So you’re an actor who has just blown in from Oregon and you’d like to show your stuff to a D.C. casting director. Or you’re a WATCH-award winning community theatre actor who wants to step up into the professional ranks. Or you’ve just successfully handled a supporting role in a production by a small professional theatre and you want to expand your horizons.
What do you do?
In years gone by, the League of Washington Theatres held area-wide auditions for actors in the DMV once a year. Theatres from all over the area sent their representatives to gauge the suitability of each hopeful for the open roles in their schedule for the coming year. Alas, the League of Washington Theatres is no more.
Miraculously, the auditions are still going on.
They’re proceeding under the auspices of the National Conservatory of the Dramatic Arts, a Georgetown theatre teaching institution. School Director, Nan Ficca, says that the Conservatory stages these auditions in the first weekend of December.
“We see 300 actors over the Saturday/Sunday. Round House donates their rehearsal space to us in Silver Spring,” says Ficca. “We typically have 40-50 theatre companies who send reps to audit the audition, and most of the equity theatres send reps as well.”
Audition hopefuls should have a monologue prepared – and then be ready to think on their feet. “The thing that distinguishes this audition from others is that we have a small team of auditors – like Jason Schlafstein of Flying V, [veteran director and casting director] Jenna Duncan and others who after each person does their monologue, gives the actor an adjustment, which they then incorporate (hopefully) into their monologue as they present it again so auditors can see what these actors can do in the moment,” Ficca says.
The Conservatory’s first-year students do much of the hard work of assuring that the audition proceeds smoothly: registering the hopefuls, passing out headshots and resumes, serving as timers, and so on. This, Ficca points out, is part of their education. “[The students] can see how a big open call works before it’s their turn to audition.”
The December audition is not the only thing that the Conservatory is doing to make area actors aware of opportunities to ply their trade, Ficca says. Seven years ago, she created the DC Non Equity Theatre Facebook Page, in which theatre companies (including community theatres) and independent filmmakers post audition notices. The closed group, Ficca says, has nearly 8,000 members.
The Facebook page does “not accept the pages who ask to join and have nothing to do with the arts – just things to sell,” Ficca says. “Otherwise – anyone who asks to join is accepted – no previous acting experience is required.”
Ficca has some advice for aspiring actors: “Please, professional headshot and resume – know the industry standards and follow them!” If you want to do film work, “having a reel…and a web site is critical to being taken seriously.” Even for folks who are doing theatre for fun, there are some standards. “The car selfie – I just can’t even!” Ficca shudders.
She also has some ideas about how aspiring actors ought to make themselves known to the casting community. “Familiarize yourself with who’s who and who’s where and what they do.” She lists some resources: “DC Theatre Scene and Theatre Washington, The Actors’s Center and the [email protected] List Serve – subscribe to all of these.”
But the bottom line for actors who want to understand professional theatre in the DMV is that they must “research company web sites and then GO SEE things!” Ficca says. “I have an ever-growing resource list a give to my students here at the Conservatory in our Business of Acting class – the number of Facebook groups for industry information grows daily.”
But she has a cautionary note, too. “the number of scams does too,” she warns, “most unfortunately.”
The National Conservatory of Dramatic Arts is holding the first Open House of the season, Sunday, Aug 18, 2019 at 1556 Wisconsin Ave NW, Washington, DC 20007.
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