Audition #4: Strawhats

A while back I attended the Strawhat Auditions in New York City.  The whole ordeal ended up being quite a blur of success and failure.  What I found there was a pretty extreme realization of who and what I am when it comes to not only how I see myself as a theatre artist but as well as how the rest of the theatrical world sees me. Attending all of these auditions is allowing me to discover where I fit best in this world of theatre, and after attending the Strawhat Auditions and I realized that whatever world I was experiencing there was not something I was a part of.

The Audition:

The Stage at Pace University where Inside The Actor's
Studio is filmed.  Pretty neat set-up.

When I got to Pace University, where the Strawhat auditions were being held at, I was quickly shepherded into the area where all the actors were being held.  As I was sitting there I made sure to carefully observe all the actors. I wanted to establish myself and the atmosphere of the audition.  Looking around I saw that none of the actors were readers of my blog, because they were all dressed to the nines.  I saw suits, cocktail dresses, maybe even a prom dress or two.  It was a little bit outrageous.  Also everyone was extremely young, and when I say young, I mean young.  Everyone looked like they had just gotten their high school diploma, and not only did they look like it, they acted like it.  All were crazy nervous and were not helping themselves by doing excessive warm ups, ridiculous monologue mouthing, and stank looking all their “competition”.  At this point I chose to just go inward, ignore all the craziness going on around me and attempt to prepare my mind and body to audition.  All this preparation finally ended when the stage manager came in.  She put all of us in a line and walked us to the audition area. She explained that we would be moving in one by one to the theatre and eventually to the stage to audition.  She reminded all of us to remember our slate and not to be nervous. She must have gotten the same vibes from the room as I did, because she reminded us about five or six times.  As I get to take my spot offstage I get to see the two girls in front of me perform their song and monologue. I always enjoy getting to watch others audition because it helps me see what is and isn’t working with others, as opposed to only being able to be criticize myself. I watch them in a state of terror, because they are awful.  Just awful. They are awful in the sense that not only can they not find their pitch throughout their whole entire song, but they manage to make Christopher Durang and Neil Labute dramatic as a Shakespearian tragedy.  Granted, as I’m sure you’re aware, I can be a harsh critic, but both of these girls showed themselves to be extremely unprepared in every sense of the word (you would be saying the same thing if you saw them).  So, if anything, I was excited to go after them because, hopefully I would be able to bring up the room and show them what I could do.  Well, I get up there and I do my slate and in the moment I make the choice not to say anything about my availability. I wanted to test the system out and allow myself to be open for all callbacks, just to see what happens.  A little devilish, but I just wanted to see if it really was me or my availability that was or was not getting me callbacks.  For this audition I did the Biron and Buff combination and I felt really grounded in both pieces. I felt that both had their differences and their similarities that allowed for an easy transition from one to the other, but at the same time showed a good range of acting ability.  After I finish my pieces and do my final slate I walk off stage and am greeted by a plethora of “good jobs”, “that was great”, “what were those pieces?” and “where do you go to school?”, that made me feel really confident and successful in my audition.  After I had finished I reside to sitting in the hallway and wait till the end of the hour for all the callbacks to be posted.  I am hoping that with how successful I felt after the audition that I would at least have the opportunity to build up some contacts, if not work options, with a few callbacks.  Well the hour finally comes to a close and I go to check the callback board.  I’m going through all the theaters, I finally get to the end and realize I have once again got zero callbacks.  Zero. Again. 

