Learning to Act
Take classes. You can find most acting academies online. Start with a small local theatre school, such as Helen O Grady's or DanceWorx. Try it for a term, and if it doesn't appeal to you, then back out. Make sure you can commit to the time and money it takes to train before you enter the industry.
Start looking further. If you aren't feeling challenged and stretched to your utmost, enroll in a more exclusive academy that requires you to audition for a place and has exams and plays each term/semester. The younger you start, the better.
Commit. Continue going to these classes, despite how you feel day-to-day. Make sure you are learning to project and enunciate, and get a feel for different roles. Ensure that you are being taught about many different genres, such as physical comedy and absurdism. It is a good idea to spend more than a year learning before you go on to auditioning.
Finding Your Genre
Know when you're ready to find your genre. Once you have learned the basic skills required to act, like projection, expression, and body language, as well as learning about the basic elements of drama: tension, mood, place, space, etc, you need to find your genre. But how?
Make sure you know as many genres as possible. Some popular ones are melodrama, mime, realism, absurdism, and musical theatre. A good place to begin with genres before you look any further are the three main categories: film, plays, and cinematic theatre. From there, it will be easier to find a genre.
Explore a shortlist of your favourite genres on a deeper level. Have a look at YouTube tutorials and ask your instructor to help you out outside of group classes.
Learn the basic skills needed for your genre. For example, if you do miming, learn how to suggest a sound without your voice, and learn to over-exaggerate expressions.
Find your favorite genre. This one needs to be truly explored on a deeper level.
Getting Out There
Don't worry about getting an agent right away. You are now ready to look for plays to take part in! Many people think the only way to begin is to get an agent, but this is really difficult, because agents don't look at most applications without a brilliant recommendation, etc, etc, and their slush pile is ten years old. As well as this, a lot of agencies these days are actually just scams. So be your own agent! How, you may ask?
Find auditions at local community theatres. Apply for an audition for every play you like the look of—and which you can make the time commitments to.
Find a monologue (and possibly a song or a dance routine). Learn this, but not just the lines—they are the least important when you are actually performing. Focus on light and shade, expression, projection, and movement.
Banish the nerves! Practice in front of friends, your mirror, or in an elevator with strangers! The sooner you become comfortable with the uncomfortable, the better you will do with your audition, and eventually, your performance.
Be prepared to do whatever they say. You may have to do a cold read, which means performing a script excerpt ten minutes after receiving it, and they may ask you to perform your monologue differently, teach you a dance routine, or ask "strange" questions. Just go with it! They want to test and stretch you. It's important to remember that these people want to cast you; they're on your side!
Take every offer you can. At this stage, you can't afford to be picky. Eventually, you may want to perform a cabaret or approach an agency, and sooner or later, you will want to reach past local theatres. Maybe one day you'll make it big!
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