In an audition setting, you are creating a performance that – ostensibly – happens within the context of a larger story. To give your character a reason to say the lines they are about to say, you need to know why they are about to say them.
If your line is, “I’ve been waiting for you,” consider how you would say that line as if:
- The other person is running late for opening night of the latest blockbuster and you don’t have reserved seats in the theater;
- You are an employee of a boss and you have bad news to give;
- The other person saunters in, looking at their phone -10 minutes late;
- You are waiting in the other character’s home and the lights are out until they walk in and turn them on, which is your cue;
- You have prepared an elaborate dinner for the other person on a night they did not expect you to be home;
- You are the parent of a child returning home after curfew.
Each of these situations evokes a different feeling from the people in the scene. There are different stakes for each character (late to a movie vs. being grounded for the rest of your life). Deciding what has happened in the moment before the scene begins helps you to understand what the character would be feeling, and therefore how a line can be delivered.
It is more important to decide upon a moment before and a moment after than it is to decide how to say a line. How you say the line is determined by all of the things going on with the character – so you have to know those things.
The moment after is what happens immediately after the scene. If your character has professed love for the other, what does the other person’s face look like? Are they about to reciprocate your character’s expression of love? Or are they about to break your character’s heart? How you close your audition monologue or scene – your button, which helps the audience know that your scene is over – will be determined by the moment after. Does your character walk off? Have they lost? Won?
If you have access to the full script, you absolutely should read it. If you do not have the full script, then do your best to make logical decisions about the world of the scene, why the character would say these lines, and how they feel at the end of the scene.
Remember: The beginning of the scene is not the character’s first moment of life, and the end of the scene is not the end of this character’s life (unless it’s a death scene), and so the character needs to have more to their story. Knowing your moment before and your moment after will enrich your performances.