1. Don’t be disruptive during other auditions.

Not only is this annoying, it’s also extremely rude. By taking attention away from other auditions, you’re potentially taking someone else’s chance to get a part. Directors and stage managers hate it and will probably make you wait outside for your turn, or even throw you out of the audition altogether.

2. Don’t be awkward entering the stage.

If you don’t have confidence in yourself, the director won’t have confidence in you either, and may even give you smaller parts because of it. If you’re awkward on stage, they may assume that you’re a new actor who has no idea what you’re doing and can’t be trusted with the lead. Like they say: fake it until you make it.

3. Don’t get tripped up.

Admittedly, this happens to almost everyone at one point or another. But don’t worry, you can still save it. If you make a mistake, play it off like nothing happened. If you pretend it didn’t happen and improvise somehow to fix it, it’ll show the directors that you could save a live production if something goes wrong.

4. Don’t get in over your head.

Make sure before the audition that you know what your acting range is. Directors usually assign parts to read to see how you would do in a regular show, but if they allow you to choose, make sure you don’t choose something out of your abilities. If you know what you do well and what you do poorly, you won’t seem like a novice.

5. Don’t forget to have fun.

Giving your characters genuine emotions—be it sad, happy, angry, or fun–gives you an edge. Your acting seems better because you’re having more fun with it. The trick here is not to force it: if you don’t feel any emotion for your character, there may be none there. Bland and boring are emotions you could portray as surely as anything else.