Local actors, directors offer advice, anecdotes on the trying process of trying out

Frightening, yes. Fatal, no.

Auditioning can be the former, shouldn't be the latter.

"I had a guy crash an audition after he didn't get a callback," recalls Phil Shelburne, director of P.S. Productions. "He said, 'I am this role and you've made a fatal mistake.' He said I needed to see him or I'd be putting the entire production at risk. It got a little physical."

There's no business like local show business, huh? You're the Pacino of Vegas? The De Niro of Green Valley? The Streep of Summerlin? Know the drill to make the bill.

"We call auditions the closest we get to sports," says John Beane, director of the Insurgo Theater Movement. "You're jumping into the lion's den, beating against the walls to see who's got the inner fire to stick around."

That make you nervous, Nellie? Shelburne soothes jangled jitters at the den door. "I don't have anybody field the door, I greet them myself, take a couple of seconds to joke with them, let them know we're friendly because everybody is horribly nervous," he says.

You're there. You're calm(er). But are you prepped? Let's backtrack. Before all else? Accurately interpret the audition notice. "I just put out audition notices for 'Don't Dress for Dinner,' " says actor/director Brian Scott, who'll helm the January production at Las Vegas Little Theatre. "The age range says 40s and 50s. It doesn't mean you have to be 40s and 50s, it means you have to look it."

You've assessed yourself, now assess your material. "If I'm not familiar with the play, I go get it and read the entire thing, see if there are characters I'd like to play, and read it again before I go in," says T.J. Larsen, who has acted and directed at the Little Theatre and the College of Southern Nevada.

There's also the multimedia approach. "I'll see a YouTube video, see if there's a movie, study the show so you know the style," says Jennifer De La Torre, who recently appeared in "West Side Story" at Spring Mountain Ranch State Park. "The 16 bars you have to sing have to be from that show or the same style."

Auditioning for "The Sound of Music"? Don't wow 'em with a selection from "The Who's Tommy."

Strategic planning also is advisable. "I want to go first because then everybody has to be better than I am," Scott says. "Some people figure they can come in late and people who are reading first are going to be a little tired. And you should wear something striking so you stand out. Never chew gum, never bring food."

Required to share a scene with another actor? Open yourself up to the partnership. "The name of the game when you're acting is interacting, trying to get a relationship built in a short amount of time at an audition," Larsen says. "You're both floating in an open sea and have only each other for support."

Got a cough? A flaming infection? Get cough suppressant and penicillin. "I was sick at the 'West Side Story' audition but I didn't tell them," De La Torre recalls. "That's the worst thing you can do. The director will think you're making excuses."

And be ready for a director who'll test your direct-ability.

"I'll give them some adjustments to see if they can assimilate notes," Shelburne says. "Do they fight you or are they malleable?"

While the director's reading you, you can read the director. "They think they're poker-faced, but it's usually a good thing if they're writing something," Scott says. "If not, it often means, 'Whoops.' "

Preparedness is mostly preferred, but Insurgo favors spontaneity. "Time gets wasted on formalities," Beane says. "We're not about being polished, but getting right into the relationships between the characters. We used to ask for a monologue, so if it's Shakespeare we'd want to be sure you could handle the language, but how many skulls do I need to see in the hands of would-be Hamlets while casting 'Othello'?"

Dynamics between actors and directors -- what actors believe they're capable of and what directors will settle for -- can shortchange a production, says Steve Huntsman, who directed "Once On This Island" and appeared in "Beauty and the Beast" at Spring Mountain Ranch. "Sometimes an actor can't see their limitations, whether they're right for the role, so it's hard for them to trust the director to do that," Huntsman says. "But there are directors who don't want to go looking for the perfect person, so they'll cast based on who shows up. There have been a lot of miscastings in the community."

And if you stroll in for a specific role and everything about you -- weight, height, shape, hair color, demeanor -- screams are you kidding me? to a director, you might still score a shot to impress. "I'm open-minded," Shelburne says. "I love being surprised, when somebody pulls something off you didn't think in a million years they could do."

At Signature Productions, director Leslie Fotheringham coaxes auditioners who demonstrate potential, and shows mercy to those who don't. "If I can tell there's no way it's going to work, I'm courteous," she says. "I may ask them to sing again, just for their own experience."

Beane rejects such an attitude toward rejects. "We don't spend time making sure everyone feels applauded for," Beane says. "It's taken me five years to let people go in the middle of an audition. If something is not clicking, it's better to communicate that."

FYI: On the pre-audition form, if you're unwilling to accept roles other than the one you came for -- say so.

"We want them to check that box honestly," Fotheringham says. "When they don't, they've wasted my time because I've based my casting on their responses on the audition sheet. We don't appreciate that."

Get the gig? Cool. No? Chill. "Somebody told me, 'When you don't get cast in a show, look at it as a gift the director gave you as six weeks of your life,' " Scott says.

If you must confront a director about their clearly wrongheaded decision to deny you a role, remember:

Fatalities are frowned upon.

Contact reporter Steve Bornfeld at sbornfeld@review journal.com or 702-383-0256.