The Main Ingredient for Your Audition
(and the BUILDING BLOCK for All Acting)

Perhaps you’ve heard casting directors, producers, directors, or other people in ‘the industry’ talk about watching auditions. One thing that is almost always agreed upon is that you can tell within a few seconds whether you ‘like’ an actor’s performance or not. If questioned, the industry professional might not know exactly why they like someone, or they might say that the actor seemed “connected”. On the flip side, you will often hear an auditor (the person observing the audition) claim that the actor didn’t seem ‘connected’. What does a lack of ‘connection’ mean? And how do you fix it? In my opinion, to be ‘connected’ during acting work is to experience genuine emotions that resonate with the character you are portraying. The body (physical actions/participation), the voice, the emotions all seem to be honest. The auditor gets pulled into the story that is being told – and does not get distracted by an attempt at ‘acting’. The word ‘connect’ implies that someone is ‘attached’ in some way to someone else. Here is the main ingredient that you need to have a ‘connected’ performance: RELATIONSHIP. If you don’t have someone you have a strong connection with in your mind as you are performing a scene, you are not ‘connected’ to another person. In fact, rarely do humans open their mouths to speak without being in reaction to another person – something the other person said, something they did, or even an event that holds weight for you. Without you seeming ‘in relationship’, the work seems flat. You lose our attention…because this is the building block – not only for all acting – but for all of our humanity. We seek RELATIONSHIP.