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1. You didn't include your picture and, frankly, after seeing several hundred auditionees, I forgot who you were.  Next.
2. You didn't put your phone number on your resume'.  I wanted to cast you, but you didn't give a way to get in touch with you.  Maybe I could look up your number in the phone book, if you live in the same city, or call information in your out-of-town location, but that's too much trouble.  It is easier for me to go on to the next person.  Next.
3. You didn't put your permanent home address and phone number on your resume'.  You gave a stunning audition and I wanted to cast you.  I called your dorm; you are gone for spring vacation and won't be back until next week.  I would call you in Timbuktu, it that is your home or where you are vacationing, but you didn't tell me (or the dorm switchboard operator) how to reach you.  I must finish casting this week and I can't wait for you to come back.  Again I must go on to the next resume'.  Next.
4. You didn't organize your resume' logically.  You made me read your personal data, your costume measurements, and your junior high credits before I came to your leading role credits and the fact that you have done a Warner Brothers feature film.  Or you placed your Off Broadway featured role way down on the page after your community theatre chorus parts and high school speech contests.  Or you included all kinds of tech work interspersed with roles you have played.  The best resumes tell us what you are ("Actor," "Singer,"  "Dancer") then list representative (not all) credits in that category in order of importance, not chronologically.  If you don't put your most impressive credits first, I may not read far enough to find them.  Your resume' didn't impress me immediately, so I dismissed you even before your audition.  Next.
5. You really didn't prepare your resume'.  Or you didn't bring any at all.  Or you didn't bring enough; each of us would like a copy of our own.  Or you gave us messy, barely readable copies with corrections and /or additions penciled in.  Or your resume' was hand written rather than typed.  An ill-prepared resume' tells me that you are not a very neat or careful person and that you didn't plan ahead.  I'm not sure I want that kind of person in my company, no matter how talented you are.  Next.

1. Your audition piece was not appropriate.  Don't try to fool us; we directors know the play.  If you are eighteen, why are you doing a monologue of a forty-five year old man?  This is not high school anymore, and we have mature actors to play those parts.  I want to see your versatility as an eighteen-year-old.   On the other hand, if you are forty-five, why are you doing the young romantic lead monologue?  That part is for a sixteen-year-old.  I'd rather hear you do the older character from the same play.  Your selection tells me that you don't see yourself realistically, and I might have trouble casting you in your appropriate age range.  I might run smack up against your ego.  Next.
2. You have a speech problem, in this case an inability to pronounce "r."  So why did you choose "Second Hand Rose" for your audition piece?  Every time the title line came around, we became painfully aware of your shortcoming.  Obviously, you need some speech work...and a different audition piece.  Next.
3. I am casting a Broadway musical, with lots of typical, Broadway sounding music.  Why are you singing top-forty, gospel, or country songs?  I can't tell how you handle the Broadway sound if you audition with an inappropriate song.  On the other hand, if you are auditioning for a rock ;musical, a rock selection would be appropriate.  No matter what type of song, it should be in your range.  Show us what you can do, not what you can't.  If you can't hit the high notes in "Maria" from West Side Story, don't even attempt it.  Next.
4. You did not pick two audition pieces that show variety and versatility.  You chose one modern piece and one period piece, but they are both dramas and the characters you are doing are both "angry young men."  Or you chose a comedy and a drama, but they are both modern, and I would like to see how you handle a period piece.  Next time select two pieces that contrast in period, dramatic genre, style, and character.  My repertory season of eight plays will not allow me the luxury of hiring a specialist in modern, angry young men.  Next.
5. You didn't really prepare your audition piece.  Oh, you memorized your monologue, planned your blocking and even expressed some emotion.  But you didn't prepare one of the most basic steps: you didn't look up the words.  If you had, you wouldn't have mispronounced or stumbled over "bade," "errs," "agate," and "ambuscades."  Or, you didn't do your homework.  Don't just learn the monologue...READ THE PLAY.  When I asked you about your character's relationship with his sister, you should have been able to answer, "He is totally dependent on her now that he has lost his job."  As opposed to your answer, "I really don't know."  Next.
