Thank you, No: When You're Rejected After an Audition

If you’ve been an actor for any length of time, you probably know you’re going to suffer through your share of rejections. If you’re an actor in a city like New York, you may be getting more rejections than you ever thought possible.

The good news, if there is any, is that most actors will tell you to expect a bumpy ride in the early stages of your journey. Even if or when you are successful, you’re still likely to lose out on parts that seemed like a perfect fit for you.

If you’re lucky enough to get an agent, he or she can submit your name for auditions and give you a head start toward getting seen. If you don’t have an agent, you can still find plenty of audition opportunities, including open calls.

I won’t go into all the ins and outs of open calls and how to sign up for them in New York, but you can find information at the links in this sentence. There are also very specific ways to audition for plays in other cities throughout the country, and you don’t need my help to find them.

What I do want to share here are some ideas about how to deal with your feelings when the creative team says, “Thank you for coming,” and you never hear from them again. In the years when I was acting, that happened to me a lot. There were days when I felt that if there was such a thing as heaven, I’d surely have to audition for it — and expect to be turned away.

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