#7. Shakespeare Now!

Macbeth! That's right, a full-length production of Macbeth, my favorite of Shakespeare's plays! Well, not really. He was my favorite character on Gargoyles at least.

Location
The Boston Playwrights' Theater. Exactly the same place as my first Shakespeare audition.


Scenario
It was a busy day. It was also a rainy day. I was walking all over town in my slacks and my necktie and my shirt that I borrowed from my roommate telling who owned nice hotels that I would be an excellent desk agent or a doorman for them if they would just hire me.

I didn't have time to change for my audition, so I showed up wearing my wet slacks and shirt, looking slick because of both my duds and my dampness.

I ran into Adam Sander, with whom I was in a devised theatre piece at Emerson. Apparently he was cast in the Pinter series with Fort Port Theatre Channel. Nice going, Adam.

It wasn't long before I had to auditon.

Audition
I was greeted by the director and two other people who plucked my headshot right out of my hand.

"What do you have for us?" they asked.

"Romeo," I said simply.

I looked out at them waiting for some sort of signal to go ahead. I could only see the crowns of their head because they were reading my resume.

Suddenly, I was at a loss. When you enter an audition, you are supposed to control the atmosphere of the room. But, really, I didn't know what the right thing to do was.

My options were either to wait for them to finish and suffer further silence, or to begin my monologue and risk their missing the start of it.



I could have also asked, "Would you mind paying attention so that we can all get the most out of this?" but that would probably make them self-conscious. And then they wouldn't want to be around me ever again.

I split the difference by waiting for at least one of them to start paying attention before beginning.

Reflection
This audition just felt like business as usual. Unfortunately, I'm pretty sure that was reflected in my performance.

Now, here's the real kicker. Shakespeare Now! wanted two copies of my headshot and resume.

I spent two headshots on a mostly tepid audition.

I wish there was some way I could tie a string to my headshots so that I could just reel them back if I don't get cast.



2 headshots remain