Audition

So, you’d like to play a part in Star Trek: Excelsior, would you? That’s wonderful. We love to get new voices onboard, and we appreciate the adventurous spirit of everyone who volunteers for Excelsior by sending in an audition. If you want to hear your name in the Excelsior credits one day, here’s how you do it:

How to Audition

1. At the bottom of the page, you’ll two dialogue blocks. One is the prologue to Romeo and Juliet. The other is the famed soliloquy from Hamlet. Pick one. Obviously, the first is shorter and easier, but some people find it easier to express themselves through the voice of Hamlet. The one you pick is the one you’ll be reading. (Even though Hamlet was a man, that doesn’t exactly matter to the soliloquy, so women: feel free to audition as Hamlet.)

2. We’ll be listening to this to get a sense of your voice, as well as diction, speed, inflection, ability to get in character, and—yes—for sound quality. One of the biggest killers of an audio drama is one character with a bad microphone, so definitely listen to your final recording before sending it in. If you want to show off your wide range of accents or your ability to sound exactly like a computer or whatever special talent you have, this is the time to do it.

3. If you’ve never recorded anything before, here’s the simplest way to do it. If you've never done this before: Windows has a built-in sound recorder, in Start -> All Programs -> Accessories -> Entertainment. While it's not the ideal application, it will work fine for the audition. Mac users: you may have to install some freeware, if your computer didn't come with OS X's wonderful Sound Editor program or with any version of Garage Band. Try Monkeybread SR 1.1.

4. Save the lines as an mp3 or wav file. If you really can’t figure out how to do that using your default application (GarageBand typically outputs .m4a, and Windows Sound Recorder outputs .wma), just send whatever you’re able to save. Typically, we can unpack it or convert it. If not, we’ll get in touch with you.

5. E-mail the file as an attachment to ussexcelsiorc@gmail.com. Be sure your message includes—at least—your first name and last initial, the part you auditioned for, and, most importantly, a return address where we can reach you! Furthermore: if you’re responding to a specific casting call (which we periodically send out), note that. If you’re just sending in a general audition, willing to take whatever part happens to be available at the time, note that, too; it can be incredibly difficult to secure talented actors and actresses for the little parts—but it’s often those parts that make an episode. Every voice helps.

6. If your audio file exceeds 10 MB in size, you probably have won’t be able to send it via e-mail. Not to worry; upload the file to a file-hosting site like SendSpace or FileFactory and just send us the download link they give you instead of an attachment.

7. We will notify you—typically within 72 hours, but, if you catch us at a busy part of the production schedule, it could take significantly longer (up to two weeks)—that your audition has been received.

8. Once we’ve actually listened to your audition, if we’re pleased and there’s a part immediately available, we’ll ask you right then and there to do some lines for us. Otherwise (and this is what more frequently happens), we’ll ask your permission to put your name on The List, which is our directory of people we contact before open auditions whenever a part comes up. (Right now, there are about a half-dozen people on The List, plus some people from post-production who are willing to do bit parts.) The other possibility is that we will reject you outright. This is always an ego-bruiser, but it’s better than never hearing from us.


Audition Dialogue Blocks:

Block the First:
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.

Block the Second:
To be, or not to be--that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die, to sleep--
No more--and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache, and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to. 'Tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep--
To sleep--perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
For who would bear the whips and scorns of time,
Th' oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of th' unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? Who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after death,
The undiscovered country, from whose bourn
No traveller returns, puzzles the will,
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all,
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprise of great pitch and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry
And lose the name of action. -- Soft you now,
The fair Ophelia! -- Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remembered.

May the Great Bird of the Galaxy bless your planet. We hope to hear from you soon.