Any tips on cold reading and improv?

Question

For auditions monologues are my strong point but my cold reading is not as good as i want it to be. Any suggestions?

oh, and as for improv i'm just looking to get better at it,

Answer 1

To improve at cold readings, pick up  everything around the house with printing on it and read it out loud.  Get so you can pick up entire paragraphs in a glance and repeat them without looking at them again.  

for improv. be sure you accept anything that the others say is so and add to it, do not deny anyone's contribution or start an arugment about what is so and isn't so, that kills improv.

Answer 2

Theatre Doc, as always, has good advice.  

One specific tip about cold reading is to look at your line, then look to your scene partner (or the camera or whomever you're reading to) and say the line.  Don't just read the words while looking at the script.  

For improv, the only way to learn it is to take some classes.  See if you can find teachers who focus on the narrative and spontaneity aspects of improv, rather than making it about comedy, which is a very small part of true theatrical improvisation.

Answer 3

I agree with the first teo guys with cold reading I read all my scripts outloud read the newspaper outloud everything you start to get use to it and in an audition don't worry if you mess up I one time in a cold read audition started to read the stage directions but I just kept on going and I still got two callbacks from that.

Doing improv acting for a living I am an actor in Tony & Tina's Wedding and 80% of the show is improv based on what characters I talk to or with what the audience says or ask me and trust me there are some strange comments I get a big part of improv is listening to what other people are saying and if you get stuck and don't know what to say you can kind of repeat what the last person said sort of buys you a lil time to think of an answer.  If you have a friend or two who are actors as well play with them each of you think of 5  scenes Your two senior citizens who went to a No Doubt concert by mistake and two nerdy guys are hiting on you one of you is flirting back and the other is annoyed think they just want you to buy them beer. Them time yourself 5 min see how well you can keep the dialouge going then pick another scene out of the hat .