Be a Tourist at your Next Audition

By Jenna Pastuszek

Consider: The two most common groups of Broadway theatre goers are New Yorkers and  tourists. 

A tourist arrives at the theatre well ahead of time. They unashamedly enjoy an overpriced  drink in a souvenir cup at the bar, buy some tasty snacks, read the Playbill, take a curtain selfie,  and spend a lengthy amount of time before the show settling into the space and enjoying the  ambiance. 

On the other hand, a New Yorker knows that the show starts not at 8pm, but 8:03pm, so they  wait until the last possible second to run in, grab their held tickets at the box office, practically  usher themselves to their seat, just in time to unzip their puffy coat before the curtain comes  up, to finally sit back, with arms crossed, offering up the challenge to “Entertain me…or else”. 

Perhaps this difference in attitude explains why tourists are so quick to jump up for the  standing ovation: they entered the space ready and open for enjoyment and appreciation,  rather than the rest of us who rush in to judge and DARE the show to exceed our ridiculously  high expectations. 

What if we approach our auditions more like tourists? 

What if we arrive well ahead of the proverbial curtain going up and walk into auditions with an  eager, open, positive, optimistic attitude? 

What if we subconsciously decide ahead of time to give a standing ovation to ourselves and the  experience before it even happens? 

What if we spent more time celebrating the things that we liked about the show (audition)  instead of complaining about the things we didn’t? 

I dare you, dear reader, to accept this challenge…OR ELSE. :-)