Improv auditions are hard. There’s so much pressure to perform well and make all your best improv moves while still supporting other auditioners and making them look good.
I thought handling that pressure was one of the most difficult things I’d ever done… and then I helped plan auditions for my own indie group. It took weeks and involved editing millions of spreadsheets. (I’ll actually take the blame for that one, as I’m the most Type A in my group.)
So sure, holding auditions is much less nerve-wracking than being in front of a panel of judges. But it isn’t necessarily easier.
I will say that I found learning how to hold auditions to be an important part of growing as a team. As is often the case, my indie team started out as a group of friends and classmates who wanted to improvise regularly.
While forming a group with my friends was fun (and convenient), we didn’t really consider issues like diversity, inclusivity, or adding the most talented improvisers who fit our dynamic to our team when creating our ensemble. So when a teammate moved out of state, we decided that holding open auditions would be our best bet for finding new improv additions for our team.
If you also find yourself in the position of looking for new members, you might want to consider holding auditions instead of just extending an invitation to that cool kid from your Level Four class to play in and see how it goes… even if it is stressful.
How do you hold an audition for your group?
Holding improv auditions isn’t a light undertaking. It involves a lot of planning and coordination with your teammates. However, holding auditions can help ensure that you see a wide range of talent and find the best players to join your ensemble.
I’ve tried to lay out some of the most important steps you’ll have to take throughout the audition process. Follow the steps that work for your group and get ready to cross paths with some really cool improvisers in your community.
Before the audition
In my experience, planning is the hardest part of holding auditions. There are so many things to prepare and arrange. But all of the planning and coordination is necessary if you want your auditions to go smoothly and for your auditioners to have the best experience possible.
Plan to hold auditions on different days
You might think it’s in your group’s best interest to get auditions done in one fell swoop. While holding auditions on a single day means coordinating fewer schedules for your team members, it’s not very accommodating for your auditioners.
Holding auditions on at least two different days across several different time slots gives people a chance to work your auditions into their schedules. That way they can more easily plan around work or travel. Providing different options will also hopefully put auditioners more at ease since they’ll be able to avoid stressful time crunches.
What you should do
Pick at least two days, preferably one weekend and one weeknight, and schedule at least two audition time slots on each day. This will require some juggling when assigning auditioners to time slots, but it gives more people a better chance to audition for your group.
Find a place that will accommodate your auditions
Your biggest concern will probably be audition space. Especially if you’re anticipating a large audition group, you’ll want to find a place where your auditioners can move around and don’t feel like they’re improvising on top of each other.
However, if your indie team practices regularly, you probably already know the headache that finding space for your team involves. Here are a few places your team can look into if you’re short on space options:
- A DC public library branch—All you need is a DC library card, and you have free access to first-come, first-serve spaces. Large meeting rooms can fill up fast, so you’ll want to pounce on space that’s available on your chosen dates.
- Someone’s apartment—If someone in your group has a community room in their apartment (or a very large living space), see if you can reserve it.
- Available office (or school) space—WIT holds auditions at CentroNía and sometimes allows groups to rent classrooms at a low cost if they’re available. You can also look into WeWork or similar spaces, or see if someone’s office can offer you an unoccupied conference room for a few hours.
What you should do
Look into any of the above spaces—or any other space you can find—and check them against your group’s availability. Consider booking different spaces for different days to accommodate auditioners in different locations. (Fair warning, you might have to do this anyway, as space—especially no-cost space—books up quickly.)
Create your audition submission form
You’ll probably want to collect some basic information about auditioners. If nothing else, you’ll need to know their names and availability so you can schedule their audition slots.
You might also want to collect some other information, like improv and performance experience and why an auditioner is interested in joining your group. You can also choose to ask about race or sexual orientation if you’re committed to diversity on your team. However, if you’re asking sensitive questions, here are a few suggestions:
- Either make personal questions optional or provide a “prefer not to answer” option.
- Commit to team discretion. Ensure that no one on your team will share information about auditioners, and reassure auditioners that their information will not be shared outside of your team’s audition form.
What you should do
The easiest way to gather information and distribute your form is probably creating a shareable Google Form. You can make a copy of this template and edit it according to your group’s needs if you don’t want to start from scratch.
Talk about how you’re going to make auditions inclusive and comfortable for everyone involved
One of the huge benefits of conducting auditions is meeting and interacting with amazing improvisers you might never have met otherwise. However, bringing different people together also means that your indie group is responsible for creating a space where everyone feels they can put their best improv foot forward.
What you should do
The members and participants of the Diversity in DC Improv Facebook group have put together some improv audition recommendations that you should definitely check out. Have a discussion with your teammates about actions, language, and behavior you won’t allow during auditions. For example, one good rule of thumb is discouraging touching other auditioners or invading personal space during the audition. Setting this ground rule before auditions start lets auditioners know you’re committed to making them feel comfortable and helps prevent uncomfortable situations before they happen.
