Breaking It Down: Audition Techniques for Actors of the Global Majority

＂Everyone involved in the performing arts, from professors to casting directors to actors to students, especially those just starting out, should read this eye-opening work.＂ Library Journal, Starred Review
A practical guide that shows BIPOC actors how to break down the audition process rather than being broken down by the entertainment industry and its practices of exclusion and bias.
Working in an environment that often stereotypes or attempts to ＂universalize＂ experiences, it’s more important than ever that actors consider how culture, race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and ability are inseparable and important parts of their identity that should not be minimized and can instead enhance their work. In Breaking It Down: Audition Techniques for Actors of the Global Majority, Nicole Hodges Persley and Monica White Ndounoushare real-world audition strategies that centers the experiences of actors of color. They combine practical advice, cultural studies, Black feminist perspectives, and lived experiences to offer intersectional approaches to auditioning.
The ten steps outlined in this book aid actors across racial lines seeking to develop the necessary skills to break down a character and script while affirming their full selves into the audition to book the role. Building on the momentum of the #BlackLivesMatter, #MeToo, and Time’s Up movements, Breaking It Down emboldens actors of the global majority to embrace every aspect of their identities rather than leaving themselves behind in an effort to gain entry and access to the entertainment industry

Nicole Hodges Persley, PhD, is an associate professor of theatre at the University of Kansas. An actress and director, Hodges Persley is a member of SAG/AFTRA/Equity and has performance credits in regional theater, television, and film. A member of SDC (Stage Directors and Choreographers Society), her notable directing credits include A Raisin in the Sun, Welcome to Arroyo’s, Rachel, Dutchman, and Sunset Baby. She has published articles and book chapters on hip-hop theatre, sampling, Jay-Z, and Suzan-Lori Parks. Monica White Ndounou, PhD, is an associate professor of theater and the 2017-2018 Sony Music Fellow at Dartmouth College. She is president of the Black Theatre Association (BTA), a focus group of the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE), and the founder of the Pay-It-Forward: All-Career-Level Mentorship Program. As theater scholars, actors, and directors who have over twenty years of experience working in theater, film and television, Persley and Ndounou have coached hundreds of actors, many of whom have gone on to work in professional theater, film and television roles including parts on hit television shows, Off-Broadway plays, and independent films.