The "Glamorous" Life of Auditions - Day 6 & 7 ( Audition #9 & #10 )

During this painful time of dealing, my Appa still pushes me along and although "NO" could've been my answer, I said "YES" to art. I didn't audition for the play but 2 fantastic, directors/actors ( Saundra McClain and Gregg Daniel ) were working on the show and my name came up to be the understudy for the role of Ruth in "A Raisin in the Sun," already in the works at A Noise Within Theatre in Pasadena. An understudy is someone who is a part of the show as a filler - if the person hired for the role is unable to perform a show, even at an hour's notice, you're on call and expected to step in. Usually as an understudy, you'd be there during rehearsals to see blocking and watch the extras to fill in the gaps without necessarily being on stage but I was out of town, celebrating a life, not knowing when I may return only to receive this offer to come on board immediately upon arrival back to L.A. Funny how the goodness of the universe works...through life's pain, I've got an outlet to express it without even looking for it or trying. This beautiful production will be challenging to say the least but my ART is up for it, my spirit is ready and my Appa always stated I could do anything I set my mind to. So, although this play was set to open ( I arrived back home on the evening of the last rehearsal, ) and I hadn't seen any bits of it, I decided if they wanted me, I'd be there coming in blind but ready to do it because when art calls, you must answer!!! Maybe it's ego, pushing me to really put myself in these types of situations to see if I can pull it off, make it happen but I also know it's training/prepping me for my time and I must push my work when I can. I plan on my career taking off and keeping me hectic, so I must answer this stress/fear now by tackling this overwhelming feeling of being scared and jumping in anyway, I mean why not? Push to see your perceived "limits" now, push your mind/body to see it's reactions to dealing with these situations and recognize how you step in...this will either help you understand where you're at or make you realize that with everything you've sacrificed up to this time, preparation has now met it's opportunity and you must seize it and squeeze the hell out of it...oh, and you're ready! After saying yes, of course I get 2 more self tape auditions to complete within a day of getting home...ah yes, when it rains, it pours - HA!!! So who's memorizing 2 scenes for a play and the wrong sides for a show? Yep, this gal...

Submitted on a casting a few weeks ago via Actors Access for a play in Ventura at a theatre I've been curious about and although I've tried to audition in the past, absolutely nothing. Although they were looking for name actors to be given priority, I decided with good pay and actually close to family as well, what could it hurt although I wasn't expecting the call. Self tape requested with 6 pages of dialogue due the afternoon after I got into town so, it was tape as soon as I landed or not do it at all so I decided it must be done, I mean who knows when I may get another opportunity to be seen by them. Off the plane at 8pmish, grab a quick bite and now home putting on makeup/clothes to fit the character while going over the lines. I'm not as prepared as I like but at least I have my beast to shoot the footage and say lines and I am grateful for my village, so I must show up and do. Took another look at my other self tape audition to see that instead of the rush date I had seen, it's now changed and through exhaustion, decide to forgo it since I may have time to dig into the sides. Done after 11pm with the upload and all only to look at the notice of the other show and realize that in the noted section, that although they had until Saturday, they needed the submission for a quick turn around within 48 hours! HUH? So basically, the first send out was for the noted time of 48 hours ( Wednesday ) but then changed the due date to Saturday but still had the request of the 48 hours in the notes...why oh why...I'm exhausted and my brain isn't functioning any more so I go to bed to deal with it in the morning.


Off to the theatre to watch the show and take the much needed notes in the balcony with script in hand finally. Lights go out and it's dark...really, really dark and I've got no flash light to highlight my script so I'm basically there just watching which isn't bad, just something I hadn't planned for. I'm there to hit the ground running and now I'm walking...urghhhh...but watching a show is just as important arties so even with intermission, I decided today was a watching day! Raced home, took another look at the whole notice for today's self tape and realized I may have gotten my character wrong as well. See, since I got this audition right before I left home in WA, I was looking at everything through my phone for the most part, since I was there helping my umma get paperwork together along with all the calls needing to be made. My mind everywhere, I looked at the notice and saw my character name as Silvia's mom but the 3 sides attached were for Cara, Polly and Silvia so I had assumed it was just Silvia's sides. With my manager not being great with sides or extra notes and me being absolutely full, I memorized the role of Silvia without even questioning the notice. Usually with the eco-cast self submissions, whatever sides are attached are the sides you do, hence my confusion with Silvia or Silvia's mom. I decided before the self tape to just search for the mom sides and what do you know, they popped up! This is due today by 6p and I've got 2 pages of dialogue and it's all about face timing in the scene. Sometimes you just gotta throw up your hands, say screw it and jump. Changed to appropriate clothes ( only upper half since I'm just tired at this point,) sat on chair, taped my sides to a box, decided to have props of wine and food, so I could mask the looks down to get my lines quickly and GO! I eat, drink, laugh and have fun - that is all one can do during moments of brain farts like these, yes it could've been better per say, but I nailed the role and I'm happy! Don't quite look like a mom with a college kid but I played it out dammit!!!

 So lucky for me, I've got my own whiskey club going, as a year long gift from the beast so I celebrate with finally getting through my 2nd bottle of Scottish whiskey ( Laphroaig being my first - so medicinal and chewy to me ) which isn't good because of the same medicinal properties but I'm eating those truffle chips from Trader Joe's and it compliments it well. Finding a solution, is part of the art fun-fun...so have fun, have so much fun with this crazy, wacky, wondrous business!!!