I’m going to make a confession here and say that I was truly upset and frustrated when I figured this out.  I’m usually pretty good about allowing it all to roll off my back and move on to the next one, but I felt like this was a legit hit at my acting ability, considering I saw two horrible people in front of me and for the first time had felt really good about the actual audition. As I’m leaving the theatre feeling completely dejected I stop at Starbucks and have a serious conversation with myself about everything I was doing.  In this conversation I made several legit self discoveries.  I realized that I had been going about everything in wrong way.  I walked into this audition desperately hoping that some theatre, any theatre, would give me just one callback, but in reality I wouldn’t callback any of these theaters for myself.  So the big question that I proposed to myself was: did these companies I was auditioning for really deserve the ability to decide for me if I was a decent actor or not.  Upon asking myself this question I came back with a big resounding NO.  The work that these companies were doing was nothing that I really wanted to be a part of, I was just desperate for a job and hoping that one of these theaters would be that golden opportunity, but in reality I had no place auditioning for them when they weren’t doing work that they wanted me a part of or I wanted to be a part of.  So in resolution I came to the realization that when I am a out searching for auditions and theaters to work for, I really need to make sure to do the extensive research and consistently ask myself the question - “Would I value this theatre’s opinion of my acting ability if I auditioned for them.” Now this may sound like a really pretentious question to ask, but I think it all goes back to knowing who you are as an actor.  An actor who has just worked on Broadway would never go all the way back to square one and start auditioning for internships and apprenticeships. It’s just they way it is. I just have to make an authentic observation of where I feel like I am at in my quality of work and find theaters that do work of that similar quality.  An easy thing to say but a harder thing to do.  So hopefully with this new lease on my acting career I will be able to find much success when I attend SETC.  I have my fingers and my toes crossed at least. 

Next Up:
SETC - The granddaddy of all unified auditions.  This blog is going to be a two-parter.  Look for it sooner rather than later. 

Audition #3 - United Professional Theatre Auditions (UPTA)

So I have been finding that beginning to write this blog has been extremely difficult.

Not because UPTAs was a completely terrible experience, but because putting the pen to paper (in this case finger to keyboard) is forcing me to accept the fact of how clueless I was about how to prepare myself for UPTAs. Not always a fun thing to write about.

The Audition:

UPTAs is an amazingly well run unified audition.  I don't think there really is much competition when it comes to the organization, specificity and atmosphere that UPTAs provides.

We began the day at 7:30 A.M.  First thing we did was check in at Playhouse On The Square (where the audition was being held).  This process can sometimes be a painful one.  If the unified is understaffed or has a hard time understanding that St. is not my middle name, then it can take quite some time, but this checking in process was completely painless and the friendly faces of the staff was definitely a plus.  I think that was a huge strength to this convention.  Everyone involved was so friendly; everyone was ready to help and willing to guide every individual.  It's always a nice juxtaposition to the extreme indirectness of the audition process.  It's funny how small you can feel with a number slapped on your chest amongst a group of others with all their numbers slapped on their chests too.  I like to compare the unified auditioning process to that of a slave auction.  Think about it. 

Memphis: Where the audition was
hosted. Definitely not the fun city
I was expecting.

Anyways, we check in and are eventually herded into the beautiful theatre at Playhouse.  Honestly, the theatre is pretty spectacular; they are currently doing an acapella version of Shakespeare's Midsummer and that forest looked like so much fun.  The meeting was basically a debriefing process.  We were informed of how everything was going to run and allowed to ask any questions.  Also this meeting was very fun and light hearted.  It even included an Elvis impersonator to continue to keep all 200+ of us young theatre artists entertained and at ease.

The meeting is concluded and we all leave the theatre to allow for the companies to come in and find their seats to begin the process.  By this time I'm feeling pumped.  Especially since the convention was sponsored by Red Bull and I had just finished my first one of the day.  Unfortunately my readiness was completely misplaced.  Being number 192, I was going to be spending most of my time sitting around waiting.  That was such a mistake.  If you know that you are going to be later in the day at an audition, FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO DO!  Sitting around in all the nervous energy does you absolutely no good.  It just ends up making you more nervous, because not only are you sitting waiting to audition you are also hearing all the success/horror stories of everyone who is auditioning around you.  Not really anything worth listening to until you have done your audition and have your own story to tell.

