A Working Actor's Lament (Chapter 32)
"One Act" That Is Hard To Understand
I don't know what it is about headshot...it seems that I could submit my photo and resume to every single casting director in this town and the only ones who will call me in for an audition are the casting directors who cast theater. Maybe I should get a new headshot.
Anyway, I submitted to 4 films and 1 theater production on Tuesday, the 15th. I received an email from the "theater" submission on Wednesday for an audition that day. It was for an evening of one acts that would be competing for "best of" status between the lot of them. There were 9 plays in all and during the audition, we would be auditioning for all 9 directors. No pressure. While waiting to be called into the audition room, I read a few pages from the scripts that were available and found that some of them were pretty funny. One, in particular, was about a couple who were getting a divorce and decided to invite their "couple friends" over and convince them that they should be their friend and not their future ex's. I heard my name called and walked into the room, nerves in check, until I stepped on the stage. For some reason, my body decided that now would be a great time to get that sensation of drowning in a pool of my own insecurities. Lucky for me, my monologue is about an actor who talks about a performance gone bad, so I used that to my advantage. I pulled out my trusty monologue and went about getting a job.
The next day, I got a phone call letting me know that 3 of the 9 directors would like to call me back for Saturday at 1:30 PM. I was happy. And, I was called back for the one about the couple breaking up. I was stoked. Cindy, the lady who called, told me that I would be getting the sides to the three shows by email, and if I didn't, contact her and she would let the directors know. I was on cloud-nine. It was about time I had a call back. I was ...I was...
That night I got home and thought I would have at least one email from one director who was interested (beside myself...that's it, I was beside myself. I knew I was something else). My inbox was empty. Maybe tomorrow, that would still be enough time to look over three different characters. But, tomorrow came and there was nothing. I called Cindy up and got her voice mail. I told her to contact me and let me know about getting sides, or if there were any. After a couple of hours waiting for Cindy to return my phone call, I went back onto the internet and found the email of the man who contacted me about the original audition, Chris. I wrote him on Friday night saying I was getting worried about not getting anything to prepare for my meeting with all three directors and would still like to see some sides, and then went to bed knowing that he would respond.
I woke up to find my inbox still empty. My call back was in 5 hours and I had tried to contact not one, but two different people associated with this production and had not heard from either. I sat at my computer and wrote an email to Chris informing him that I would not be showing up for the call back. I felt it was not fair to the directors that I would come unprepared for their show; it was not fair to my fellow actors to not be "present" for the call back and give them what would end up being a "very cold reading"; it was not fair to me to not give me the sides and be as prepared as my fellow actors. And, if there were no sides given out, let me know that; I would have at least shown up if the playing field was even.
I still have yet to hear from anyone. There are times when you have to make decisions that are rough. I am out here trying to become a working actor, and to turn down a job hurts, but is this the kind of environment I want to be in? Day after day, it just gets harder and harder.
Maybe it's my headshot.
I don't know what it is about headshot...it seems that I could submit my photo and resume to every single casting director in this town and the only ones who will call me in for an audition are the casting directors who cast theater. Maybe I should get a new headshot.
Anyway, I submitted to 4 films and 1 theater production on Tuesday, the 15th. I received an email from the "theater" submission on Wednesday for an audition that day. It was for an evening of one acts that would be competing for "best of" status between the lot of them. There were 9 plays in all and during the audition, we would be auditioning for all 9 directors. No pressure. While waiting to be called into the audition room, I read a few pages from the scripts that were available and found that some of them were pretty funny. One, in particular, was about a couple who were getting a divorce and decided to invite their "couple friends" over and convince them that they should be their friend and not their future ex's. I heard my name called and walked into the room, nerves in check, until I stepped on the stage. For some reason, my body decided that now would be a great time to get that sensation of drowning in a pool of my own insecurities. Lucky for me, my monologue is about an actor who talks about a performance gone bad, so I used that to my advantage. I pulled out my trusty monologue and went about getting a job.The next day, I got a phone call letting me know that 3 of the 9 directors would like to call me back for Saturday at 1:30 PM. I was happy. And, I was called back for the one about the couple breaking up. I was stoked. Cindy, the lady who called, told me that I would be getting the sides to the three shows by email, and if I didn't, contact her and she would let the directors know. I was on cloud-nine. It was about time I had a call back. I was ...I was...
That night I got home and thought I would have at least one email from one director who was interested (beside myself...that's it, I was beside myself. I knew I was something else). My inbox was empty. Maybe tomorrow, that would still be enough time to look over three different characters. But, tomorrow came and there was nothing. I called Cindy up and got her voice mail. I told her to contact me and let me know about getting sides, or if there were any. After a couple of hours waiting for Cindy to return my phone call, I went back onto the internet and found the email of the man who contacted me about the original audition, Chris. I wrote him on Friday night saying I was getting worried about not getting anything to prepare for my meeting with all three directors and would still like to see some sides, and then went to bed knowing that he would respond.
I woke up to find my inbox still empty. My call back was in 5 hours and I had tried to contact not one, but two different people associated with this production and had not heard from either. I sat at my computer and wrote an email to Chris informing him that I would not be showing up for the call back. I felt it was not fair to the directors that I would come unprepared for their show; it was not fair to my fellow actors to not be "present" for the call back and give them what would end up being a "very cold reading"; it was not fair to me to not give me the sides and be as prepared as my fellow actors. And, if there were no sides given out, let me know that; I would have at least shown up if the playing field was even.
I still have yet to hear from anyone. There are times when you have to make decisions that are rough. I am out here trying to become a working actor, and to turn down a job hurts, but is this the kind of environment I want to be in? Day after day, it just gets harder and harder.
Maybe it's my headshot.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home