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!