A little glimpse of me.
I was still smarting from not getting roles in my last two auditions and had almost decided to take a break from theatre.
Then I found out that the PG Players was going to produce "The Odd Couple" and that a great character actor, Dennis Purdie, had been pre-cast as Felix. I decided to audition for the role of Oscar. It was the first time that I ever put on an audition form that I wouldn't accept any role... that I would only accept a specific role.
And I got the part!
Woohoo!
I'm pretty sure that the theater has now made all of the casting calls and I'm not one that got a phone call. *sigh*
There's always the next audition, right?
Well, maybe not.
This particular situation is quite a blow to me. I did better vocally in this audition than in any other audition I've done at this particular theater. In this case though, my voice teacher wasn't the music director. So I'm becoming more and more convinced that I was cast because of who I knew, not because of talent.
I'm taking an open-ended hiatus from theatre. I'm going to put my energy into other things for a while... maybe forever. I won't know how long this hiatus will last until I either audition for another show or until I'm dead, whichever happens first.
I think I'll go sign up for guitar lessons.
This is driving me crazy.
I said I hated the waiting game after an audition? Well, usually, by this time, the show would have been cast, and I wouldn't be suffering any longer. But others that auditioned haven't heard back either, so I've got to continue waiting and wondering.
Ugh.
Maybe tomorrow.
It went as well as could be expected.
I showed up and they had preprinted a pink form for me, not a blue form. Um... Okay. So I filled it out anyway. I figured is might be a plus... anything to get the directors to notice/remember you, right?
I showed the accompanist the music I brought and she pretty much slaughtered it. I might have done better myself faking it. But at least everyone had the same accompanist.
The director and music director barely looked up from their forms. They couldn't have looked much more disinterested. I'm thinking that's not a good sign,.
And if they call me back, I have a conflict with the scheduled callback time. That's not good.
So after careful consideration, I believe that I really AM doomed from the start and I'd probably better not count on a part in this one.
Though, vocally, I think I did better in this audition than I have at any other audition at this theatre, so there's a slight glimmer of hope.
Slight.
Now the waiting and wondering begins.
How did my audition go?
I'll tell you tomorrow.
No, REALLY. I'll tell you tomorrow, because I didn't audition last night.
Somehow, I got "Tuesday" stuck in my head. I thought all day yesterday that it was Tuesday, the 6th of December. So I showed up to the theatre last night, Tuesday, the 6th of December, to audition. Imagine my surprise when I went downstairs (in the theatre) and found no director, no music director, no producers... nobody.
So I went upstairs and found a poster that said "Wednesday, 6 December" and I went through a strange time warp. Suddenly, it was a different day than I thought. Suddenly, it was a day earlier than I thought.
And I was at auditions a day early.
*sheepish grin*
At least I wasn't a day late.
I dislike auditioning. It's a necessary evil if you want to perform in the world of theatre. But it's a brutal process.
I recently auditioned for "The Man With the Pointed Toes" at the Hale Center Theater in Orem, UT. It was a rather spur-of-the-moment audition. I hadn't actually planned on auditioning, but I ended up going anyway. Unfortunately, I didn't get cast.
But I still want to be in a show, so tomorrow night, I'll be auditioning for the musical, "Lucky Stiff" at the same venue. I've never worked with this particular director or music director before, so I'm rather nervous. They want auditioners to come prepared with 16 bars of two contrasting songs. I'll probably be singing the first part of "Suddenly Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors and "Lost in the Darkness" from Jekyll & Hyde. We'll see how it goes.
The part I hate about auditions is that once your audition is over, there's nothing else that can be done, other than to wait.
...and wait...
...and wait.
If you finally get a phone call, you rejoice. If that call never comes, you wonder.
...and wonder...
...and wonder.
The phone call doesn't always mean that you are being offered a role. It usually means you're being called back for more torture. For plays, they want to see how you read and interact with other potential cast members. For musicals, they'll want to see the same, but additionally, they usually want to see how quickly you can learn choreography.
It's draining.
But as much as I hate auditions, I have some sort of sick, twisted need to perform, and without auditions, I can't fill this need.
Of course, I'll be back to tell you how auditions went. Hopefully, this time will be better than last time.
In an earlier blog entry, I wrote about why I don't like boards.
The board finally voted on a fall show. We were supposed to vote between two alternatives. The choice was between Arsenic and Old Lace and Laura, a play I had put forward as an altrnative.
The voting came in at two for each of the plays listed above, plus two votes for And Then There Were None (AKA Ten Little Indians). What the?? Two people didn't even understand that there were TWO choices and that they should select one or the other?
Frustrating? YES! In the end, Arsenic and Old Lace won out based on several considerations unrelated to the actual vote.
So things didn't go my way. No big deal. However, the main reason I didn't want to go with Arsenic and Old Lace was because I know how difficult it will be to cast the show. There are roles for ten men and two women. TEN MEN?? This is COMMUNITY THEATRE! It'll be a miracle if ten men actually show up for auditions, let alone ten men that will actually fit the roles AND be good to work with AND be good enough for the roles. Not to mention the fact that the two women's roles are for OLD women, essentially alienating a majority of the people that actually show up for auditions.
However, as a member of the board, I'll support the board's decision--to a point. I've already told them that I'm not actually going to be IN the show. I know, it's probably rather mean of me. If I would be in the show, it would mean that there would be one less man to find to be on stage. But I don't really like the show, mostly because I think it's VERY overdone.
We'll see if this board becomes any less dysfunctional as time goes on.
I guess I should clarify.
From Merriam-Webster online:
a piece of sawed lumber of little thickness and a length greatly exceeding its width
This kind doesn't bother me. In fact, many many of them have been used to build a very nice house for me.
a sheet of insulating material carrying circuit elements and terminals so that it can be inserted in an electronic apparatus
This type of board is good too. I use circuit boards all the time. If it weren't for this kind of board, I wouldn't have the job that I have that allowed me to purchase the house made of the other boards I mentioned.
a group of persons having managerial, supervisory, investigatory, or advisory powers
This is the kind of board that annoys me.
It probably annoys me most because I'm currently a member of this type of board.
I'm a member of the board of directors of a local community theatre group. It's an all-volunteer board for the most part, though often, the board members receive payment when they produce or direct a play.
The thing that annoys me about boards is that it's all too often very difficult for a board to come to a consensus.
For two consecutive Saturdays now, I've met with this board. There were very few items on the agenda:
The annoying thing is that in more than two hours of meetings, we still haven't been able to make a single decision as a board. We should have been able to select a fall show. There are only two choices that have been presented, and one of them isn't very feasible for a small theatre with a small pool of talent and a small budget. The other is relatively unknown, but all of the board members were furnished with a copy of the script at the end of last week's meeting. Only half of the six board members even read the script, and then they didn't want to make a decision without having read the script.
Ugh.
During the actual meetings, the conversation meanders. Maybe it's the dramatic nature of the people involved, but as a group, we can't seem to stay focused long enough on any subject to have any meaningful conversation.
Then there's the fact that we're all friends, and everyone seems to be unwilling to make ANY decision that might not make EVERYONE happy. That reminds me of a workplace that was redesigned by a committee. The end result was horrid. Instead of doing what might be the best thing for everyone, the committee did what everyone hated the least.
That's what a board does. It tries to meet the goals for which it was created, but too often, it tries to do so in a way that couldn't possibly offend anyone, but by doing its job in that way, it ends up crippling itself, doing its job a lot less efficiently and effectively.
And that's why I don't like boards.