Wednesday, July 29, 2009

ALERT! The Best is Yet to Come

Like Gill from Street Fighter 3, I'm not down for the count yet.

I originally started this blog as a challenge to myself to get cast before I ran out of all 10 of my headshots. And I succeeded!

Not only did I get cast in a play that I enjoy working on, but I learned a lot about auditioning as well. And I had fun going out and meeting all the kinds of people that make theatre in Boston.

As a reward for all of my hard work, I got myself a gift:


10 MORE HEADSHOTS!

I did manage to get cast before I ran out of headshots.

Am I a bad enough dude to do it again?

Sunday, July 12, 2009

#10. Exquisite Corps

Love's Fire, a collection of plays by contemporary playwrights - Tony Kushner, John Guare, Marsha Norman, Ntozake Shange, Eric Bogosian and Wendy Wasserstein - inspired by the sonnets of Shakespeare. Boy, that guy is everywhere!

Location

The Loeb Drama Center in Harvard! There's more space in there than I thought. I guess that's what makes it a drama center!

Scenario
I thought I'd be late for this one, just like the last audition I had at the Loeb. Fortunately, it was a sign-in-when-you-get-there kind of thing.

There were two girls waiting to audition. They were wearing nice black dresses. I was wearing a t-shirt and sneakers.

I said Hello to them and immediately began filling out the audition form.



Audition
The first director introduced herself to me when I entered.

I then looked at the other two directors, expecting them to introduce themselves. They looked each other, looked at me, said, "Oh!" and then introduced themselves.

"Whenever you're ready," the first director said.

I moved a chair out of the way and immediately commenced my usual piece. Halfway through, I realized that I forgot to say the name of the play that it was from. Oh, shit, I thought, talk about unprofessional.

I tried to take my mind off it, and say it through to the end as best I could.

"Thank you. Uh. I guess I should've started by saying that I will be doing a monologue from The Random Caruso by Andrew Clarke."

They thought that was funny, if nothing else.

The director in the middle had me read a side from Tony Kushner's play. The character was a closeted, neurotic Jew. Surprisingly, it was the first closeted, neurotic Jew I had ever read for.

Reflection
When I set out for this audition, I just figured it would be one of those auditions that I was going to so that I could play Pokemon on the train.

But, really, it was pretty all right. Just a year ago, my little flub during the audition would've ruined my day. But now? Hey, whatever, man.

Between the friendly creative team and sharp material, I wouldn't mind being in the production at all.

But was I neurotic enough?



No headshots remain.

Friday, July 10, 2009

ALERT! See Wedding on the Eiffel Tower!



Apollinaire Theatre Company's production of The Wedding on the Eiffel Tower and other Absurdities of Love is performing now through July 25th at Mary O'Malley Park in Chelsea.

The performance is made up of three short plays - Humulus the Mute by Jean Anouilh, Jack, or the Submission by Eugene Ionesco, and finally The Wedding on the Eiffel Tower by Jean Cocteau.

All three plays feature brilliant performances by fellow Emerson College alumni, Scarlett Redmond, Chelsea Schmidt and Andres Solorzano!

See it in English, and then see it again in Spanish! It's fun, and more importantly, it's free!

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

#9. Whistler in the Dark

Last week's Stagesource announcements included auditions for Whistler in the Dark's production of IN ON IT by Canadian playwright Daniel MacIvor.

The only characters are two men. Yeah, one of those plays! I've always wanted to be in a one-on-one psychological dramedy.

Scenario
The audition was at the BeanTowne Coffee House in Kendall Square.

I got lost after I got off at the Kendall station, but I ran into a friend, Tai, who pointed me in the right direction.

As coffee houses go, it was very nice.

There I met Whistler founders Meg Taintor and Jennifer O'Connor.

Audition
I did my monologue for Meg. It was tougher than I figured, with the air conditioning going. Also, I got distracted by the huge windows looking out onto the square.

I performed the monologue rather viciously. Meg had me try it again more gently, using Jen as a partner.

It's been a while since I've actually been given direction. It's nice to get some perspective, even in the context of an audition.

Then they had me take a whack at the first monologue in the script. Cold reads are always tricky, especially when the characters' intentions are shrouded in mystery.

The only way I could make sense out of it was to have the end of the play spoiled for me.

I'll tell you, the play sounds really cool, but now I don't know if I'll have as much fun when I finally watch it!

Reflection
The audition notice said that the director would be prepared to work with the monologues of all those auditioning. I was a little weirded out at first - I mean, an audition that isn't totally impersonal? I was getting kind of used to the alienation of it.

It was actually quite nice. I said before that an audition is a free opportunity for a performer to perform. Who says it can't also be an opportunity for a director to direct?



1 headshot remains.