What to wear to an audition?

TheRealKEVP
Fri, 06 Sep 2013 11:33:12 +0000

We have discussed this before here.

There are no hard and fast rules such as “You must wear X, and you must NOT wear Y!!!”.

If everyone dressed the same, the auditors would have problems telling people apart!! Because they are probably meeting a lot of people for the very first time.

NJTheatreMom has given some good advice. You want to look like somebody who is ready to start work at rehearsals. So you don’t want to dress up too fancily, that makes you look like someone who won’t be willing to do hard work. You also don’t want to look like a complete slob, people will again think you are too lazy to do work.

As NJTheatreMom says, avoid wearing anything distracting. So no “dangly” jewelry, no slogans or distracting artwork or distracting patterns on clothing. And don’t try to distract by being “sexy”–wear proper underwear and so on.

The auditors want to see your face. So no hat, and use a hairstyle that keeps your hair out of your face.

Also remember that they may ask you to do some sort of improvisation or movement exercise. Milkshakespeare had an idea that I think makes a good rule of thumb–can you do a cartwheel in that outfit?

Don’t wear a costume (I would guess you know that, but I always like to be sure to cover the bases in case someone is reading this who doesn’t know that)

Do think about incorporating some color. Remember how in “A Chorus Line” before the auditors learn everyone’s name, it’s just “You in the green! You in the grey!”. This also means that it is a good idea to wear the same outfit to callbacks as you did for the original audition. They may just be thinking of you as “the girl in purple”.

Do think about whether you will feel comfortable in the outfit you have chosen, that you will be comfortable and confident on stage before the auditors and won’t feel awkward.

Now, you say you are almost 18 but look like you are 13? There’s an old saying in theatre “if you have a hump, put a frill around it!” That is, don’t hide the things that make you different, celebrate them! I guarantee you there are directors who are trying to cast a role that the script says is a 13 year old girl, but the director would rather cast an adult because of the difficulty of the role and the difficulty of working with children. The best example of this is the role of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare says she is 13. Everyone holding auditions for Romeo and Juliet is hoping and praying that they find an adult actress who looks like she is 13 to cast the part–because it is too difficult a part for an actual 13 year old. And there are many other roles like that. You have already explained to the director how old you really are. So take the opportunity to demonstrate what roles you can play.

This may well follow you throughout your life, that you will always look much younger than you actually are. I guarantee you that almost every Hollywood actress, as well most women I know, would be perfectly happy to have such a “problem”!!!:)