I HAVE LEARNED SO MUCH.

Not to shout, but this past week, specifically this weekend, has been one big learning experience.

This weekend was the Midwest Theatre Auditions held at the Webster Conservatory campus. It's a combined audition consisting of several summer theaters looking to cast for their 2011 summer season. There were around 30 or so theaters present throughout the weekend. This was my first experience at a combined audition and I definitely learned a lot about myself as a performer and about the specific audition process that I experienced.

The Actual Audition:
- I paid attentive to the girl who sang before me, which one of my professors said was a good way to keep yourself present, alert, and focused. It also makes you seem like a pleasant person, which catches the eye of the auditors.

- I think I rushed my intro, when I should've just breathed, and slowed down a little bit. I stumbled a little over my number.

- This was the first time I've performed my audition cut for an actual audition. I think it went pretty well, however, I need to figure out a simpler explanation of what I need from my accompanist.

- My voice was fully warmed up, but in the heat of battle, I need to remember where to place my voice. I think I just need to keep working with my cut. However, the high melisma went really well.

- I think I went on auto-pilot when it came to what I was doing with my arms. I was aware, but I wasn't fully present, and I think I should have kept it a little more simple. I did improve from my mock audition, however, which was nice. I also think that the music being a little slower had an impact on that as well.

- I'm not sure if I said thank you afterwards! I think I did, but I honestly don't remember. When in doubt, I need to say thank you.

- I was affected by the fact that we didn't need to introduce our pieces. Introducing our pieces is engrained in my body and I didn't do it for this audition, but it made me feel a little off-kilter. They said we could, but it wasn't suggested, so I didn't do it. I should've listened to my instincts because it was something I had practiced.

- HOWEVER, on the other hand I think a big thing I learned is that I should always be ready for anything.


Callbacks:
I did receive callbacks! Honestly, I'm not sure what or if anything will come from this, but again, it was a great experience, and I can only hope to hear from some of these places.

The theatre I'm most interested in is Shawnee Summer Theatre of Greene County, in Indiana. They have a great season, and I think it'd be a great experience.

-They had me sing 'Much More' from The Fantasticks because they knew I've already done the role.

-They also knew of Okoboji Summer Theatre and John Watkins, who I did the show with. They knew how OST works, which is very similar to their program which is a great thing, I think.

-I didn't know if I should do blocking with the song, or just sing, so I just stood there and sang, and did some gesture work, but not much. I'm still on the fence on whether or not that was a good idea.

-Then I read for Susanne in Picasso at the Lapin Agile, which is a character pretty similar to Luisa in her naive nature. I had a few minutes to look it over, and then I went into the room and read. They laughed, and I was able to use the producer as my bartender. I made sure to make eye contact and I think I gave a pretty strong read. I made some choices, but I'm not sure if they were big enough.

-They asked me if I had any technical theatre experience and I said that I sew, I love working with props, and especially hanging lights. I should've explained more intensively about OST and the technical theatre I did there, but it was in the heat of the moment and I had word vomit. I hope it didn't seem too 'suck up' esque. I tried to seem genuine and honest. :)

I'm not sure when to expect to hear from them, but I also mentioned that I was interested in their apprentice program, so we'll see. Regardless, both positions are paid and get stage time. I'd be honored to be working there.

Auditions coming up:
-Thoroughly Modern Millie - this coming weekend
- MT of Wichita - March 6th
- Muny Auditions - March 12th

Here we go!

A lot of progress..and my first paycheck!

Okay, so it's been awhile since I've last updated. I'm trying to be better about keeping this updated, but these last couple of weeks have really strangled my time to update this little guy.

So, I first should mention that the midwest suffered a massive blizzard a week and a half ago. We ended up getting 19 inches of snow, along with 3 1/2 days off of school. While this was great for catching up on sleep, movies, and making snowmen, there wasn't really too much to report on the acting side of things.

However, I've been failing to mention that while my acting classes and experiences in school are going well, I've recently seen some success in the REAL world!

I was recently given the role of 'Tabitha' in a film entitled 'Tape 56'. It's a feature length film, with several different directors working on it. It's a horror movie anthology of sorts. The section that I'm cast in is written and directed by a creative duo that I've worked with before. Last year, I was cast (through auditions) as a cameo in their film, 'A Horrible Way To Die', an indie horror thriller movie that found success in several markets across the country. This time around, however, there weren't any 'extras' or 'cameos', so they didn't hold auditions. Rather, they chose to work with actors that they've already worked with and enjoy working with. I just happened to be one of those actors!

I'll post later about the actual filming experience. I filmed yesterday at 9 AM. It was about 8 degrees. And I loved it.