Why aren't you Listening and Reacting in your auditions?
Listening and Reacting is ACTING. When in doubt…listen and react!
This is not “new” news Actors. If you are not listening and reacting in your scenes now is the time to start. If you’d prefer to watch my video on this just check it out below.
Why is listening and reacting important? Well, it keeps you in the scene, keeps you out of your head, and keeps you moment to moment. I can tell when an actor is not listening because they are not fully present and not reacting to the reader and scene partner.
What if you get a terrible reader? Well, even if really listen to those words it will illicit reactions and feelings. It will actually make you listen more.
How do you get better at listening? Just practice. Always do a take where you just focus on listening to your scene partner.
SPOILER ALERT: It will help you with your lines too. When you listen, you react with your line and hence you don’t need to think about what your next line is. Of course, you need to get them down somewhat but it’s a great way of learning lines also.
Don’t believe me yet….Go to 2.10 in this video: