While you are out and about looking for work in theater or going on musical theater auditions, keep in mind that there are three types of musical theater auditions that you will run into.
Theater or Musical theater fee based auditions – these auditions are found in just about every city large and small. Normally, they are for kids and youth. Child auditions and teen auditions for community musical theater or theater are many times fee based and are more of a training program than anything else. There are fees to audition as well as fees to perform in many instances. Think acting classes for kids with a chance at a non-compensated performance schedule in small theaters.
Volunteer or community theater auditions, normally unpaid and a way to get credits on a resume as well as acting experience. These opportunities are for teens and adults and give the actors working experience without any pay.
Paid acting jobs and Equity auditions – These are the jobs that theater actors want. However, these are the jobs that you get after going through the 2 above. To get to this point you must have a great deal of experience and training and chances are that without that experience, your chances of landing a paid theater audition are very slim. When competing for Equity acting jobs, you are competing against professional actors and must meet that standard. Keep in mind that most actors working in theater or musical theater started in the community and unpaid jobs… they started as a hobby and created a career.