While I was waiting I got the opportunity to mingle with a lot of my fellow young theatre artists.  This is something that you must do when you are at these conventions.  It is a great way to see what everyone else is doing and how they are finding their own success.  I ended up hanging out with some of the artists, that day, who found a lot of success at UPTAs.  The conversations I had with them made me realize now that I really have to step up my game, if I want to be successful at unifieds.  Just a few things that I picked up from these smart artists:

• Audition outfit: I thought I had learned my lesson at The Actor's Theatre of Louisville, but obviously I didn't take my own advice to heart.  While, this time I didn't look as extremely costumed as before, I still looked like a businessman rather than an artist.  All clothes should be form fitting, this means tight jeans and a nice dress shirt or sweater that shows off your shape.  Companies want to see what you're working with, they'd rather not play the guessing game when it comes to body-types. (Be on the look out for a blog to explain all this better, it's going to include some fun pictures!)
• Headshots:  I need new ones.  Not only do I need a new headshot, but I need to have more photos of myself available.  Every single one of these guys had a photo on the top of their resume, a business card and a postcard that all had different photos of themselves.  It's a lot easier to market yourself as a versatile artist when you have photographic evidence.
• Social Media:  I've got to continue to step up my social media game.  I need to keep up with my blog posts, doing my best to have a new entry each week. I also have to begin working on my own website.  Every single one of these guys had a consistently updated Facebook, twitter and website that looked great and really showed them as professional, business minded, artists.  Companies love if they can just type your name in google and see everything you've done.
• Package:  No, not the one between my legs, but the one I audition with. I need to really work on finding a great package.  The monologue that I did from The Dreamer Examines His Pillow by John Patrick Shanley is not enough to show companies everything I can do.  The girl who had the most success in my audition group crammed in both a classical and contemporary monologue.  Doing two monologues in 60 - 90 seconds seems like a daunting task, but I feel it is plausible.  Right now I'm considering doing a package of Biron from Love's Labor's Lost and Buff from Suburbia by Eric Bogosian. Companies would rather see that you can do both right on the spot then assume that you have any classical or contemporary experience. 

Out of all of this I learned, most importantly, that the preparation that is required for unifeds is beyond any sort of preparation I have ever seen before.  From head to toe from slate to monologue to song to end slate, everything was methodically calculated and thought out that not a single thing was left up to chance.  These guys had thought everything out so carefully that there was no way that they weren't going to get 37 callbacks and 2 job offers by the end of the day.  So, I must step up my game. Point, blank, period.

Now it is about 3:30 P.M. and my group is finally called into the holding room.  The last two groups are the two groups for acting only, no singing.  This segregation really frustrates me.  Conventions tend to give people who are just acting the shaft.  It's pretty obvious to me.  By the time that the acting only group auditions the companies are bored, unfocused, uninterested or not even present.  This is a horrible energy to walk into and audition for.  I would recommend to UPTAs that they move the acting only group to the beginning of the day.  When the companies are in a better mood and it allows for the rest of the day to be devoted to the 150+ musical theatre actors.  Plus, I think it took about 30 minutes to get through our whole group.  Definitely not a large chuck of time, and wouldn't you want to start your day ahead of schedule then behind?  I paid just as much money to be present as the musical theatre actors did, so my audition should be treated with the same amount of attention and respect.

Also, 2/3rds of the group that I was auditioning with was a group of sophomores from a specific university (that will remain nameless) that sends them to UPTAs to get an internship for their junior year.  Well, this group of individuals had obviously taken advantage of the free Red Bull and proceeded to run around doing obnoxious warm-ups and screaming their monologues to each other.  I felt like I was at an audition for a community theatre production of High School Musical.  The icing on the cake was when they did a group huddle, ending it with a "Go, Group Awesome!!" before we went into the audition.  All professional atmosphere was lost.

The Stage at Playhouse on the Square.
Beautiful, right?

FINALLY, I get to have my 90 seconds on stage.  The energy I needed for the piece was not there; my timing was off and the energy and emotion looked fabricated.  By the end, I find a connection and am grounded but, by then the 90 seconds is up.  So this is when I came to the realization that this monologue just isn't right for these kind of auditions.  It's better suited for a showcase or an audition for a specific show or season.  It's not something that makes me sellable to all genres and that's what I need for these auditions.  I need two monologues that show enough of my personality, but also says, "I'm ready for anything.".  I'm hoping that I will find this in the Biron/Buff package I'm working on now.

