The Berkeley Beacon

Issue date: 12/2/04 Section: Lifestyle

Media Credit: Beacon photo/Ashley Aruda With only weeks left in the semester, audition flyers still cover the bulletin boards on the sixth floor of the Tufte Performance and Production Center.

No matter how many times you have been through it, it still has not become any easier. Your throat is permanently dry despite countless cough drops, warm up exercises, and hours without speaking. You feel tired but are awake at the same time, partly due to the fact that several fellow performers are belting at the top of their lungs, forcing you to take note of their role as competition. You know you are good, but you are also intimidated. This is a time when it is easy to forget lines and when voices crack even before the first note.

Welcome to the actor's world, where bad day or good, the audition says it all.

"You have to show everything you've got in about 16 bars of music and maybe a one-minute monologue, and it's very difficult to be able to sum that up," said Katie Rolph, a freshmen musical theatre major, describing the stress many feel when preparing for an audition.

With less than three weeks of the semester left, audition flyers for productions and film projects still plaster many Emerson bulletin boards. For those students looking to snag last-minute roles or to ready themselves for next semester's bachelor of fine arts (BFA) program auditions, there are several ways in which one can defeat pre-audition jitters.

"If the audition is something you really want to do, you feel more nervous," Rolph said.

Along with dealing with the competition factor, nerves can also result from the fact that some judges often allot a short amount of time for the actor to complete the audition.

"Sometimes the person will smile and say thank you after hearing you sing one note, and you're like, I haven't even gotten to the best part," said Lauren Gray, a freshman BFA acting major.

Professionals, however, can offer advice on how to tame jitters by feeling more confident during an audition.

Deidre Purcell, a graduate student studying theatre education, works as an assistant to the auditions coordinator for Emerson admissions. She offered advice that she finds applicable to any audition.

"Don't pick your pieces trying to impress someone. Choose something that's going to show who you are," she advised.

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