NEW YORK -- Give actors just four minutes, and they will give you comedy, drama, even a song.

That is what 50 actors did Friday through Sunday, March 10-12, for Cornell's Department of Theatre, Film and Dance faculty in the annual round of auditions to fill four 2006-07 Resident Professional Teaching Associate (RPTA) positions at Cornell.

The auditions, held at Ripley-Grier Studios in midtown Manhattan, were preceded by an open call for actors March 9 at Actors' Equity Studio; 62 showed up and were asked to audition.

The actors' résumés include everything from small-company and Broadway stage experience to inner-city school theater programs, film production and TV appearances on "Law & Order."

Six RPTAs serve as visiting faculty members each year, teaching Introduction to Acting (Theater 280) and mentoring students. "One of the great values for professional actors coming to Cornell is the Cornell teaching credit can be a valuable addition to their résumé," said David Feldshuh, theater professor and the artistic director of Cornell's Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts.

Alison Van Dyke, director of undergraduate studies for the department, supervises the RPTA-taught classes. "It's really amazing how many people come to love the teaching aspect," she said.

Actors chosen for the program also conduct workshops and act in two to four main-stage shows and several other productions throughout the academic year. Many RPTAs participate in student films and readings of undergraduate scripts. They receive a salary, benefits, a housing allowance and other support.

"It was a good gig," said Kevin Connell, an RPTA at Cornell from 1997 to 1999 who now teaches theater arts at Marymount Manhattan College and who assisted at the recent auditions. "Some [actors] are just thinking of casting, and some are looking at an opportunity to teach. Everyone has different goals, and the program meets both goals."

Of the 30 actors who auditioned on Friday and the 20 parading through on Saturday, 14 made the cut for callbacks on Sunday. Four were offered positions -- all four accepted, Feldshuh said. The fast-paced New York auditions required actors to perform two brief monologues, preferably one contemporary and one classical piece. In this format, characters from Shakespeare and Anton Chekhov brush up against the creations of Tom Stoppard, Neil Simon and Sam Shepard. Actors with musical talent can choose to do a few a cappella verses of a song as well.

"Because we do a wide repertory of productions and plays, it's a challenge -- we need to find actors who have a wide range," said Bruce Levitt, Cornell professor of theater.

The auditioning actors were questioned by the faculty on their experience and recent work and about the skills listed on their résumé. "How's your tap? ... banjo? ... guitar?" associate professor Stephen Cole asked one actor, whose résumé and audition readings from Paddy Chayefsky and Murray Schisgal earned him a Sunday callback.

Age is an important factor in this job. The professional actors have to be old enough to avoid competing with students for stage roles. Cornell theater faculty at the auditions, who also included assistant professor Beth Milles and department chair Kent Goetz, were looking for actors who could fill certain roles in the 2006-07 season, especially in the first two shows, Arthur Miller's "All My Sons" and Steve Martin's "Picasso at the Lapin Agile."

Most of the actors were in and out of the room in 10 minutes or less, and they found out almost immediately if they had a chance at the Cornell program and its 10-month Equity contract. Most didn't make the cut. "Actors have to handle rejection over and over again," Feldshuh explained.