After the audition I go to check the callbacks list and find my number on nothing. NOTHING.  I was hoping to have at least one thing to hang my hat on, but I have to chock another one up to experience, unfortunately.  I did learn a lot from this audition and have realized that doing unifieds is a game of simply trial and error.  Sometimes you get lucky and something really sells and other days you get nothing.  Today I got nothing.  This may sound like a very defeated individual, but I promise that I am anything but.  I am going to continue to work my ass off to improve on everything I learned this weekend in an effort to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

I'll sum this whole blog up with our apt phrase that me and my fellow young theatre artists came up with for UPTAs: "It is what it is," and UPTAs certainly was what it was.

Next Up:

Strawhats in New York City.  This audition is mostly for summerstock musical theaters; something that I'm not in any way right for.  I am planning on using this audition as an opportunity to tryout the Biron/Buff package and make sure that it is the right choice before I head to SETC. 

I Snagged an Offer!

While in New York City preparing myself for my Actor’s Theatre of Louisville audition, I received an email from the Artistic Director at Virginia Shakespeare Festival, concerning my audition.  

I GOT THE JOB!!

I was right about the good feelings that I felt about my audition, because I got the offer! What was the offer? Well, I will be working with them all summer, as an intern, staying on the campus of The College of William and Mary.  During the summer I will get to play Servant/Ensemble in “Comedy of Errors” and Guildenstern in “Hamlet”. I am overjoyed.  I also get the opportunity to help with the summer camp that they do for 11-17 year olds (added bonus?).  All while actually getting paid! My first real paid professional theatre gig.  I’m growing up right before my own eyes.  

The College of William and Mary: Where I will spending
my summer with The Virginia Shakespeare Festival.

I did have a few reservations before accepting the offer. As anyone should before signing on the dotted line.  The loudest voice came from the egotistical actor inside of me. He said, “Well, if you got this on your first audition who’s to say that you can’t get something better at all the other auditions?”.  Yah, he’s full of himself. That voice was quickly subsided when the practical actor in me realized that a job is a job and this one was a good job.  I was getting the opportunity to be in two classic Shakespeare plays (great for my growing resume) and I was also getting paid and housed (things not always guaranteed early on in your career).  Most importantly of all, I needed to realize that, yes, I am doing all these auditions, but who’s to say that any of those companies would hire me? even take interest in me like Virginia Shakespeare had? I should be pleased to have gotten the job on the first audition and happy that I will not be an unemployed actor upon graduation day. So I did the right thing. I humbly accepted the offer and am very excited to spend a summer with them.  I hope to develop a really good relationship with this theatre, as they seem like a really good theatre to get your career jumpstarted with. What would make it even more perfect is if the guy who got called back for Rosencrantz got the job too. I can dream right?

Also, now that I have my summer booked I can completely focus on finding a good year-long internship at a theatre I respect and want to work for.  Finding that awesome internship is hard, but it’s even harder finding one that focuses on acting. Now that I have the summer off of my mind, I can dedicate myself fully to the year. In pursuit of this goal, I just sent off a cover letter, headshot and resume to B Street Theatre in Sacramento, CA.  Their internship looks awesome and I'm hoping they will consider me at SETC.

But anyways, on we go! 

Audition #2: Actor's Theatre of Louisville

Whenever you go to an audition and return home you instantly are confronted with all the questions:  “How’d it go?” , “Did you get it?”, “What’d they say?” etc. etc.  Sometimes when an audition didn’t go so well, the hardest part is finding some way to answer those questions without saying:

“It went terrible my acting career is over! I don’t know how I’ll live.” or the ever popular: “They just don’t know what they are missing! They can’t see the talent oozing out my pores.”

Even if you may be feeling it on the inside.

When having to deal with all these questions concerning my Actor’s Theatre of Louisville audition, I have found the most ambiguous but poignant statement to use is the “It was a great learning experience.” answer. 

And it was, but it still sucks to come home knowing you didn’t wow them this time.

