How to prepare for a cold read audition
The first five minutes with the sides, making a choice, holding the page so you can still look up, working with the reader and taking a redirect without losing the thread.
Read the guide
Cold reads · rehearsal rooms · shared spaces
Pages in hand, a room to work in, people to share it with.
Sides & Space is an independent set of guides for people who make theatre and screen work on a small budget: actors handed pages ten minutes before an audition, playwrights who need to hear a draft out loud, and groups of artists trying to share a room, a desk or a set of rules.
The Paramount Theatre in Seattle, seen from the stage before a show.
On the call sheet
Reads & auditionsHow to memorize lines
Why actors learn meaning before words, and a research-backed plan for getting off book.
Rooms & communityFinding rehearsal space
Size, floor, sound, access, booking terms and insurance: what to check before you pay.
Running a collectiveWhat is an artist co-op?
Cooperatives, collectives, nonprofit studios and coworking spaces: how they differ.
Reads & auditionsSelf-tape setup
Camera, framing, eyeline, light and sound for a clean audition tape without expensive gear.
Reads & auditionsTaking a show to the Fringe
Open access, venue deals, registration, budget, housing and marketing for a first Fringe run.
Rooms & communityDesk exchange and work-trade
How volunteer-for-space deals work, what is fair, and the labour and tax questions to ask.
Running a collectiveFiscal sponsorship explained
How a nonprofit sponsor lets an unincorporated project take grants and donations, and at what cost.
The programme
Section one
Reads & auditions
Cold reads, self-tapes, new-play readings, development residencies and festival runs.
- How to prepare for a cold read audition
- Self-tape setup: camera, light and sound
- Running a new-play reading night
- Play development residencies
- Taking a show to the Edinburgh Fringe
- How to memorize lines
Section two
Rooms & community
Finding rehearsal space, work-trade deals, online communities and shared studios.
- Finding, checking and booking a rehearsal room
- Desk exchange and work-trade programmes
- What an online actors' community should offer
- Joining a co-op or shared workspace
- Live-work: renting an apartment as a studio
Section three
Running a collective
Artist co-ops and shared workspaces: legal forms, governance, money and fiscal sponsorship.
- What is an artist co-op?
- How artist co-ops are run
- Fiscal sponsorship, explained
- Signing a studio lease as a collective
- Grants for artist collectives