# How to coach an actor for an audition, so the session goes to acting

> Coaching time disappears when students aren't off book. Teach the homework, read like the room, and spend the session on choices.

- URL: https://www.offbook.com/for/acting-coaches
- Published: 2026-10-12
- Last updated: 2026-10-12

Your student walks in with tomorrow's sides, sits down, and opens the PDF on their phone. The first run is a read. So is the second. By the time the words are steady enough to act with, forty minutes of a sixty-minute session have gone to running lines, and the work you're good at, the choices, the adjustments, the shape of the scene, gets squeezed into the last twenty.

Every coach knows this session. Often it isn't laziness. A lot of actors were never shown a method for learning lines, so they reread, feel ready, and discover in your studio that they aren't.

The short version: teach the homework method as carefully as you teach the scene, ask for the thought rather than a set delivery, read opposite your student the way a casting room will, run every scene twice with a contrasting note on the second take, and know the self-tape rules your students work under. Here's how to build each one into your sessions.

## Make the homework a test, not a reread

When you tell a student to "go over the lines," many will read the sides again and again. It feels like work, and the words grow familiar. But familiar on the page isn't the same as available in the room, which is the gap that eats your session.

One well-known study makes the point. In a [2006 study](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x) by Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke, students who practiced recalling a prose passage (not a script) remembered about 61 percent of it a week later, against 40 percent for students who reread it, and the rereaders felt more confident. That last part is the trap: rereading tells your student they're ready when they aren't.

So give homework a method, not just a deadline. **Cover, say, check**: read the cue, cover the line, say it out loud, then look. Ask students to mark every line they miss, and to bring the marked sides to the session. Those marks tell you in thirty seconds where the scene is weak, without spending a run to find out.

Spacing matters too. In a study of more than 1,350 people, Nicholas Cepeda and colleagues found that [the best gap between study sessions](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02209.x) depends on how long the material needs to last; with a test a week away, the ideal gap was about 20 to 40 percent of that week. For a student with a week before your next session, that points to spreading the work out, roughly every couple of days, rather than one long evening before they see you.

## Ask for the thought, not a fixed delivery

There's a second kind of student problem: the one who arrives word-perfect and locked. Every line comes out in the rhythm they drilled at home, and your first adjustment bounces off. That's what happens when an actor learns the sound of a line instead of the reason for it.

Cognitive psychologist Helga Noice and actor-researcher Tony Noice studied how professional actors learn roles and found they [rarely rely on rote repetition](https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/to-be-or-or-um-line). The actors worked out what the character wants and why each line is said, an approach the Noices call active experiencing. The same research found that lines learned while making a movement that matched them were remembered better, even when the movement wasn't repeated at recall.

You can build both findings into the homework. Ask the student to write one sentence above each beat saying what their character is trying to get, and to pair each beat with a movement that fits what the character is doing. Jessica Hartley, of Royal Central School's MA/MFA in Actor Training and Coaching, put the delivery side plainly to Spotlight: ["don't learn intonation or rhythm, don't set them."](https://www.spotlight.com/news-and-advice/the-essentials/audition-sides-and-how-to-prepare-them/) Words and intention get fixed at home. The reading stays open for you.

## Read opposite them the way the room will

In many sessions, you're also the scene partner. How you read changes what your student learns. Here is the opening of Chekhov's *The Seagull*, a scene where a great deal sits under very few words:

> **MEDVEDENKO:** Why do you always wear black?
> 
> **MASHA:** I am in mourning for my life. I am unhappy.
> 
> **MEDVEDENKO:** Why? I don’t understand. … You are in good health; though your father is not very well off, he has got enough. My life is much harder than yours. I only get twenty-three roubles a month, and from that they deduct something for the pension fund, and yet I don’t wear mourning.
> 
> **MASHA:** It isn’t money that matters. A poor man may be happy.

*Anton Chekhov, The Seagull (1896), Act I, translated by Constance Garnett*

If your student is playing Masha and you read Medvedenko with real need, pressing about the money, her second line has something to push against. Read him plainly and fast, and she has to find the irritation herself. Both are useful. The first teaches her to listen and respond; the second prepares her for a reader who gives her very little.

Self-tape readers vary, and so does the advice about them. A panel of Los Angeles casting directors told SAG-AFTRA that a stiff-sounding reader is [fine as long as it isn't distracting](https://www.sagaftra.org/casting-directors-dish-self-tape-tips), but acting coach Joseph Pearlman warns against a [robotic or near-whispered read](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/reader-can-make-break-self-tape-auditions-333/). So keep your plain run plain, not monotone or inaudible. Do one run with real need and one plain run in a session, and tell your student which one you're giving them.

When you read for a tape in your studio, sit where a reader should. Caroline Liem, writing in Backstage, puts the reader [about one step from the camera](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/self-tape-rules-from-casting-director-65931/), speaking at a lower volume than the actor because they're closer to the mic. Keep your face right beside the lens so the eyeline holds.

## Run every scene twice: as prepared, then against it

A student who is off book can take a note and change far more freely than one buried in the page. Casting director Marci Liroff has said she prefers actors [completely off book at a first audition](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/casting-directors-sides-memorize-audition-advice-67109/) so she can give them adjustments, and in the same column casting director Matthew Lessall, a former CSA president, calls the ability to take a note the "mark of a truly gifted actor."

So rehearse the note itself. Run every scene twice in a session: the first take as the student prepared it, the second with an adjustment that pulls against it. If she played Masha trying to make Medvedenko pity her, ask her to try to make him laugh at himself. If she played it to make him go away, ask her to shut the subject down fast and change it. The point isn't to find the right version in your studio. It's to make changing direction feel normal before someone in a casting office asks for it.

