Broadway Auditions: A Real Life Story - Part I

by Sarah Friswell

I have known Hector Flores for about five years now, since both of us participated in the dance program at the University of Tampa. Hector has always been a very hard worker, and upon graduating, packed up and moved to New York to pursue his dreams! He came out to Dedham for a play reading of Spring Fling with the Fiddlehead Theater Company recently, so I thought it would be fun to talk to Hector about what he's done in the past year to get himself into "the biz".

Photo Credit Rob Sutton

SF: Hector, since this is your first interview with Monkeyhouse, can you tell us a little more about your background in the field of performing and dance?

HF: I have been singing and dancing since age nine and I did my first full scale musical as a sophomore in high school. We did Damn Yankees. I had never seen or heard about musicals until I saw RENT when I was nine. I got hooked on dancing, started performing in high school, and then decided it was what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I had a knack for dancing because I picked that up the fastest. I studied performing arts in college at The University of Tampa.  While in Tampa, I danced with a Burlesque company and after graduation I moved to NY to work as a performer. Within a year I've done a general management internship, signed with an agent, performed in a theatre festival and been in a show called Altar Boyz (Juan and dance captain) at the Cultural Arts Playhouse.

SF: Since you're so new to this business about how often would you say you audition for various shows?

HF: I'd say it averages out to about four to five times per week, although some weeks it can be upwards of eight or none at all.

SF: Where do you find the auditions you go to?

HF: There are a few ways to find auditions. Backstage Magazine is very popular, but I often use Playbill.com because its free. I also have an ActorsAccess account which is also free and you can create one easily on actorsacess.com. I'm signed to Avalon Artists Group, which is a full service talent agency, and my agent sends me out to auditions as well. You will find there is no "right" way to do things in show business. There are a lot of avenues you can take and you just have to find the one that works for you.

Find out more from Hector about what his first NYC audition was like, and other stories, in the next post!