Monologues leave you all by yourself

Actors have been conditioned to bring monologues to perform at auditions

for the casting director, producer, or director. I’m not a fan of monologues

because rarely do you have a film where the actor is talking for three minutes

straight with no interaction from other characters. Monologues are more

suited in auditioning for stage plays, as they tend to make the actor project

(reach and speak louder).

 When an actor prefers to do a monologue, do what I do: Have the actor pick

someone in the room to talk to, and then have that person sit or stand at the

distance he would if he were in the actual scene. This helps the actor better

target his voice level and emotions. You can also have the other person

silently react, so the performing actor has some interaction with a live person.

Doing this eliminates another problem: Many actors who perform monologues

make the mistake of talking to the casting director or person conducting the

auditions (the director or producer) — something akin to looking straight into

the camera, which is a no-no! If you’re conducting the auditions, you want to

observe the performance, not feel like you’re part of it.