LISTEN
The main thing actors forget to do when reading with a Casting Director, is LISTEN to them. This is always very hard for actors because they are used to working with other actors who give something back to them, and listening is easy. But, when a Casting Director is reading with an actor, they are usually just feeding the actor the lines, not trying to “act” with them. Sometimes they are not very good readers as they are watching you at the same time they are reading with you. Or sometimes they aren’t looking at you at all or sometimes they attempt to “act it”, making things worse for the actor.
The actor’s tendency is to put a wall up between them and the Casting Director, expecting to get nothing back, so they are “acting” by themselves. This leads to merely waiting for the Casting Director to finish speaking and thinking about “how” you are going to say your next line. The actor shifts into a technical performance instead of being in the moment.
My ex-Mother-In-Law (Ok I’ve only had 2), the wonderful Tony Award winning actress Frances Sternhagen, told me a story many years ago when I first started casting theater in New York. She was doing a play and they cast opposite her a TV actor who had done very little theater. He never looked at her on stage when they were performing, and it frustrated her greatly that she wasn’t getting anything back from her fellow actor. She said she had to “look” at him every night and “hear” him every night “as if” he was giving her what she needed. I was just starting to cast at the time and I thought “That is exactly like an audition! You never get back what you need when reading with a Casting Director or reader.”
Sanford Meisner always said, if you are not getting back from another actor what you need when performing, you have to “let the words be enough”. That’s what an actor has to do when in an audition. LISTEN to the words the Casting Director is reading…not “how” they are saying it, but “what” they are saying.
Listening to the Casting Director grounds you in the present moment. The most interesting auditions are watching an actor listen… and it is easy to spot an actor who is listening and an actor who is waiting for his next line.