Audition Update
Not that anyone has been waiting with baited breath for the outcome of yesterday's audition, but I thought I'd share with you all, anyway.
It was good. A good audition. I actually enjoy auditioning. Face it - I'm not on stage often enough so auditions are like mini performances for me. And I like that. I'll take my minute-thirty of attention under the lights. Thank you very much.
Waiting in the lobby I could hear people start off loudly for a line or two... then there'd be hushed mumbling (what I heard through the door) and then you'd hear the same first few lines repeated but in a different tone.
They must be giving direction, I realized - to much relief.
Which, in the years past that I have auditioned for their annual non-Eq auditions, they have always offered feedback. But it's been a few years since they've called me in - and never (that I can remember) for a specific show - and the theatre is/has changed hands, so you never know. But yes, they still offered some direction. Which is priceless. I mean - monologues are an "unreal" situation. When would you ever be doing a role where you have no outside eyes guiding you? You may have had someone coach you a bit on the piece you do for auditions, but not on a regular basis to help keep it fresh, or to help it fit whatever space you will be in next. So having the person you are auditioning for offer guidance is so helpful to us to extract our best possible performance.
AND, perhaps just as important if maybe not more, is that it's just good business to offer direction in an audition (and to accept it graciously and open-mindedly). I've said it before and I will beat that dead horse into a bloody foam by saying it again and again: directing in an audition helps the director and actor discover if they can work together well. Hello! How important is that? Very.
We've all done shows where someone in the cast has just totally dug their heels in against the director. So annoying. Perhaps if the director gave him/herself a chance to discover this actor's reluctance and the actor was allowed to glimpse this director's perhaps freakish vision during the audition process - then no one would be wasting time in rehearsals, driving everyone to have two too many bourbons at the corner bar each night thus compromising their health and sanity for the rest of the show.
Or, you know, *ahem* something like that.
So I think it went well. I got re-direction which was great, though, yes, it does make you a little nervous because you think, "Damn, how impressive would I have been if I nailed it on the first try?", but the best possible outcome is to take the direction really well. And I think I did.
I hope.
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