part in a feature. They had a group of us (4 people) and were bringing us in to read for the Garry Marshall and other producers on the project. When they were ready they brought us in and had us stand shoulder to shoulder in a line. One by one saying the line that they gave us as we walked in. After the last person went they asked one person a quick question and shuffled us out.
Im not a fan of that situation, but whatever happens i guess we gotta deal.

I had it happen today.

They took guys in groups of four.

I guess since the room is down the hall from the lobby it expedites the process.

We were auditioning as Fathers horsing around with our kids.

If you remove the sense that you're competing with the others, if you just wish them well too and think in terms of being supportive, it makes it easier.

But I don't really like it. But guess what? So many abrupt changes take place in this biz. Be ready and adapt.

Let that type of an audition be another one you've mastered. There are only a handful of types. After awhile, you'll be comfortable with them all.

This is a good topic....

I've actually been on both sides of this. I was a monitor for an off-off-Broadway play years ago, and the director couldn't decide which actor he liked to play Daisy in "Baby with the Bathwater" by Durang. He had three equally talented actors, each with a distinct look. So, he had each guy sit in a row in chairs, side by side, reading one of the monologues. I sat in and watched. When the three guys finished and left, it was clear who to give the part to. The guy who got it wasn't self-conscious, just did his thing, and really PERFORMED without a thought about who was in the room. He was FUNNY, and I think he deliberately showed off. Guess what, it worked.

I too was with a group of girls a few years ago, and we auditioned for this play. When I realized it was going to be a 'group callback,' I had to rethink my strategy. It was like a sporting event. The director could only choose two girls out of twelve. We had to do some improv, and read sides. I had to really get in the mentality of wanting to 'WIN' the event! Just like running the track, or playing tennis.....play to win!

I kind of took the attitude of "I'm the strongest one here, and I will win." I wasn't an asshole about it, and I was supportive to the other actresses in the room. But it WAS like a race to win. When I had that attitude, everything just came out of me smoothly and effortlessly, and I got the part!

Unfortunately, the play sucked, and the director was an ass, but that's another story.......

Don't know if this helped, but that's what worked for me........

Thank you all for shedding your experiences. it does help to know that others have been there and done that, and despite the awkwardness your ability to put it in perspective.
Ok so this sort of thing does happen with union gigs...I just assumed, because as I noted before it's a non paying off off broadway play, that protocol is willy-nilly.
I like that motto though'Be ready and Adapt'.
The irony here is..as an actor our greatest asset is our sensitivity and availabilty to how we feel about what is happening to us...and yet during the audition process, you've got to develope this thick protective skin and turn off being overly sensitive.

Here's another way we need to adapt.

This has happened to me at least FOUR times. I go get the sides for the audition and it is CLEARLY written in an "announcer" type format.

It's WRITTEN THIS WAY!

And the character is TALKING to the camera that way.

So I rehearse it like that!

Then when I go in to do it, the casting director gives this direction: "Don't read it like an announcer. They're looking for a real conversation quality to it."

BUT IT IS NOT WRITTEN THAT WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't argue with them but I find it VERY frustrating. Talk about having to ADAPT.

So now when I get sides I rehearse it the way I know it's supposed to be, but I also rehearse it the way I'm guessing they may ask me to do it when I walk in the room.

quote:

Originally posted by PeterBrady1:
Here's another way we need to adapt.

This has happened to me at least FOUR times. I go get the sides for the audition and it is CLEARLY written in an "announcer" type format.

It's WRITTEN THIS WAY!

And the character is TALKING to the camera that way.

So I rehearse it like that!

Then when I go in to do it, the casting director gives this direction: "Don't read it like an announcer. They're looking for a real conversation quality to it."

BUT IT IS NOT WRITTEN THAT WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't argue with them but I find it VERY frustrating. Talk about having to ADAPT.

So now when I get sides I rehearse it the way I know it's supposed to be, but I also rehearse it the way I'm guessing they may ask me to do it when I walk in the room.

why do you have to read it that way just because "it's written that way"? You have the freedom to say it any way you want. You could give me a piece written that was spoken by a baptist minister, and I could read it oozing with sexual energy. Now that might not be the most interesting choice, but I'm just using that example to illustrate a point. Often times when you "fight the script" so to speak, it leads to the most interesting characters.

true!

I do look for originality but it's hard to read it in a "conversational" way when the script is written in a traditional, formal, announcer type way.

It's just frustrating because the writer and the casting director don't seem to be on the same page.

And I'm caught in the middle!

quote:

Originally posted by PeterBrady1:
true!

I do look for originality but it's hard to read it in a "conversational" way when the script is written in a traditional, formal, announcer type way.

It's just frustrating because the writer and the casting director don't seem to be on the same page.

And I'm caught in the middle!

The thing about casting directors is that they just want to see if your interesting. When you get in front of the producer and director is when you really have to worry about being on the same page.

The CD was probably telling you not to read it like an announcer because an announcer isn't that interesting to watch. I mean, why would an audience pay to see an announcer when they can see 10 of them every night for free on a news program.