The Audition:

Grove Street in Jersey City: Home
for this trip.

The audition was in New York City. I was beyond excited to be back in NYC.  When I go to NYC I get the overwhelming feeling that this is where I belong, and to actually be in a place where you feel you belong is always a dose of excitement and confidence.  As a young actor I did everything on the checklist of what you should do before an audition:  

• I went to the studio where the audition was located the day before. It was on the 4th floor of Pearl Studios and I got to see all the spaces that were there, as well as the hectic and crazy atmosphere.  It seemed wild, but exciting at the same time.  I was prepared. 
• I made sure that I researched everything there was to know about Actor’s Theatre of Louisville.  I went through their entire website and wrote things down that I thought were  intriguing as well as any questions I might have.  I was prepared.
• I had worked my monologues throughly.  The day before my friend and I found a space and just worked on our pieces.  Trying to make them the best possible package for the audition. I was prepared. 
• I made sure I was dressed to impress.  I spent a lot of time primping myself and felt that I looked good. Very “cast-able”.  I was prepared.
• I made sure that I did a great warm-up before the audition.  Making sure that my body and voice were loose and ready to do anything. I knew that I could do this.  I was prepared. 

Preparation is a great tool but it can only take you so far.  You have to remain available and flexible to anything that could happen.  You have to throw preparation out the window and just rely on instinct, which is never as reliable as you wish it was.

My audition was at 2:15 p.m.. My friend and I finished warming up at about 1:40 p.m. and headed over to Pearl to check in.  When we get there the place is even more hectic then it was yesterday: college students to one side, dancers auditioning for “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” in the middle, and stage moms with their kids on the other side.  The place was teeming with nervous energy.  

A space at Pearl Studios.
Not the one I was in. It was smaller with
no mirrors.  Still very nice. 

My friend and I found a place to sit and wait for our names to be called.  Well, little did we know, that the audition was moving at a very rapid pace.  Before I even had enough time to get out my headshot/resume and take a sip of water my friend was called in to audition and I was called to be on deck.  I was not ready for this, I like my time to sit and watch people go in and observe the process.  This time I had to just jump right in.  When I get over to be on deck I see a group of people also auditioning for the program. Looking them over I come to the sad realization that I look absolutely ridiculous.  They were all wearing jeans, a nice sweater or dress shirt and some nice shoes. I, on the other hand, looked like I was about to go to the party of the year down the street.  I was way, way, way overdressed.  The realization dawned on me that I was dressing for my auditions like I was going to a unified, cattle call.  I had dressed like I was going to SETC, NETC or Strawhats, but when you are auditioning one-on-one it’s more appropriate to lose all the glitz and the glamour and just wear something that shows off your ACTING the best.   The gimmicky stuff may be great for getting you noticed at a cattle call, but when you are in an audition room right in front of them, they just want to see you. DUH. Eventually I am called in to audition and the room is extremely friendly, but for some reason I am still feeling rushed and it showed.  My first monologue was a piece from "Big Love" by Charles Mee, and it was a train wreck. I’m sure the feeling I had of “Please, just let me get this over with,” was apparent all through it.  My second monologue was from "The Dreamer Examines His Pillow" by John Patrick Shanley. It actually was pretty solid and I felt like I really had them by the end of it.  I say my thank you’s and exit the room.  I go back out in the hallway and sit with my friend as we wait for the end of the hour and the callbacks to be announced.  We both find ourselves in a state of limbo, not really knowing if what we did was good enough for a callback, but still hoping that they saw something they liked.  Well eventually they call out the callbacks and out of all the people they callback two girls. TWO GIRLS! One of the girls had even gone right after me. I can just remember how confident, interesting and approachable she was. I know that those are qualities I need to continue to work on.  In the end, sometimes all you can say is, “Oh well, next time.”. My friend and I leave the studio and go to TGIFridays and get some much needed drinks, appetizers and time to bask in the dejected feeling of rejection.  Now you can see why, whenever anyone asks me about the audition I just say, “It was a learning experience,” and that is exactly what it was.

