On the heels of  the USA’s 4th of July holiday, I feel so lucky to live, as our “Star Spangled Banner” song lyrics states: “in the land of the free + the home of the brave.”

I’ve been thinking alot about these two words lately, and what it means to be free + brave. 

These two powerful words seem to also apply to being an actor.  This career path lends itself to having a free schedule, one that changes daily that can leave you with either too much free time or feeling a deep sense of freedom, joy + creativity, depending on how self-motivated you are +  what you do to stay inspired + growing.   Then, to put yourself out there, day after day + face rejection of all kinds, definitely makes pursuing an acting career a brave choice.  How free + brave do you feel?

Well, in the audition room, the more free + brave you can be, the more likely you are to be remembered, called back + hired for the job.

Ultimately,

When you are concerned about what everyone else thinks, odds are your actions won’t be coming from a place of feeling free + brave.  Once you let that go, you will find more peace + creativity in your life + your acting work.

As C+ C Music Factory says: “Free your mind + the rest will follow.”

Here are 5 Ways To Be Free + Brave In Every Audition

1) Let go of wondering what they’re looking for.

If you spend your time trying to figure out what they are looking for, you stifle your own creativity with left brain thinking.  This approach will not lead you to a free + brave audition.  Rather, find where you are just like the character and then find where you feel you are nothing like the character.  Dig deeper into the differences and find yourself in there + what they are looking for just might change to what you brought into the room that day.  See the freedom + bravery in that?

Free Your Mind: I let go of wondering what they are looking for.  I focus my attention on living this scene as if it is happening to me now.  I am present in this moment.  I am ready to talk, listen, connect + react.  I am here now. 

2) Let go of casting the job in the waiting room.

Your inner critic might like to look around the room + tell you all the reasons they’re not going to pick you or why “that actor” is going to get the role.  Instead of using your energy to guess what “they are going to hire,” funnel it back into putting yourself in the given circumstances of the scene + even as you sit there, aligning your mind with the feeling of being present in the moment + expecting a positive outcome.  The only thing you can control at this point is how free + brave you are going to allow yourself to be in this moment.  Casting the job in the waiting room before your audition will never help you bring your best self in the room + most often the actor your inner critic think will get the part, never does.

Free Your Mind: I let go of casting the job in the waiting  room.  I know my inner critic wants to make me wrong, but it is my inner critic that is wrong.  Today I focus on visualizing a positive outcome, aligning my mind with what I want + bringing my authentic self into the room. I always know that this or something better is on it’s way to me.  I relax + allow this audition to flow freely.

3) Let go of rehearsing your lines the same way.

Giving a truly free + brave performance is not about repeating what you planned at home, in  the car or in the lobby.  Give yourself the gift of rehearsing your lines in a variety of ways, while doing different tasks around the house + even in a variety of accents even. This exercise will help your memorization, keep you open + help you to not get stuck in doing it all one way over and over again.  Then when a director gives you an adjustment, you are free to play within the scene.  If you’ve just done the scene one way, your brain will actually have a hard time saying it out loud any other way.  Sing it, speak ti, even quietly do the scene while talking into your phone.  All of these different approaches will help you to be more free + brave in the actual audition.

Free Your Mind: I let go of rehearsing my lines the same way every time.  There is never one way to do a scene.  I am open to discovering all the possibilities within my work + open to uncovering something new every time I do the scene.  I bring a sense of freedom, bravery + play to every audition because I am not holing on to how I “think” this should go.  I am open + in the moment…just like real life.

4) Let go of feeling you have to prove your worth.

So many actors use auditioning to prove they are worthy to be there.  You already got called in!  They want you in the room.  They didn’t call you in to prove you should be there.  They called you in because they feel you are right for the role.  So no matter who is in the room or who is in the lobby, you are not there to prove your worth.  Start thinking of your first audition as a callback, since essentially, that’s kind of what it is.  Over the thousands of submissions casting directors get for each role, getting an audition time is really the second phase of the process. change your perception of it + you will feel more free + brave to do what you do confidently + without apology.

Free Your Mind: I let go of feeling I have to prove my worth.  I am worthy because I exist.  I am worthy becasue I am here.  I no longer find reasons to feel that I am not enough.  Instead I step into my own light + am ready to shine my light brightly. I am here to solve their casting problem.  I am here to show them how it’s done.  I am here to be free + brave + full of the joy of performing in this moment.  I do my work confidently  + leave.  That’s it.

5) Let go of  trying to book the job.

My best advice to actors is to go be a reader at an audition.  You will learn so much by watching the unspoken energy each actor gives off just by walking into the room. The actors who come in the room with a strong need to book the job, rarely do.  But the actor who comes in just feeling free + brave + ready to play within the scene is captivating.  The actor who let’s go of all of their choices, connects with the reader + free-falls within the scene is 100 times more interesting than the actor whose main intention is to book the job.  Do yourself the favor of making your goal to connect, play + let the rest go.

Free Your Mind:
I let go of trying to book the job.  I trust in the future I cannot see.  I know that the right roles are on their way to me + I am only in control of being in the moment + giving a free + brave performance.  I know that when I continue to play organically in the audition room, the jobs will come.  I am having so much fun being an actor + things align for me easily + effortlessly when I am not trying, pushing or needing anything to happen.  I am detached + at peace.

Here’s to being more free + more brave in every audition!   What tools do you use to “free your mind?”  I’d love to hear  how you stay free + brave in the audition room. Leave a comment below + let me know.

Love + Gratitude,

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