Editor's note: This is the first of a series of stories following the stages of theater production in the Ohio University School of Theater that will appear throughout the quarter.
Backstage, stomachs are dropping and knees are shaking. It's quiet in the theater as the actors wait for their cue.
But instead of elaborate sets and props, there is a single chair. The audience is a handful of professors, graduate students and peers. The auditioning process starts for Ohio University's School of Theater.
All theater majors are required to audition at the beginning of each quarter - auditions this quarter were Sept. 16 - for the following quarter's shows. Within a week, directors issue callbacks, and roles will be announced this week.
For many actors, the audition process started well before they take their places on the stage.
The hardest thing is finding a monologue
said sophomore Kathryn Primeau, who started planning for hers over the summer.
She finally decided on a piece from John Paul Sarte's No Exit because she had enjoyed playing the character before.
It's always fun to play something I'm not Primeau said.
Students are allowed to develop their audition pieces within directors' suggestions.
Theater students often walk around campus before auditions, memorizing the lines in their pieces, Primeau said. While some practice in front of the mirror, others subject roommates and friends to viewing their every rehearsal.
Even in the final moments before taking the stage, classmates exchange last minute revisions and advice.
When directors asked students to emphasize music in their auditions, senior theater major John Atzberger introduced his self-written monologues with a show of his banjo skills.
I thought the banjo was more interesting than another guitar Atzberger said.
Jumping into the role in an empty auditorium is challenging because besides a few laughs, the directors are concentrating on critiquing.
Auditioning is not like acting
Primeau said. It's nerve-racking
yet exciting.
Though not all students are chosen to perform each quarter because of seniority, it often is expected that juniors and seniors will take a majority of the leading roles, said Primeau.
Students in the school are expected to meet an acting practicum to graduate, and performing in shows helps fulfill this requirement, said Dennis Delaney, head of the theater department's directing program. For this reason, auditions are given more weight because they are necessary to meet program requirements.
Freshmen interested in majoring in theater do not participate in auditions during their first two quarters, although they are allowed to take classes, Primeau said. Their performance during Spring Quarter auditions determines if they will be accepted into the theater program.
Callbacks are like auditioning but on an entirely different level. At this point, actors read parts from scripts specific to a role. Although the mechanics of the auditioning has changed, the nerves and tension for both actors and directors escalate, Delaney said.
(Auditioning) is very nerve-racking for both directors and actors
especially at this early stage of the game
said Delaney, who will be directing Cider House Rules for the winter's main stage.
Auditions this quarter are for four different shows planned for late Winter Quarter: Cider House Rules
The Fourth Sister
As Bees and Honey Drown and The Memory of Water.
17
