Seems an odd thing to think of in Portland, but if you are new to acting...cattle call is not what you think it is and it's a pretty big deal in it’s own right here in Portland. The cattle call is where a large audition notice goes out for a show and hundreds of people come out. If you are auditioning for one of these cattle calls be sure to give yourself plenty of time to stand in line. At one call for Les Miserables, people who arrived at six a.m. for a 9 a.m. call got numbers handed out to them in the 300s. Over 800 people attended that day and the director and casting director asked for eight bars of music. That’s not a lot of time in which to showcase yourself, maybe 30 to 45 seconds depending on the tempo of the song.
It’s important to stand out the best you can at Portland cattle calls. Wear bright colored clothing, a scar, a hat, something to set you apart from the other 800 people vying for the coveted role. Oh and by the way that Les Miserables audition There were no roles available; it was just a required call by that company. Still, there was always the chance you could wow one of the casting directors and producers so much that they happen to keep you in mind for when a role does open up and sometimes that is just the way the cookie crumbles in this business.
In a final note here, always be sure to give yourself a good window of time when you are scheduling events after auditions. That way if the director or producer happens to be running late you won't have to worry about it affecting any plans you may have after that audition.
Be at least fifteen minutes early to any audition for which you have a time slot and use your best judgement on the more generic auditions. These tend to bring out more people and you may find the auditions run out of time to see people too sometimes in Portland. Most of all, have fun! Auditioning is an opportunity to perform. When you look at it that way, you’ll find that you have less stress and apprehension when standing up before the casting directors in Portland and most of all, give it your all.
