My Take on Auditions... from Beside the Table.

It's 7:30 a.m. on audition day. The hallway is packed with performers stretching, pinning on numbers, and taking one last fit check photo in the mirror.

And me? I'm inside the studio, checking the schedule for the third time and getting the room ready for casting.

For five years, that was my seat. Right beside the table.

I wasn't making the casting decisions, but I saw an audition season from every angle. On one side, I coached hundreds of students through the months leading up to it, getting their materials, their mindset, and their game plan ready. On the other side, I booked and worked directly with the casting directors and agents to bring them into the room. And in between all of that, I executed the entire season, from the first schedule to the final callback.

So trust me when I say I've seen it all. And honestly, here's what surprised me most: sometimes the most talented people in the room didn't book the job.

Not because they weren't talented, but because they weren't great at auditioning.

Auditioning is its own skill. Talent gets you in the room, but strategy is what books you the job. And the ones who walked in with a real strategy always had two things on their side: confidence and preparedness.

Don't get me wrong, talent and training are 100% important in audition rooms. Talent will always get noticed, and you want to feel so strong in your training that it's second nature. This way when the nerves start to kick in, you don't have to put any extra focus into technique. That's what frees you up to focus on everything else.

Here's the good news: a strategy isn't something you're born with. It's something you build, and it's built out of everything that's in your control. There's a lot in that room you can't control, but there's so much more you can than you think. So let's build yours ☕

Your materials. Your headshot and resume walk into that room before you do, and can stay on the table long after you leave it. At the end of the day, casting is sitting with a stack of them trying to remember who was who. Your job is to make that easy.

Your headshot should look like you today, not you two haircuts and a color change ago. I have watched someone behind the table pick up a headshot, look up at the room, and not be able to find the face in front of them. That is a rough first impression, and it's completely avoidable. 😬

Your resume should be one page, skimmable in about ten seconds, and tailored to the job you are actually there for. Lead with what's relevant to them, and update it after every single job, because the version you threw together the night before always shows.

And presentation is everything. Bring printed copies even when the posting says you don't need them, and when you do, bring them right. Your headshot and resume should be trimmed to the same size and stapled together at all four corners, so they read as one clean set instead of two loose pieces of paper. 📎

And then there's the material you never actually hand them. Casting directors often have their phones out behind that table, and they are absolutely looking you up. I've watched it happen in real time. Someone picks up a headshot, types the name into Instagram, and within a few seconds the whole panel is passing a phone around (which reminds me, the name on your headshot better match the name on your IG). 📱

So treat your profile as part of your materials, because that's exactly what it is. It's where they go to get a feel for your personality, your range, and who you are outside of the two minutes they just watched. Make sure the first few things they see show you as a working artist, and make sure the person on that page is the same one who walked into the room.

Your research. This one is 100% in your control, and honestly, it might be the most underrated thing on this whole list. Before audition day, look up the company, the casting director, the agents who will be sitting in that room, and the artist you would be working for. Watch their last few shows. Scroll their recent tours. Look at the artists they already hire and ask yourself, honestly, what they have in common. Guys... YouTube is free, use it!

The artists who do their homework are without a doubt the smartest people in the room. And it matters. Understanding the style of the material, knowing the look, and coming extra prepared gives you a real leg up on the competition.

Research shows up in everything: what you wear, how you do your hair, the energy you bring into the room, and the choices you make. Walk in already knowing the world you're stepping into, and every one of those choices gets easier.

Your styling. Auditions are not class. What do I mean by that? Leave your sweatpants in the holding room. 🙅‍♀️

Styling is the piece most people treat as an afterthought, and it's the one I spend a lot of time on with my clients. What you wear is doing real work in that room. It tells casting how you see yourself before you do a single thing in front of them, it shows whether you understood the assignment, and it decides how easily they can picture you on the project.

