Now that we’ve covered what goes into an audition, we can look at the real deal.

I’ve auditioned for 13 shows in my life. Thinking about the fact that each show takes months to prepare and perfect, that’s a great deal of shows. It is very likely and highly possible that due to my extensive background in theatre, you would imagine auditions are no big deal, old hat, not a problem. After all, I must be used to them by now, right?

Wrong.

Truly, you never “get used to” auditions. There should never be a point where you believe an audition is no big deal because you’ve done it a million times before. If you get to that point, you are too cocky, and your performance will suffer because of it. Each audition should feel nerve racking and even scary. It should cause your heart to race and your pulse to skyrocket. It should feel like you can live and die in that one moment that you start performing. Ever heard some sort of variation of, “live every day like it’s your last”? Well, there’s a saying very similar that is widely known among performers.

Perform like it’s opening night.

This means exactly what you think it means. Opening night is arguably the most important night in the life span of a show. It is the first time you can show the world a piece of art that means so much to so many people. It is the night that defines how successful you have been the past few months, and it can set the tone for any other shows to come. Opening night should be performed at 150%. Likewise, every time you perform, you should be acting 150%, like it really is the most important thing you will ever do.

So imagine you’re in the audition room. You walk in, you say hello to the judges or director or whoever is watching, make a few comments that could be mildly amusing or at least engaging, and then perform whatever it was you prepared like it’s the most important thing you’ll ever do.

And see the frantic scribbling on papers the director is doing? Can you make out what she’s writing? Does that say wonderful or horrible?

Guess what? It doesn’t matter. You are performing to the best of your ability, so lift your head, stop trying to look at that paper, and simply enjoy yourself! This could be the audition to end all auditions- and shouldn’t it be?

So get out there, and perform like it’s opening night.