Promote on social media
Now that you have all the logistics planned, you need to make sure people know you’re holding auditions. The best way to spread the word about your group’s upcoming audition is to share it around the good ol’ internet.
What you should do
A lot of the steps you might already follow to promote your group’s shows are applicable when you’re spreading the word about auditions:
- Have all your group members post a link to your audition form on their personal social media accounts.
- Share links and audition information on all of your group’s social media accounts.
- Post in any improv-related Facebook groups that you know potential auditioners visit.
- Posts with images get more attention. You can make simple graphics with free programs like Canva or Piktochart, or even share group photos to show how much fun you have together.
- Consider paid Facebook advertising so more people see your posts. They’re relatively inexpensive compared with other paid advertising methods, especially if your group splits the cost between all of your existing members.
Reach out to people you think would be a good fit
You don’t have to rely solely on improv Facebook groups to connect you with improvisers who might perform well with your group. If you’d like someone to audition for the group, be sure to reach out to them and let them know that you’re holding auditions.
What you should do
Send a link to your audition form directly to improvisers who you think would be a good fit for your group. Simply let them know that you’re holding auditions and you’d love to see them there if they’re interested.
Create a schedule for the audition
As audition form responses start coming in, you’re going to want to keep track of who can audition when.
What you should do
I’m a fan of lists, so I suggest creating a detailed spreadsheet to track all the groups in your different audition time slots. Try to make the audition groups an equal size. Once you have all your responses in and have solidified schedules, reach out to auditioners to confirm dates and times.
During the audition
It’s time! You’ve received audition slot confirmation and cancellations. Your auditioners are all gathered in the audition space. Now what?
Set expectations
Walk the auditioners through what you have planned for them. Let them know which warm-ups you’ll do, what kind of choices you’re looking to see, and what format they’ll be playing with during the audition.
Set physical boundaries and let everyone know that disrespectful speech and acts won’t be tolerated.
Take notes
I’m a fan of spreadsheets, and I’m also a fan of extensive notes! Taking notes can be difficult because you want to pay attention to everyone’s improv choices. In general, if someone does something you really like, note it. If someone does something you really hate, note it. Whatever you think sets one auditioner apart from the others, write it down, good or bad. Trust me, after a long day of auditions, you won’t remember who did what. You’ll need notes so you can support your thoughts about auditioners when it comes time to pick who’s made the team.
Let auditioners know when you’ll make a decision
Before your auditioners leave, tell them when they can expect to hear from you. Recall your own audition experiences. Is there anything more emotionally stressful than opening your email 300 times a day to see if you have a message from an improv group you’re waiting to hear back from?
I didn’t think so.
Don’t be that improv group. Let auditioners know when they’ll be receiving that make-or-break email.
After the audition
It’s decision time! You’ve seen some talented improvisers, and now you have to pick which ones you think should join your team. I know I said planning was stressful, but making these decisions on new team members is also difficult.
Keep these discussions respectful, and commit to listening to your team members’ thoughts.
Consider group fit as well as improv skills
Do your prospective new members have styles of play that would groove well with or complement the rest of your group? Were they nice to other auditioners? Did they respect the guidelines you set forth? You don’t have to take on a jerk just because they were the best improviser in the group. Of course, you want to add people with amazing improv skills, but if they have a toxic personality, they might not be your best choice.
Don’t be afraid to schedule callbacks
If you know someone is a great improviser but feel like you need to see more of what they can do before offering them a spot on the team, you can schedule callbacks. Callbacks are an opportunity to see what individual improvisers can do for and with your team. They’re also an opportunity for an auditioner to get to know your team better and decide for themselves if you’re a good fit.
Be kind in your rejection emails
Don’t be dismissive, but don’t be patronizing, either. Tell auditioners who didn’t make it that you appreciated their time, and let them down easy. You don’t have to lie or gush about their performance or a specific scene they did, but you should be genuine to and respectful of the auditioners you’re turning down.
Ask auditioners for feedback
There’s no such thing as the perfect audition, even for professional theaters. There are always ways your group can grow and learn and things you can do differently if you hold auditions in the future.
Auditioners who recently participated in your audition process will be the best source of direct feedback. Take note of what they say and incorporate relevant tips next time you hold auditions.
Break legs!
Everyone will say this to your auditioners, but you’ll probably need a little bit of luck, too.
Work with your team to keep track of all the moving parts of your auditions. Plan in advance, but keep in mind that you’ll still have to react and adapt to last-minute changes. Good news, though: all your improv training should prepare your group for that.
Other posts you might find interesting:
- More interested in kicking butt as an auditioner? Check out veteran DC improviser Topher Bellavia’s tips.
- Find some free tools to stay organized while planning your auditions.
- Have sky-high ambitions and are looking to plan something bigger than improv auditions? Read up on how to plan a comedy marathon.
