Tips on How to Arrange Your Script for a Worry-Free Performance! An overlooked facet of an actor's audition preparation is how they put together the sides of their monologue or scene.
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Some advice on preparing the text for you lucky souls who will be participating in the Directors Diagnostic at APAC. I teach this idea to theatre actors going to auditions where they have to read from sides. 1) Obviously, you'll need TWO copies, one for you and one for the director. But you might want to make a couple of back-ups, just in case Jeffrey Kafer is being naughty and grabs one! 2) If you can, work from a PDF or Word Doc, and not a xeroxed copy of the book. The book may have really tiny print or the copy may be lousy. 3) ENLARGE THE TEXT on the page to make it easier to read. This may require you to copy and paste it into a new document, but that's okay. It won't matter that the pagination is different, as it'll be just the two of you working from it. 4) Affix the pages to some kind of hard/stiff surface; take a folder and tape the pages in it, like a book...or...singly to pieces of cardboard, etc. This will let both of you easily hold the text, write on it, and refer to it. 5) Have extra pencils, markers, etc. on you, as well as the ability to record the session! You're about to get some REALLY good feedback and most likely you'll be too busy being stressed out to remember everything Patrick Howard Fraley, Carol Monda, etc., says to you. Good luck! 6) If your a theatre actor and want to see my video, go here: Preparing Your Audition Sides
A bit of advice from a graphic designer who majored in typography and son of a lead-setter typographer. ~~ Neither Helvetica, nor Arial nor any sans-serif font is the best choice for legibility. Sans serifa were primarily adopted because of their lower cost to cut from signage vinyl and screen-printing. Later also prefered due to the lower resolution of computer screens. Basically fonts with serifs were more complicated to draw on computer screens, using more pixels and harder to space properly under limited technologies. They were never chosen for their legibility. The very best font for smooth reading is a serif-font such at Times New Roman, Caslon, Bodoni...etc but making sure to never use all caps. Romana fonts were specifically designed for legibility at any font size. This is why most all newspapers have been using Caslon, Bodoni, Claredon, Baskerville, Times, etc.. (namely any font with serifs) for centuries. Want to read lines of text smoothly, don't use Helvetica, Arial, etc fonts.