Instead, wear something that fits the style of the job, shows you did your research, and makes you feel amazing. Not only will you walk in exuding confidence, but it makes it so much easier for casting behind the table to picture you on the job.

A few things I'd think about. Pick silhouettes that let them actually see you instead of fabric swallowing you. Have one detail that makes you easy to describe at the end of the day, whether that's a color, a great fit, or your hair done a certain way, because "the one in the red" is a much better thing to be than "number 47." And wear the whole look once at home first. Audition day is not the day to learn that a strap slips every time you lift your arms. 😅

Your energy. Casting isn't just hiring a performer; they're hiring someone they'll be in rehearsals with for months, sometimes on a ship or a tour where you're spending a ton of time together. So they're reading you the entire time, not just in the thirty seconds you're directly in front of them.

From my seat, I saw all of it. Who got there early, warm and calm. Who came flying in late and frazzled and carried that into the room. Who held the door, helped someone find the sign in sheet, and cheered for the group before theirs. And who showed up looking like they rolled out of bed, visibly annoyed, or talked about someone else in the hallway. 👀

And here's what people don't realize: nerves are loud. Anxious energy fills a room, and everyone behind that table feels it, the same way they feel the person who walks in grounded and genuinely glad to be there. Being nervous doesn't make you unprofessional, every single one of us has been there, but you do get to decide what you put out while you're feeling it. Take the breath, shake it out in the hallway, and walk in beaming instead. Confidence and kindness are just as contagious as nerves, and they get noticed just as fast.

So bring your personality, from check in to final cut. Be kind, be present, and be the person everyone's happy to see. Trust me, the people running the room remember. This industry is so much smaller than it feels when you're starting out, and the assistant checking you in today could be the one casting you two years from now.

Your focus. You'll usually have to pick up new material fast, so train for that. Work with different teachers in different styles, and approach your training as actual training for auditions.

What I mean is, stop only working with the teachers whose style already lives in your body. That feels good, but it isn't preparing you for a room where you get the material twice and then someone says let's go. Put yourself in rooms that make you a little uncomfortable on purpose. Learn to pick things up from the back row, from the side, from a spot where you can barely see. Picking up fast is a skill, and like every other skill, you get it by practicing it.

Then once you're in the room, lock in. The best auditioners are aware of everything happening around them (the details, the notes, who's behind and in front of the table) while also being completely tuned in to their own bodies. They're not watching the person next to them and comparing. They're locked in and ready to rock.

Your choices. Playing it safe is not the answer. Take the direction, apply the notes right away, and then add your own flair with bold choices. That combo of smart and bold is what I've seen get people noticed, and so often, it's what gets them the gig.

To be clear, a bold choice is not ignoring what you were asked to do. It's doing exactly what was asked and then committing all the way to it. Giving it everything while everyone around you is holding back. Performing the material instead of just executing it.

Because here's the thing: casting has already watched a whole room full of people do the material correctly. Correct is the baseline. The one who makes them feel something is the one they're still talking about at the end of the day. ✨

Now let's talk about the part you can't control.

Sometimes it's just luck. You happen to fit exactly what they're looking for: the height, the hair color, the look, the style. And sometimes you don't, and there's nothing you could've done about it. I've watched it go both ways more times than I can count. 🤷‍♀️

That's exactly why you need a strategy. It's always better to walk out of that room knowing you had a plan, did every single bit of prep you could, and gave it everything. That feeling beats "what if" every time.

So if you get cut, say thank you, leave with grace, and keep going. I've seen people get cut and then booked by the same company down the road, all because of the impression they left the first time.

And when it all comes together? Someone walks in at 8 a.m. and walks out at 5 p.m. with a contract in hand. Maybe a little luck was on their side, but they had a strategy, and they were ready for it. 🙌

If you have an audition coming up and you want to walk in with a real strategy, from your materials to your styling to your game plan, that's exactly what we build together, and I'd love to help you get there. Check out my coaching offerings and let's get you audition ready.

See you at the next call time 📋

Claire