LESSONS LEARNED:

• You can prepare all that you want to, but in the end you must remain flexible and willing to adjust to any thing that comes your way.
• What you are wearing is important, but don’t let it stand in the way of your acting.  Know that when you are auditioning alone, in front of a panel, the best bet is to look good, but don’t distract from your acting - enhance it. 
• No matter what the atmosphere of the hallway outside or the room your auditioning in, your audition is your time to shine.  Take as much time as you need to collect yourself and put yourself together.  Your time is just as important as theirs, and rather than rushing to get it over with, create a moment in time they will never forget.  

So did I get the job? No.  But, have I learned enough to where I feel like if I did it all over again I could get the job? Yes. And I think that is what truly matters, especially when I’m just getting started. It’s not over till the fat lady sings! Right?

Next Up:
The United Professional Theatre Auditions.  Or UPTA as they are more affectionately called.  The audition is in Memphis T.N. and there I will be auditioning for about 86 companies.  It’s very exciting to get that much exposure in so little time, but I don’t have a huge reputation for doing well at cattle calls.  I’m banking on this time being different.

Here’s to hoping for much success!

Audition #1: Virginia Shakespeare Festival

So a new year has begun.  This transition into 2011 is finding several new transitions within myself. This year i will be graduating from college.  Graduating and entering the work force of a struggling young artist. As exciting as it is to finally be graduating from college, it is equally (if not more) terrifying to know that now I will have to work harder than I have ever worked in my life. My livelihood depends on it.  While I know the road is going to be difficult; I continually find glimmers of hope that remind me I am not a complete fool for having the audacity to think that I can act as a profession. I am always in search of these little glimmers because the game of auditioning is a hard game. A game full of stress, rejection and competition that finding these glimmers of hope let me know it will all be worth it. On my first audition this season I traveled to the nation's capital, Washington D.C., to audition for The Virginia Shakespeare Festival and there I found just the glimmer of hope I needed.

The Audition:

The Windsor Inn

Dupont Circle in Washington D.C.

The weekend in D.C. consisted of several high highs and several low lows, lucky for me, the highest high had to deal with my audition.  I woke up early for my 10:20 a.m. audition - around 7:30 a.m. I know I'm an early bird when it comes to audition day, but I just get so nervous that sleep seems pointless.  I took a shower, got dressed and packed my bags while my best friend, who graciously made the trip with me, enjoyed his beauty sleep.  We were staying at a fabulous hotel called The Windsor Inn in Dupont Circle.  I definitely recommend it if you are ever taking a trip to D.C. We got upgraded to the King Suite (for free!) and loved every minute of it.  So, I am packed and ready to go.  The plan was to pack up the car while I audition and afterwords we would get on the road and head back to South Carolina.  It was a good plan, until I walked outside to put my things in the car and find that it is no longer where it was last night.  Our car was towed. I desperately try to call the number to figure this out but it leads no where, and I've got an audition to go to.  I take my bags back to the hotel and now it's about 8:30.  I am trying to suppress and feelings of stress and anxiety towards my current situation and just move on to the audition.  I walk to the building and head on up to the teeny-tiny 8th floor, (literally it was barely a hallway) I'm way early, what's new?  But, incase I didn't know that, when inquiring with the people on the floor about the audition I receive a "You're way early, sit over there" that was just soaking in stank.  Upon receiving this stankness I decide to leave the building and walk around for a bit doing some warming up, that won't make me look all that crazy in public.  Eventually it gets to be a more "appropriate" time to be at my audition and I move it on back to the town of Who-ville on the 8th floor.  My audition is right on time.  I go into the room and am greeted by the artistic director (AD) of the theatre and just him.  I found it odd that there wasn't any other people in the room, but it felt good to perform just for him.  For this audition I had to do two contrasting Shakespeare monologues - I choose Angelo from "Measure for Measure" and Biron from "Love's Labour's Lost".  It took me awhile to finally decide on those two but it turned out to be a really nice contrast.  Angelo went alright, but I felt a little too spastic and my emotions were more generalized then I would have liked them to be.  Biron went well, but I felt like it was still missing the spark that I know it has had before.  Then the AD gives me some direction for Biron.  He suggests remembering the frat boy aspect of Biron as well as the performance aspect of the piece within the play.  After his direction I really lived in the physicality he gave me while he was directing me.  I made the piece more open and really played with the specificity of the range of emotions.   I felt the piece was totally reinvigorated.  He acknowledged the vast transformation between the two performances and gave me a callback for Guildenstern in Hamlet at 4:30 p.m.. AMAZING!!! At the same time it was so unexpected.  I had audition for this theatre last year and it was pretty much a thank you and see you later situation.  I was expecting the same treatment, but I actually got a callback! This was my first real callback for any summerstock and it was for such an amazing show! I run out of the building extremely proud of myself and so excited for this callback. 