Keep your notes playable. "Be more vulnerable" is hard to act on; "try to make him stop talking about money" gives the student something to do. A note phrased as an objective also teaches the student how to give themselves notes at home.

## Know the self-tape rules your students work under

A lot of audition coaching now happens around self-tapes, and the rules shape how much prep a student can do. Under SAG-AFTRA's 2023 TV/Theatrical agreement, union self-tape sides are supposed to arrive [at least 48 hours before the deadline](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/sag-aftra-self-tape-regulations-explained-76781/) (72 for minors), first-round self-tapes are capped at eight pages, and the actor can't be required to memorize them.

That doesn't mean students should tape with their eyes in the sides. But it does mean a union student with a two-day window has a real schedule to plan around, and you can help them plan it: one session to find the scene, a night of cover-and-say homework, and a short session to tape.

The same Backstage piece quotes Will Connolly calling unlimited takes "an easy wormhole." Coach the stopping point as well. Agree in advance how many takes you'll shoot, then pick the best one together and send it.

## A session plan for audition coaching

Here's how the pieces fit into a week, from the day the student gets sides to the day the tape goes in. For a student with sides the night before, do one session that finds the scene and runs the weak spots, then send them to [what to do when an audition is tomorrow](https://www.offbook.com/blog/last-minute-audition-tomorrow).

Tick each step as you go. Your progress stays in this browser, so you can reuse the plan for the next student.

- **Day the sides arrive:** Ask the student for the sides, the breakdown, and the deadline. Tell them to read the scene twice out loud and write one sentence on what their character wants overall.
- **First session:** Find the scene together: the beats, what the character is trying to get in each, and what each line answers. Spend little time on the words. End by assigning cover-and-say homework.
- **Between sessions:** The student does short cover-and-say passes on their feet every day or two, marking every missed line, reading the cues themselves or with a partner or app.
- **Second session, first ten minutes:** Look at the marked sides and run only the weak spots cue by cue. Then put the sides down and act.
- **Second session, the rest:** Run each scene twice: as prepared, then with a contrasting adjustment. Give notes as objectives the student can play.
- **Tape session:** Read from beside the lens at a lower volume. Agree on a set number of takes, pick the best together, and send it before the deadline.

## Homework that runs without you

Every method above depends on the student hearing their cues between sessions, and you can't be on the phone with every student every night. Three ways to give them a scene partner at home:

- **Use Offbook.** Upload the sides, and AI voices read every other character while Offbook listens to your student and plays the next cue when they finish a line. On a paid plan you can share the scene by email invitation, and a student with a free account can practice a scene you've shared with them. They can hide their lines, cut them to first letters, and rehearse on a laptop with the full scene on a big screen.
- **Record the other parts yourself** with a gap after each cue and send the file. It works, but it takes your time, and it has to be redone when the sides change.
- **Pair students up** to read for each other between sessions, ten minutes each. They get cue practice, and they learn what it's like to be a reader.

Whichever you choose, ask for the marked sides at the start of every session. For students who need a refresher on the basics, point them to [how to run lines with someone](https://www.offbook.com/blog/how-to-run-lines-with-someone). You can also print a student's lines with only their cues using our [cue script maker](https://www.offbook.com/tools/cue-script-maker).

## Questions actors ask

### How off book should a student be before a coaching session?

Ask for the words to be steady enough that the student can look at you rather than the page, even if a few lines still need a glance. A student who is still reading spends the session on words; one who knows the scene can spend it on choices and adjustments.

### Should I give my students line readings?

Use them sparingly. A line reading gets one moment right but teaches the student to copy a sound. A note phrased as what the character wants lets them find the reading themselves, and they can apply that skill at home and in the room.

### Can I be the reader on a student's self-tape?

Yes, if the casting notice allows it, and a coach who knows the scene is often a good reader. Sit about a step from the camera, keep your face beside the lens, and read more quietly than the student, since you're closer to the microphone.

### Can my students practice on their phones?

Once a scene's audio is generated, they can listen to it on their phones anywhere, including with the screen locked. For rehearsing out loud with cues, Offbook runs in a laptop or desktop browser, where they also see the full scene on a big screen.

## Sources

1. [Roediger & Karpicke (2006), "Test-Enhanced Learning: Taking Memory Tests Improves Long-Term Retention," Psychological Science](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x)
2. [Cepeda, Vul, Rohrer, Wixted & Pashler (2008), "Spacing Effects in Learning: A Temporal Ridgeline of Optimal Retention," Psychological Science](https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9280.2008.02209.x)
3. [Eric Wargo (2006), "To be or, or … um … line!" on the Noices' research, APS Observer](https://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/to-be-or-or-um-line)
4. [Sam Marsden, "Audition Sides and How to Prepare Them," Spotlight](https://www.spotlight.com/news-and-advice/the-essentials/audition-sides-and-how-to-prepare-them/)
5. [SAG-AFTRA, "Casting Directors Dish Self-Tape Tips"](https://www.sagaftra.org/casting-directors-dish-self-tape-tips)
6. [Joseph Pearlman, "Why a Reader Can Make or Break Your Self-Tape," Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/reader-can-make-break-self-tape-auditions-333/)
7. [Caroline Liem, rules for the perfect self-tape, Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/self-tape-rules-from-casting-director-65931/)
8. [Marci Liroff, "Do Casting Directors Really Expect You to Memorize 20 Pages of Sides?", Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/casting-directors-sides-memorize-audition-advice-67109/)
9. [Alex Ates (2024), "SAG-AFTRA Has Made Self-Taping an Industry Norm," Backstage](https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/sag-aftra-self-tape-regulations-explained-76781/)
10. [Anton Chekhov, The Seagull, translated by Constance Garnett, Standard Ebooks](https://standardebooks.org/ebooks/anton-chekhov/the-seagull/constance-garnett)