Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Don't call it a comeback

So ... the audition. First of all, thanks to EVERYONE who wished me good luck. I've gotten so many phone calls and e-mails and text messages. It's been about 3 & 1/2 years since I've been on a stage, so it really meant a lot to me to have so much support.

A lot of you have heard the details already. For those of you who haven't, I'm going to cut & paste what I posted at my favorite on-line forum. Please forgive my laziness. I've gotten a bit tired of repeating myself!
There are good things and bad things to report. First of all, they had us audition in groups. My groups was made up of 6 people - 4 females and 2 males. Before we entered the audition room, we were told that we would be watched by 13 directors. Yes, THIRTEEN!!!! ALL at once!!! Can you imagine going on 13 job interviews simultaneously? Because that's what this was. I was expecting only 4. Astounding! Most of them were theater directors, but there were a few film directors, too. We were told that part of the point of them holding a group audition like this is because they're trying to compile a big database of area actors. So that's nice. It means that even directors who were not there might get a chance to see my headshot and resume, so that's a good thing.
Anyway.
The 6 of us were escorted into the audition room. We were called one at a time to step forward & perform our monologue. And that was it. That's all the time we were given. But a problem immediately became apparent to me. In case you don't remember, we were asked to prepare a one minute contemporary monologue. Just one wee little minute. In all the pre-audition FAQ stuff I read, they seemed to make a point of emphasizing that we should follow directions and find a monologue that fit this exact description. Unfortunately, it seems that I was the only person from my group who read that information. Everyone else performed monologues that were AT LEAST 2 minutes long. One woman went on for over 4 minutes. And no one interrupted them to say their time was up! They just let them go on and on and on. Which meant that they had more time to show off their talents, more time to show their range, more time to tell a full, colorful story and more time to make an impression on the directors. I worked so hard to find a piece that met their requirements! It wasn't my favorite monologue in the world & I knew I could better show my strengths if I could perform something longer, BUT I didn't perform anything longer because I'm not a diva!
GRRRRRR!!!!!!!
I honestly don't know how well I performed. I kinda went into "the zone" and just let it all flow over me (which is really for the best). But I fear that, since other people spent 400% more time on stage than I did, then they're all going to stand out in the directors' memories better than I did.

There is good news, though.
Ours was the last group before the directors broke for lunch. I was the last female they saw perform in the group (the 2 guys went after me). Therefore, the directors were given a nice mental break to digest the performance(s) I(we) gave. They had more time to think about what they saw and (hopefully) to remember me and maybe even discuss me amongst themselves. Plus, they probably appreciated that I kept things short because at least I wasn't the one cutting into their lunch time. Also, after we left the audition room, I got to meet 2 of the directors briefly and they shook my hand and they definitely seemed interested. The look in their eyes was not just mild politeness, but genuine interest in me.

So. I'm trying to hold onto those happy thoughts.
There is no official call-back for this audition. It's up to the individual directors. If they want to cast us or hold their own call-backs, they will contact us in their own sweet time. I haven't heard from anyone yet, but that's okay. They probably saw about 200 people over the course of 2 days, so I'm sure they'll need some time to process all of that information. Let the waiting game begin!

2 comments:

lizgwiz said...

I'm going to go with the theory that they appreciated your adherence to the rules, and think that bodes well for your future ability to take direction.

I'm sure you were fabulous. :)

vee said...

we stage managers definitely appreciate your attention to the rules!