#4. & #5. Shakespeare Now Tour

I have returned again to Boston Playwrights Theater to flex my Shakespeare muscles.

This time, it's for touring productions of Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and Macbeth.

80 bucks a show. You better believe every actor I knew showed up.

Scenario
After reading for a webseries about superhero dating at my alma mater, Emerson College, I hopped on the train and headed right over to Boston Playwrights' Theatre.

Comrades Chelsea Schmidt and Joe Ruscio were already signing in when I arrived. They recognized several young actors, as did I. My roommates Megan Reynold (who is cast in their current production of Macbeth) and Andres Solorano (who is cast in Apollinaire's Wonderful World of Dissocia) appeared in time.

I'm gonna be honest. I was pretty nervous. I worked very hard on my monologue on the roof of my apartment. I mean, rolling around and yelling at people in the streets below. But I hadn't gotten the chance to perform it in front of another person.

I was also gassy as all hell, which seemed inappropriate considering that everyone was pacing around and being aloof. Like at so many auditions. Didn't seem like the kind of place to just start farting.

But you know what? I can't change how I feel, mentally or physically. I walked off a ways, did some stretching and farted a little.

Audition
The three directors greeted me. I don't remember any of them, but the second fellow looked awfully familiar.

"What've you got for us?"

"Launce, from Two Gentlemen."

"Take your time."

Reflection
I'm not sure how I did it, but I got to the point, that point that sometimes an actor gets to when he doesn't care if his performance is what the directors are looking for - because at a certain point it's all about what HE wants out of his performance.

The thing is I'm not really sure how it happened. I'm not really sure how you MAKE IT happen. I think I was just lucky.

I think it was because, when I first walked in, I was legitimately anxious. I was anxious because I hadn't auditioned with a brand new monologue in months.

Maybe I can just keep alternating between being a complete slacker of an actor and then suddenly working really hard on my material. Exploring those two extremes seems to create a kind of apathetic satori where all is one and nothing really matters and that's why it's great.

I mean, like, maybe.

The thing is? Even though the audition was for three plays, the cast for all three will be made up of an ensemble of only 7 actors.

And they asked for two copies of my headshot.

WELL.



5 headshots remain.