how do you get on broadway?

Question

First, I'm 13. I know it's young to be dreaming of Broadway, but my friend just went off to Broadway at 12 as Young Tarzan in Tarzan, and I figured, if he can, I can. I'm incredibly driven, I have a supportive family, and I am very talented. I just need to know the basics.

I've been acting in community theatres and some proffesional non-equity theatres for a while now, I've heard about equity cards, and don't really understand them. Do you work in proffesional theatre to earn points so you can get equity or do you get equity and then earn points so you can use them? And how do you find out about auditions for Broadway and off-Broadway shows? What are good mailing lists to find these things?

ANY help would be much appreciated. (Please don't try to discourage me. I know what reality is.)

Answer 1

Your friend is very lucky. People work for years to be on Broadway, it's a very hard life. It's good that you are driven and have your family's support.

Community theatres are the best place to start. It's kinda hard to do much else unless your parents are willing to take you into NYC for auditions. Backstage is the actor's resource for auditions, it's a newspaper released every thursday and has listings for all kinds of auditions including equity and non equity off broadway. They have an online version that you have to pay for but don't worry, it's not a scam, it's just the online version of the newspaper, the new york times does the same thing and backstage is extremely legit.

Equity cards can be hard to come by. The points system works by giving you a point for every preformance you do with an equity production while not being equity. These theaters must hire a certain number of actors who are non equity along with a certain number of actors who are. I don't remember how many points it takes to finally get a card but last I heard it was somewhere in the 70s. But even just having points gets you bumped up a little higher on the list for equity auditions. At an equity audition the equity actors go first, then if they've all gone and no one else comes in it goes to the equity points members, then after they've all gone it goes to the non equity guests which is everyone else. I don't have equity and I've sat at the AEA building from 6am to 4pm waiting to audition and not gotten seen because equity and points members kept coming in.

Answer 2

Well since you know what reality is, this should not be upsetting to learn, however you will need an agent, professional theatrical headshots, and to go out on many casting calls.
The best way to stay up on the auditioning process (without an agent) is to browse the main Broadway sites daily to see the breaking news. Broadwayworld.com and Broadway.com are both good places to start. Also Playbill.com can sometimes have news that other places do not.
Another good way is to search the NYC Craigslist, keywords "broadway", "Open call", "Audition". If you do this a few times you'll see that there ARE results out there, it's just a matter of digging through all the junk to get to them.
Being that your friend was in Tarzan at the age of 12, I will assume you live in the NYC metropolitan area, so getting to Midtown and to these audition shouldn't be a huge problem for you. You will probably need a parent going with you to sign permission forms for you as you are under 18, but other than that I'd say you have a good chance!
You might want to consider your higher education choices now as well. AMDA is a good school to try to get into that will guarantee you a spot on Broadway. Trust me, I should know....wink wink.

Love,
Snag

Answer 3

Favorite Broadway show would have to be the Sweeney Todd revival. Simply brilliant casting and the John Doyle's idea that the actors play their own instruments is revolutionary. Off-Brodaway would have to be The Fantastiks. It's simply cute.

Answer 4

Start acting at a young age. Take dance: Tap, Jazz and Ballet.

At age 13 how do you expect to get on Broadway, unless your parents move to New York City?