Acting Tips: Auditions are Incubators of Your Fears

Auditions are incubators for your fear because your brain is said to survive and the number one fear of humans is to speak in front of people. The number two fear is to burn to death. So think about that. There are people who would rather burn to death than get up and speak in front of people. But you're an actor and you love to get up in front of people, but then your brain goes, "Uh, survival. Oh my gosh, don't look stupid. Don't look silly. Don't forget your lines." And then we our brain goes into fear and it goes into survival brain. Okay? And the reason I'm doing this is because this is your amygdala. That's where the fear lives in your brain. And this is your brain. All right? And so when it's activated, what happens is you go into fight, flight, freeze, or fawn. So I've now met two actors that tell me when they're in the audition room, they get pissed. They get angry. In fact, this one told me yesterday that she gets enraged when she gets notes back from the casting. And she's like, I know I shouldn't, but why am I? Well, and then I'm the one who freezes. I kind of go, "Oh, forgot all the lines. Don't know what I'm doing." And then there's a lot of actors who fawn who are like, "Oh, I think you're so great. Yes, absolutely. Yes, I know what I'm doing. Yes, I'm going to please the casting director." Right? And then there's a whole bunch of actors who don't show up for the audition. That's called flight. So fight the anger, flight, don't show up. Fawn is pleasing the other person. And freeze is just like every my whole brain goes blank. All right. So if you do any of these, which you probably do is and you want to stop doing them, the first thing is you have to acknowledge that that's just how your brain works. Okay, that's normal. And so then we have to tell our brain, I'm safe. It's okay if I blow a line. It's okay. Um if I don't get this job, I will still make money another way. We still have to tell ourselves we're safe, but also to get into character, we've got to ask the right questions because your brain is going, "Who's out to get me? Where am I? Who are these people? Who wants to hurt me? And where did I come from?" All right. So, interestingly, the first question of the nine questions is what are the relationships? Where does it take place? What happened the moment before? And what's the conflict in the scene? So, these will help your brain relax. They'll get you out of your head. They'll make you feel safe. They calm you down. So, when you're in your audition, you are you can deliver and be your very best. So, the way you use these questions, it's question number one of the nine questions is ask the question before when you're preparing the scene and you're preparing your script. And then when you get in the audition, same thing. Think what are the relationships? Who am I talking to? Where am I? And focus and create and imagine where you are and then what happened the moment before like where was I? What what brought me here? What's the what makes me say my first line or do my first action? And then what's the conflict in the scene? Like who's coming after me? Right? And when you answer those, your brain will calm down and you will be more prepared when you start your audition. And you might have a little bit of freeze, but you'll go, "What are the relationships? Where's it take place? What happened the moment before? And why? What's the conflict in the scene?