We asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us their audition horror stories. Here are the crazy results.
1. The belting surprise.
A director friend of mine likes to talk about a woman who came into an audition wearing a long skirt. She performed a song with a big belt at the end, and when she got to it her tampon shot out and hit the floor. He swears that really happened.
– Colleen Robinson, Facebook
2. The accidental show.
One of my first non-school auditions, I auditioned for Prospero in The Tempest and had to do the scene where Prospero is scolding Calaban, an intense, angry scene. I felt a little chill on my body, but figured it was my adrenaline running high. After I got off stage, I realized my jeans had ripped right at the back pocket, exposing a good portion of my ass. I still got the part. It also taught me to dress like a professional for every other audition.
– Krystal Watanabe, Facebook
3. The unnoticed dancer.
I went to a theatre I'd never been before where everyone else at the audition had been taking dance lessons for years. At the dance part of the audition, in the midst of trying to figure out the dance and the other girls moving flawlessly, I tripped and fell. I sprained my ankle, and I was on the ground crying while no one made any acknowledgement of my existence.
4. The high school play.
When I was a freshman in high school, I went out for my first high school play. I did a monologue from Anne Frank for my audition, but when I arrived at the audition I realized the play was a comedy, and my monologue wasn't funny at all. I decided to add a "joke" to the end of my monologue. After a long winded speech about how life is beautiful, I slowly looked up at the sky, yelled, "Is that bread? Am I high?" and left the stage. I got the smallest role in the play that year.
5. The memorable burp.
A few years ago, I was auditioning to be the lead role in my summer camp musical production. I get up in front of everyone, and just as I'm about to start singing, I burp. To top it off, during the line-reading/acting part of it, I tripped and fell flat on my face. The director brought it up, dying laughing, almost every rehearsal from then on.
6. The bloody ballerina.
I was in 8th grade auditioning for the Joffrey Ballet Summer Intensive. Right as the audition began I started my period and the blood was clearly visible on my brand new tights and it continued to spread throughout the audition. There were boys in there. The artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet was there and he didn't look too impressed. Luckily, I still made it to the intermediate level.
7. The true horror.
I auditioned for a short horror film when I was fourteen. The director grabbed me and two other girls and asked us to tell her a scary story while she filmed, to see if we'd be creepy enough. I was the last to go, and the two girls both told the only two horror stories that I knew, so I had nothing. I frantically searched for a story, and ended up just reciting the plot of The Wicker Man. Luckily, I don't think the director had ever seen it, because I got the part.
8. The hilarious kick.
During the dance portion I kicked some girl in the face, apologized, then fell over laughing. Yeah, didn't get that one.
– Claire Marney, Faebook
9. The summer camp dumps.
When I was at summer camp many moons ago I auditioned to play Rizzo in our camp's adaptation of Grease. That whole morning I had been feeling sick. As I was about the start the audition I pooped my pants.
10. The intimate audition.
I was auditioning for the part of a female lead who was supposed to be deaf. I got the times confused and was so late the casting director was waiting for me. My scene partner ended up being this incredibly gorgeous guy I had only heard of. He was the stuff of urban legend! Basically, I was making up sign language as I went and accidentally grabbed my partner's crotch and everything was awful.
11. The splits.
So this one time I was in the middle of a dance audition and was doing the routine but I didn't have the right shoes, so I slipped into a full middle split. Would've been cool if I actually could do a middle split. I ended up at the doctors.
12. The flying chair.
So for my audition I had to memorize two monologues: one by Shakespeare and a contemporary one of our choosing. So I chose to do a dramatic monologue since the Shakespeare one was romantic. In the monologue I had to get angry and throw a chair off stage. The problem was there was a line of people who were waiting to audition themselves. Long story short, I threw it too hard and someone got hit by a flying chair. I also didn't get the part. Oh well!
13. The exotic dancer.
As a teenager, I auditioned for a summer college ballet school. The director stopped me in the middle of my dance and said, "Your heart may say ballerina, but your body is screaming stripper pole." Although it was inappropriate, she was 100% correct.
14. The vomiting witch.
Callbacks for The Wizard of Oz, I came down with the Norovirus. I violently vomited in the trash can mid-song and couldn't cackle because my throat was hoarse afterward. Still got the part. I guess I was as green as the wicked witch.
15. The spit valve incident.
One time I went in for an audition for the trumpet role in a concert, and I forgot to clean out the spit valve and it splattered all over the judges! Yikes.
16. The hopeful tap dancer.
It was at a tap call. The guy had clearly never tap danced in his life. He was flopping around, and had no idea what was going on. The instructor goes, "OK, let's do it again, only this time, BETTER." So the music starts up, and the guy keeps flinging his arms out and trying to keep up, when the music stops. The instructor walks over, hands the guy his headshot, and says, "Here, keep this, I know they're expensive."
17. "The Rachel" sacrifice.
I got cocky and told the director, "No way would I cut my hair for a part," because I had just spent $100 on getting "The Rachel" done. Too bad, because he had written "call back" on my resume. I didn't get called back.
18. The flu betrayal.
I had been battling the flu for about a week and I had an audition for a school play. I couldn't miss tryouts. On stage in front of everyone, I sharted and then proceeded to vomit all over the stage and the person I was auditioning with.
19. The attack of the mic.
I began singing with a live band at the audition, but the executives couldn't hear me. One of the casting directors signaled me to grab the mic off the stand. In doing so, I pulled it off right into my teeth and made my gums started bleeding. I didn't know what part they were on so I sang the only part I knew, which was the chorus. The band slowly stopped playing one by one. And I stood there with a petrified bloody smile, on film.
Note: Submissions have been edited for length and/or clarity.