November 12, 2007

When the authors make me say words that make me wittier

Okay, so I've been keeping something under wraps. Something BIG for me, small in the scheme of things I am certain. However I feel like it was a good step for me and I'm glad I did it no matter the outcome. It was something that freaked me out, but the closer I got to it, the calmer I became. This made me feel good. So what did I do?

I auditioned for my first professional company. I tried out for the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival. I've never been overly impressed with what I've seen there. I learned this summer that this coming summer could be quite different (though I was not privy to any reason for that. I interpreted correctly--HUZZAH!). There is a new Artistic Director from Oregon.

We each had 8 minutes for the audition (which is quite generous) by appointment only. In order to audition, you had to do a Shakesperean monologue in verse, a contrasting contemporary monologue, and 16 bars of singing. So I did a monologue from Love's Labour's Lost. I did a portion of the monologue "Twirler" from the play Talking With. I used that as my Forensics piece my junior year of high school (It took me to the state competition in Colorado, so no complaints! I remembered a surprising amount of it too!). I sang the intro and first verse of "Honey Bun" from South Pacific.

How did it go? Pretty well, I felt. I did not embarrass myself (to my knowledge) which was nice. After I performed the three things, she had me do a portion of "Twirler" again, but "As a Gothic teenager". She also had me sing the song bigger. I felt pretty comfortable actually which was nice. I had fun too! What a concept!!! I am expecting absolutely nothing in this scenario. Saturday was the day of local auditions. She's flying all over the country for more auditions as well. I just figured it would be a good thing to try. I won't know anything until March. They're not even planning on having callbacks of any sort as far as I've been told. So let's hope I did well! They're doing Richard III and A Midsummer Night's Dream. They're also doing an original musical based on The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I'm guessing that this will be my best bet for getting in. I feel like I can "sell" my singing more than my acting. Another reason is because they're casting only non-union performers in that one! Crazy stuff.

The title comes from a song called "It's Me" from Me and Juliet. Good lyrics and music Mr. Richard Rogers and Mr. Oscar Hammerstein II.

2 comments:

Stephanie said...

That is SO exciting! Wow! I hope you get in a show because I'd definitely come see it. We're planning on taking a trip to Reno next summer.

I love the concept of the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival, and I enjoyed the atmosphere when I saw Midsummer there several years ago (the show itself was not good, but such is life).

Fingers crossed for you!

sugarbumkin said...

Yay, good for you, Lynette! I hope you make it, and if not, well, I'm glad the audition was a great experience and you can learn something. How cool is it that you did that, though? :-D Good luck!