Do you remember your first audition?

I do.  It was for The Velveteen Rabbit, umpteen thousand years ago.  I couldn’t tell you who the director was, or what part I was aiming for, or what I wore that day.  I can tell you that it was in the OLD Fantasy Playhouse building (the building on St. Clair Ave that’s since been condemned, and probably wasn’t far off from condemnation at the time), that it was FAR too warm in the big room with all of those children in there, and I read once.  For a building block.  I sucked ass.  I was not cast.

I read for a building block and was not cast.

Today, Caroline invited myself and Ronda to join a very talented producer in holding a “fake” audition.  Her Auditioning Class needed a culmination, and what better way to put into practice everything she had taught them than in an actual audition?

It was not the first time I’d sat on a casting committee, but I wanted to spend an hour with each of them.  I wanted to tell them how to be cast as the building block.  I wanted to go through the sides with them, line by line, and tell them what to look for when they read over it.  As it was, we had an hour.

It was a fun afternoon.  The pantomimes loosened everyone up and taught everyone that it’s preferable to be silly at an audition. (I like silly.) A few parents and kids stayed behind to ask specific questions and gather more wise knowledge from us.  I felt like I’ve done my duty to the community.

It made me really miss theatre.  I’m working to get involved in the administrative portion of theatre.. a feat I’ve never done before.. but I miss being creatively involved.  I miss being onstage, or at least PRETENDING to be onstage. (Everyone knows that you direct/assist the director/student direct/choreograph to fill the gaps when someone is missing at rehearsal or doing it wrong.)

Is anyone doing She’s Having My Baby any time soon?