In case you were wondering - Between the original audition and the callback I end up getting everything figured out with my car.  They courtesy towed it to another street and gave me a $100 dollar ticket.  How sweet of them!  With this callback, we decided to stay another night and get the nice king suite for one last time. We would wake up early tomorrow and have all day to drive back home. Perfect - except for all those extra expenses.  

Lesson learned: When you are auditioning out of town, always plan on leaving the day after you audition.  You don't ever want to rule out the possibility of allowing them to see more of you

The Callback

I make it back to the callback within a reasonable time, remembering the accosting I received earlier in the day.  I pick up my side for Guildenstern and move around to the back and begin to work my way through the text.  As I'm reading, I'm pretty much to myself, but out of the corner of my eye I see this beautiful man walking over to me.  He is reading for Rosencratz and I couldn't be any happier.  This man is gorgeous, beautiful brown hair and eyes as well as a lovely beauty mark grazing right below his left lip.  He was a male Cindy Crawford and I am smitten.  For the next couple of hours that we wait (yes, they are running behind, but I don't mind) the two of us just sit in the back reading the scene and talking about theatre.   It was the first time I ever felt accepted into the professional world (as cheesy as that sounds).  This interaction with this one guy took away all the intimidation and made it really just practical work.  Finally we get to go in for the callback, we are the second to last callback of the day.  We are greeted again by the AD, who still seems in good spirits (I can't even begin to imagine how draining his day has been).  He gives us a little direction and we go right into it.  The side is a difficult side especially when the Hamlet is just purely a reader, but we make the most of it and made the best choices we could.  The AD seems really pleased by the end of it.  He even gave the comment that all young actors want to hear - "If you get another offer please call me and we will discuss with you...".  It at least means they are interested in the possibility of casting me, right? Well let's hope, if anything I walk away with the feeling that I did a great audition and for the first time had the feeling of being a real working actor.  

Next Up:

Actor's Theatre of Louisville in NYC.  I really want this apprenticeship with this company, although it is ridiculously competitive.  I hope to continue to ride these amazing vibes from the audition in D.C. and do brilliant work in NYC.  

I feel great things are going to start happening.  Believe that!

Welcome To An Actor's Life

So here it goes.

The purpose of this blog is to have an online journal aimed at the documentation of all the auditions, jobs, workshops and dreams that I pursue in my career as an actor.  Hopefully this blog will also see itself useful as a source of information and inspiration for like theatre artists around the globe.  

 

current headshot

Who am I?

My name is John St. Croix.  I am a twenty-one year old actor on the verge of graduating from Coastal Carolina University with a BA in Dramatic Arts (Whatever that means).  I am an extremely driven and passionate individual - especially when it comes to all of my theatrical endeavors. Everything to me is a learning opportunity and I am constantly questioning all the things around me.  I am not only on a search for understanding what it means to be a professional actor, but also who I am and who I want to be as a professional actor. 

Currently:

I am in the process of enduring the audition season.  Auditioning for anything and everything that shows a possibility of employment post-undergrad.  In the next three months I will be traveling to about six different cities and auditioning for over 200 companies, this blog will be the chronicle of these auditions, as well as all the information I learn and the people I meet along the way.  Then when it's all said and done, it will hopefully be a blog for the all the new jobs that I will have!

Looking forward to this.