6. You asked the accompanist to transpose the music.  Instead of preparing yourself with a piece of music you can sing, you asked somebody you've never met, without advanced notice, to transpose at sight what may be an unfamiliar piece of music.  You are making impossible demands of your accompanist, and you are showing yourself to be an inconsiderate and irresponsible person.  Next.
7. You asked for a second chance, a favor or special consideration, and branded yourself a troublemaker.  How you present yourself now, and how you acted in your last role (yes, I talked to your former director) can have a direct effect on future roles.  No one wants to work with a whiner.  Next.

1. You sang a Cappella.  Even I can sing a Cappella, in a non-existent key, to my own internal rhythm.  I can think of no book musical in which a performer is asked to do an entire solo a cappella.  What you are asked to do, however, is sing from a score in the same key and rhythm as the musical accompaniment.  If you don't demonstrate in your audition that you can do that, I assume you can't.  If you can't do it, I'm not interested.  Next.
2. You didn't use your voice expressively.  You didn't show vocal variety within one piece or between your two pieces.  Why did you bother learning the words without also learning to "play" the instrument that is your voice?  Versatility in pitch, rate, volume and quality can be displayed in speech, but I didn't hear it in your audition.  Next.
3. You gave me vocal variety, but only in one element: volume.  I believe Kate in Taming of the Shrew or Alan in Equus would use more than just volume to make a point.  Next.
4. You didn't use the appropriate accent.  Walter in Five Finger Exercise is German, an English-speaking German.  If you can't do German, why did you pick the piece?  The characters in Texas Trilogy are all Texans and should reflect that in their speech.  Your perfect, accentless stage diction is not appropriate for these selections.  Next.
5. Your articulation was sloppy.  If I can't understand you at a distance of five feet, how can I expect an audience of hundreds or thousands to understand you in a large theatre?  Next.
6. You didn't make the imaginary vivid.  As Emily in Our Town, you went through the motions of pointing out Main Street, the drug store, etc., but you didn't really see them before you named them, and thus you didn't make them vivid for your audience.  You have to make us see and feel and hear all the elements in your selection.  Next.
7. Your physical characterization was incomplete or non-existent.  Your gestures were loose, unfinished, uncontrolled; you wandered purposelessly around the stage.  Or your movements were too literal.  Othello's "men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders" does not necessarily call foe a contortionist routine.  Your physical characterization for Helena in A Midsummer Nights Dream was different, a little bizarre, and oddly effective.  When you used the same movements and physical characteristics in your scene from the very modern Beyond Therapy...and in your audition song, I realized you were showing us your own mannerisms, not those of a specific character.  Next.
8. You didn't adapt your blocking to your situation.  You have just preformed Uncommon Women at your college, so you repeated a scene and its blocking from that production for your audition piece.  Unfortunately (for your present audience) that performance was staged in the round.  We are not set up in the round for your audition, so you upstaged yourself at least half the time.  I want performers who are aware of the placement of their audience.  Next.
9. You showed us no sense of style.  Your presentations should allow us to see you adapting to the style of the piece, the flair of the character, and the behavior patterns of the time period.  If you do all of your scenes with the same Midwestern inflections and modern attitudes, I see no evidence of your ability to play different styles.  Next.
10. You didn't do anything.  You recited, and quite nicely, too, but that's all.  To "act" is to "do" after all, and I didn't see any "doing" taking place.  You fellow auditionees selected pieces with lots of inherent action, and these auditions were among the most interesting and successful.  Perhaps you think you will show me how malleable you are...a blank canvas, a neutral lump of clay ready to be delineated and shaped by the director.  If I am working on a production with a limited rehearsal schedule, or working on several shows in rep, I don't have time to mold each actor from a neutral state.  I want an actor who can think, who is imaginative, who contributes to the creation of the character and doesn't wait for it to be imposed upon him or her.  If you cannot create believable and appropriate actions for your character in an audition piece, I doubt if you can do it for an entire play.  Next.
