Auditioning sucks! Most actors know this but, also know it's a necessary evil. If we want the jobs, we have to audition for them. It's hard to like anything when your future employment hinges on 16 bars of a traditional theater song. But the other day, I was back at the Equity building singing for another company.
Here in New York, auditions work in two basic ways. You have your chorus calls (ECC) and your EPA's (Equity Performer Audition, I think.) The chorus calls post sign up sheets one week prior to the audition. They are divided up, male and female, and you just go in and put your name on the list. The day of, you show up 30 minutes prior to the start and they call off the names on the list. About three-quarters of the people on the list don't even show up (or are on there multiple times... why?) so it's not as bad as it seems (I've been on the list at over #400 before and gotten a card for #102 before). Anyway, this is the one where you sing 16 bars (about 30 seconds) of whatever type of music they want to hear. An EPA is a little different. Sign up begins one hour prior to the actual call. Time slots are split up for about six people to be seen every 20 minutes. These allow you to sing a "brief song"; usually up to about, I'd say, a minute and a half.
So the other day, I went in for an EPA for an out of town theater. I needed to get an early time slot because I had to be at work by noon. Due to traffic, it took longer to get to town and by the time I got there, the morning slots were gone. No problem, I put myself on the alternate list. Being third on the list, I knew I wouldn't have to wait to long because EPA's have a tendency to move faster. And sure enough, I was called to go in after the second group. The producers had asked for traditional musical theater so, I decided to do I Have Dreamed from The King and I (you can't get much more traditional than Rodgers and Hammerstein.) The women who went right before me (it seemed like it was a very "female heavy" morning) had both done faster, upbeat funny songs (from what I could hear through the muffled doors) so I thought I would be noticed by having a contrasting number to follow them. So, I went in and did my song. It was fine except for a "crackle" I had about midway through. I call it a crackle because I didn't crack but, it felt like something, other than sound, was trying to make its presence known for one note. Anyway, the guy may not have even noticed (he certainly didn't seem to be paying much attention.) After it was over, I got the standard line, "Thanks for coming in...." ugh. Which I translate to mean, "You're done and I'm not calling you back." Oh well, you win some and lose some.
Now, there are tons of reasons why an actor doesn't get hired for a particular show/role. But, sometimes (only sometimes), I wish they would just say... something. Anything, to save me the trouble of figuring it out for myself. One thing you learn as an actor, especially here in New York where thousands of us are rejected daily, is to get used to it and stop trying to figure it out. In this case, there was nothing I specifically wanted. I was just going in to be seen and hope for the best. But there are times when you really want something or felt really good about a particular audition, where, "Thanks for coming in..., " just doesn't cut it. I wish I could just say, "I'm gonna need a little more than that please." Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way.
Oh well, another audition down. There will always be more. Or, at least, there will be as long as I continue to live in this world of enterainment.
Until next time....
----MC
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