Audition #2
I went on a second audition today. It was a kind of spur of the moment thing. I purchased Backstage on my way to teach this morning and saw an ad for an open call this afternoon at 3 pm. (Not alot of advanced notice on their part… the ad first appeared in todays issue.) I figured what the heck, it’s a chance to do my monologue again.
It was an interesting second experience. I felt much less nervous going in but was much more concious of the fact that the audition panel wasn’t laughing at the piece. At one point I was conscious of the fact the director was looking over at the other panel members while I was doing the monologue as if to see if they were feeling me for the part. I wasn’t what they were looking for it seems, because they were asking folks to stick around to read later if they liked you. Oh well. No biggie. I got the impression that the play was more of comic farce type of thing. They mentioned in the ad that they were looking for actors with good comic instincts. I think my monologue is funny in some ways (the last people to see it laughed at it…) and might be good for some things but I’m not sure that it showcases the type of chops they were looking for.
Here’s an interesting side note to the story: I’d originally planned to be there pretty early to avoid the long lines and be first on the sign in list. I laid down and took a nap and didn’t get down there till around 3:30. (Luckily the wait wasn’t too long and was out of there by 5 pm. First learning point: always get enough sleep as you never know what opportunities may arise the next day. I went to bed not expecting an audition but ended up with an audition. Be prepared!).
So anyway I left my apartment and got to the train station. I was on the platform waiting for the trainn when I realized that I didn’t bring my headshots/resume. Doh! Made my way back to my apartment with a bit of a chuckle. It seems that for some reason I wasn’t supposed to get down there when I’d planned.
After the audition was over I headed to the train station but then thought “I’m down here, I should stop by the Drama Bookstore”. Got there and was looking through some G.B. Shaw plays (for another audition I’m going to be submitting my headshot for) when I noticed a line of people waiting for something. Turns out that there was a seminar being held there that evening on Soaps. The Agency Forum was hosting a Q&A / 2 minute monologue audition for assistant casting directors for 3 NY soaps. I was sitting right next to the young lady as she registered people for the seminar. Turns out that she’s a model and The Agency Forum is her company. She gave me their website info and an article on Soaps that was going to the participants that evening. I just sent her a quick e-mail thanking her for the information and asking that she keep me informed of future events. Contact made.
What I learned in all this is that sometimes the best thing about an audition will be the contacts you make before or after you get there. Had I gotten what I thought I wanted (making it to the audition at the time I’d originally planned) I would not have met this industry person. Is this one person going to break open things for me? Who knows… The point is that by consistently putting myself out there I build good Karma.