11. You didn't smile or look at me.  You played to an audience way out yonder somewhere.  I'm sure the imaginary audience would have loved you had they been there, but I felt overlooked and ignored.  During the audition, I am your audience.  I am also the person looking to select a member of a company for the duration of the show or season.  I do appreciate a smile, sense of humor, a sense of enthusiasm, and an acknowledgement of my presence as your present audience and potential director.  I don't want to hire a company of Lady Macbeths.  A sense of humor is especially important in a stock situation if we are going to be living together in close quarters for an extended time.  Next.
12. You weren't energetic.  Sometimes the poor resume', the inappropriate selection, the lack of preparation and the bungled presentation can all be forgiven if you have enough energy and personality to compensate.  But if you don't light up a small meeting room in a hotel or an audition hall, how will you light up the stage?  Energy is paramount.  Without it, none of the rest matters; with it some of the shortcomings may be overlooked.  Next.
13. Perhaps you don't recognize any of your own faults and shortcomings among these examples.  Perhaps your audition was perfect, and Aunt Mildred still assures you that you will be the next Sarah Bernhardt and Uncle Harry dismisses all the directors who didn't cast you with "They got no taste."  In that case, maybe you just weren't right for the parts I had open.  If you are truly talented, prepared, educated, trained, energetic, disciplined, dedicated, and determined, you will undoubtedly eventually be cast by someone else in the part that is right for you.

1. "You didn't fit the image I had in my head of the character.  You were too tall, short, fat, thin, loud, soft, etc."   It is hard for actors to understand, but sometimes it is not what you did (or didn't do) in the audition, but simply that you were not what the director was looking for.  It is important for you (the actor) to control what IS in your control - knowing the monologue, hitting the right notes, being totally prepared, etc.  And then realize that there are elements that you have NO control over.  A director may come into an audition with a very specific idea for a certain character.  Other than what you are wearing or coloring your hair, you have very little control over your "look."  Just give the BEST audition you can...then let it go.  Who knows?  Maybe they are thinking 2 or 3 shows ahead (and most directors are) and you may be what they ARE looking for then.
2. This is an educational program.  For those students who are interested in theatre it is important to get some stage time.  You had a role in the first show in the fall, and I am thinking of you for a role in the spring (you just don't know that yet), therefore, I am going to use him/her because he/she hasn't had the stage time I feel he/she needs.  We learn by experience, and the only way to get it is to perform. 
3. Auditioning (especially for an educational program - high school or college/university) is an ongoing process.  "Do you remember how big a pain you were in the fall production?  I didn't direct it, but I heard about you.  You were late to practice, didn't learn your lines, etc.  I heard all about it."  It is VERY common for one director to seek input from other directors.  It is a good way to get a feel for your work ethic.  How you conduct yourself in one production directly affects how you will be perceived for future roles.  Remember: each day, every rehearsal, every whiney comment to the other students reflects on your body of work in the program. 
4. "I worked with you before."  Enough said.  You were difficult to direct.  You loved to add "cute" things on performance nights.  That is my pet peeve.  If we didn't discuss it in rehearsal, if we didn't set it in the rehearsal process, DON'T DO IT!  Every rehearsal for one production is an "audition" for all the rest to come.  You MUST be the best you can be EVERY TIME.  You didn't get the part you wanted so you really just "marked" most of the rehearsal process.  If you didn't show me the best "maid #3" you could be...why would I think you could handle the leading role?  Make every rehearsal count.  We remember!
5. You shot yourself in the foot.  You weren't ready to audition.  You weren't memorized, or you came in to read and told me how bad you were going to be.  I asked for 16 measures of a Broadway song.  You came in and sang "Happy Birthday" ... a Cappella.  REALLY???  If you are not going to take this audition seriously, why should I take you seriously?  It is better to NOT audition than to give an UNPREPARED audition.  Remember, you only get one chance to make a good first impression!  Your minute or two in the spotlight is where you need to shine.  Give yourself every opportunity to be your best.

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