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Unified Open Call Audition Results

Question:

The timing was great too, because yet another crisis has reared it’s ugly head, …but in between dealing with it, I still have room for laughter.  8^)

Well, from what I’ve seen of you in this group, you seem to have plenty of laughter for everyone, so I’m sure things will get better soon. "Courage is just something you can’t be afraid to have."– Frank Burns BTW – Great sig line

Thanks; yup, gonna miss him.  I like yours too.  She may have worn ugly shoes, but she had a lot of great sig lines.  <VBG — Opus (: "Courage is just something you can’t be afraid to have."– Frank Burns http://www.carla.coble.com -Acting site http://members.home.net/coble/OpusGraphics -Original graphics

Response:

Thank-you, Carla! I can only hope to one day perform to your level. Who the hell needs an Oscar? Make ‘em laugh, make ‘em cry, tell the story, and don;t ask why! That’s what I must do! Thank-you ma’am! Thank-you, thank-you. Robert Owen

Hi Robert, and thank you for your response.  My goodness, I don’t think I’ve considered my auditioning to be at a certain "level", but I think I am well on my way to what I’ve set out to do:  Be HAPPY with what I walk away with.  I’ve said it is a craft, and that means you gotta do it in order to craft it.  To be honest, I hate monologue auditions.  Give me a cold reading anytime.  But they are good for me; they push me beyond my comfort level.  Now that I’ve got a good start with my monologues, I will definitely feel more comfortable about answering other auditions in town.  I’ve usually shied away from dramatic auditions, but this spring/summer is the time I stretch myself and change all of that. Will definitely keep everyone abreast of my progress, if interested. Thanks everyone who replied. — Opus (: "Courage is just something you can’t be afraid to have."– Frank Burns http://www.carla.coble.com -Acting site http://members.home.net/coble/OpusGraphics -Original graphics

Response:

YOU GO GIRL!!! Keepin’ my fingers crossed for ya, Drama Queen Thank you so much DQ.  I do appreciate that very much.

I appreciate your having posted that. I had my own series of crisis’ occur in my life about a month ago, and found myself not quite rising to the challenge of not letting them interfere with an audition. Unfortunately, it was a rather *IMPORTANT* audition. Your post was the kick in the pants I needed to strengthen my resolve and understanding that these things don’t ALWAYS have to get the better of us. The timing was great too, because yet another crisis has reared it’s ugly head, …but in between dealing with it, I still have room for laughter.  8^) "Courage is just something you can’t be afraid to have."– Frank Burns

BTW – Great sig line Drama Queen — "You gain strength, courage, and confidence by each experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You’re able to say to yourself ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’"                                           –Eleanor Roosevelt

Response:

Nice tale, Carla. Hope you get the job. All the director said was "Thank you," tho? Carl

Well thanks Carl.  I appreciate that. Yup; "Hello, start when you’re ready, you’re in the light, thank you." Very austere audition.  The most I guess I’ve ever encountered. Ah well; it was a long day for them, so I guess I can understand why they might not want to engage everyone in conversation.  Since it was an open call, season audition, if they want to see me for a Callback at some time in the future, then they will call me, so I really didn’t expect much more than a thank you. Just thought it might be something to post though, for some newbies. Maybe they can glean something from it. Oh, and a very important tip:  IF you have scheduled a time slot for an audition, and then at the last minute, you decide to not go through with it, PLEASE CALL AND TELL THEM.  My friend Randy had the slot before mine, but didn’t show, and when I mentioned to the stage manager that I was going last, he said, "Well, we’re still waiting for one man to show."  I knew this was Randy, so I said, "Well, I don’t *think* he’s coming."  He blew a gasket.  He told me to inform him that he was upset, since if he HAD told them he wasn’t coming, they could’ve given his slot to someone that they had to turn down.  So always let them know if your plans change. — Opus (: "Courage is just something you can’t be afraid to have."– Frank Burns http://www.carla.coble.com -Acting site http://members.home.net/coble/OpusGraphics -Original graphics

Response:

YOU GO GIRL!!! Keepin’ my fingers crossed for ya, Drama Queen — No other country is in a better position than Canada to go ahead with the evolution of a national purpose devoted to all that is good and noble and excellent in the human spirit.                                                         – Lester Pearson

Response:

YOU GO GIRL!!! Keepin’ my fingers crossed for ya, Drama Queen

Thank you so much DQ.  I do appreciate that very much. — Opus (: "Courage is just something you can’t be afraid to have."– Frank Burns http://www.carla.coble.com -Acting site http://members.home.net/coble/OpusGraphics -Original graphics

Response:

