If you really want to “up your game” when it comes to booking roles, you should take advantage of a tool that most actors use – private coaching!
Not long ago, I coached a very well known film actress to prepare her to audition for a Broadway play. She’s worked very successfully in films, but a Broadway stage would be a new arena for her and she really wanted to get this part. The director loved her, but didn’t see her as the character and her agent hadn’t been successful in trying to convince him otherwise. Finally, she offered to pay her own way to New York City and audition for him. It was an offer he couldn’t refuse.
She came to me and said, “I really have to prepare for this audition. I’m going to be reading on the stage where the play is being done. I have to prove to them I can play this character big time. I have to get this part.”
So the first thing we did was study the script, the scene she was reading, and talk about the character. The character was unlike any she had played before so we spent time looking at how she and the two were alike and how they were different. The actress was quite beautiful, soft-spoken, and very sensual. The character was strong, willful, and had no filter. Add those characteristics to performing on a Broadway stage and any comfort zone that might have been there went away.
As the actress began to find the character and was feeling more secure with the part, I took her to a theater to rehearse so that she would develop the skills and muscles necessary to perform on the stage. She knew her craft, but needed ring time on the stage physically and vocally. We changed her look to that of the character by pulling her hair back, not wearing make-up, and donning baggy clothes. It was a huge transformation and enabled her to fully become the part.
We worked day and night pushing the boundaries further and further away. Was she ready? Could she walk on that stage make them believe she was this woman and could be a commanding presence on the stage? The director was looking for someone who had the chops to perform on Broadway and told her so.
No matter what the outcome was to be, she felt she’d conquered her fears and felt so much stronger as an actress for having fought and trained for something she believed she could do. At the end of the audition, the director shook his head and told her he never would have imagined she could have transformed herself so thoroughly into the woman she was playing. She’d won him over and she got the part.
Whether you’re only beginning to study or just want to fine tune your skills and improve in areas where you feel weak, it can make a big difference to find a coach who believes in you and can help to take you all the way.
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© 2015 Lynette McNeill Studios