You describe exactly how I hope to make my audience feel when I perform. It has happened a few times in my life <vbg Your feeling of accomplishment and success is what will make the audition worthwhile regardless of the outcome. As you witnessed,  I’m sure it will be positive :) GOOD LUCK! Mary – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – It’s 2:07 a.m., I just got finished with a long bath, I’m tired, my entire body hurts, I’m pissed that on the way home from the audition, I stopped by the garage to pick up my car, and it wasn’t fixed and yet I had to pay them some $250 frickin dollars and then leave it there, have my best friend drive us home, and then look forward to having it out with them on Monday morning. My washing machine pipe burst this week, spilling tons of water all over my master bedroom on the other side of the utility room wall, which meant that my bedroom floor flooded, ruined my padding, and now I need new carpeting, not to mention I had to hire TWO plumbers to fix it.  All of this was being handled with my sick car which still won’t start, and me, trying to get ready for tonight’s audition. Then on top of this, I ran off and forgot my LIPSTICK!  ARRRRGH!!! With this being said, I am now, living proof, that you can face horribly stressful situations in your private life, and then kick ass mighty well during the actual audition! My call time was for 7:40, so I arrived at 7:15.  I was the last one to have been scheduled for tonight’s non-equity bunch.  After having re-read most of "Audition", along with some other books I have, I practiced a new set of confidence-centering exercises.  This resulted, in something new for me, that I call a "bubble".  When I began to feel stressed, I would physically ‘encase’ myself within my bubble, along with two other things/pets/people that made me feel completely centered and confident.  They were in the first bubble with me, then a few other people whom I hold precious to me, were in a second layer of the bubble a few feet away from that.  When I felt my concentration begin to wane, I would go back and encase myself within the bubble.  Within the bubble, it was peaceful, quiet and slow moving.  I blocked out all extraneous noise, as well as all movement.  What a wonderful thing!  It was such a cool feeling, knowing that I truly wasn’t alone during this audition, and for me, that’s always something I face. I signed in, was treated very nicely by the stage manager of the Children’s Theatre, which is where the auditions were being held, and gave him all four of my headshots/resumes.  I had plenty of time to go through my T’ai Chi movements, which did help me to center even more, but not much more than that. At exactly 7:43, I was called back.  My husband and best friend, were also allowed to stand at the back of the auditorium in order to watch, since I was the last for the evening.  The Stage Manager told me to simply stand back at the foyer, prepare myself, then when I was ready, walk down the right side of the auditorium and right onto the stage, finding my light, and then beginning when I was ready.  In this respect, it was kind of cold and sterile, as not much dialogue occurred from anyone. I entered, and heard one of the 13 or 14 people grouped together in the center, introduce me, and I looked to the left and acknowledged them. By the time I got on stage, they were saying, "Hi Carla, Hello Carla", and I smiled very big while continuing to walk across the stage, waved at them big with my left hand and said hello to them very loudly. I was told to begin when I was ready, and they didn’t even wish to know the pieces I was doing.  (In Shurtleff’s book, he says that because of equity rules, they are only allowed to audition with a single light over head, but all of the lights on that stage were on and were hot.  It was wonderful.  They had just finished seeing equity people at 6, so I’m sure nothing had changed in the way of lighting.) I took a minute to find my light, (I found a great, easy way to do this, thanks to my college drama professor, years ago.  Stand on stage, feel the light on your face.  If you can’t, you’re not in it.  If your face suddenly feels brighter, you’re in it.) then I asked them politely if I was in my light.  The man seem pleasantly surprised that I had taken the time to find out, and he happily said "Yes, you ARE in your light!" I then asked if I could take a moment to prepare, and again, he enthusiastically said yes. I then began my first monologue, which was my comedy.  It was a monologue about actors, and was hysterical, but I had actually forgotten, in all of my preparation, just how funny it really WAS.  They began laughing, and both John and Randy at the back of the stage, said they saw the comedian/stand-up in me kick in, since I began having to hold for laughs.  What a SWEET sound to me!  There’s nothing better in the world than hearing someone laugh. It continued that way, with them soon laughing hysterically, and I even started to get an applause break.  This created in me, a great confidence in letting my true personality come out, which is what I had been reading about just today:  Our private behaviour vs. our public behaviour, and how we struggle to bring our private, natural behaviour into our on-stage work without being conscious of it.  I’m a very animated person, so this was a great step forward for me. Michael Schulman and Eva Mekler, have delved into this topic, and come up with some very interesting findings.  "Every actor has had the experience of knowing that he "felt more" than he actually expressed in his performance.  How does the actor know this?  He knows he felt more because in his mind he SAW himself behaving in ways that he didn’t let come through his body.  And in his mind he HEARD himself speaking in ways or making sounds that he didn’t let come through his voice.  Our private selves are ordinarily far more expressive than our public selves.  By tapping into his private self, the actor can become increasingly expressive and uninhibited." There is much more, but brevity dictates that I leave it.  I was taught long ago as a trumpet student, to use certain visualization techniques before an important recital or performance.  The "Inner Game of Tennis" helped me incredibly within this arena.  I think that this borders along the same thing; picturing yourself doing the exercise/performance perfectly within a certain way before your feet hit the floor in the morning, and after they hit the bed at night, before falling asleep.  I know that

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