Long Casting Rant

Last week I had two auditions in the same arts center building.  The first required one dramatic monologue, the second required two comedic monologues and a song.  I had work that morning and had just run to another audition so I was rushing to this building but managed to get there 10 minutes ahead of time.  And of course it is busy and loud and there are people everywhere.  I was having trouble finding the right room when a guy popped his head out and asked if I was there to auditon.  I said yes, he asked my name, I gave it, and he said "Wow you are early...that's great."  The audition started out with a short interview?  They asked what my day job was, any interesting facts about me, and then noticed that I had the ukulele on my resume.  They asked if I played well and I said yes...and told them my ukulele is purple (I think it is an interesting and important fact and I'm sort of proud of the purpleness for some reason).  I was wondering to myself why they were asking about music so much when it hit me...I was in the second auditon room....not the first! 

I was supposed to have at least 20 minutes in between my auditions to get ready for this.    My mind was totally in dramatic monologue mode.  I wasn't ready to be funny!  I was still on the fence between three monologues and if I'm being honest, had no idea what song I was going to sing.  (It was accapella and they weren't specific about genre, so I could pretty much whip anything out)

Normally my auditions are very polished.  "Hello, my name is Whitney Rappana.  I will be performing A, B, and C for you today. Blah, Blah, Blah. Thank you very much." 

This was the messiest, most unpolished, rambling audition I have ever had.  A voice in my head said, "Well you are in the wrong room and have no idea what you are doing.  You are screwed anyway, so you have nothing to lose."  And wow, did I treat it that way!

I still wasn't completely positive of what audition I was at, so I asked what they wanted to see.  They looked a little taken aback and said two comedic monologues. 

(the following is me stumbling through my audition)

"Ok.  Right. Sure.  I guess I will do...um...The Owl and the Pussycat by Bill Manhof." I did it. They laughed.

"Now for my second piece...I will be doing...um...sorry, I'm sort of figuring this out as I go.  Well I guess I will just do House of Blue Leaves by John Guare."  I did it.  They laughed even more.

"You wanted a song too right?  What style of music are you looking for?"

"Oh no. Were you not able to prepare a song?"  he asked.

"Oh I have like five songs that I could perform for you, I just want to make sure that I give you what you are looking for."

"Oh. Something sort of with a contemporary feel, a little poppy, you only need to do about 16 bars."

"Ok.  Well let's see.  Um...I'm going to sing Five and Half Minutes by Kerrigan and Lowdermilk.  It's sort of poppy, really belty, if that's alright?"

"Go for it"

"Ok.  Let me just think of the middle verse so you hear the best part." ( I hum to myself for a minute) "Crap, I can't think of it."  (Rack my brain frantically trying to start in the middle of a song).  "I'm sorry, I seriously cannot for the life of me remember how the middle starts."  (I hum a little more trying to speed through the first verse so I can remember how the second starts)

"We can just keep watching this if you want, because this right here is entertaining enough" He jokes.

"Ha.  Ok, It's clearly not coming so I will just start at the beginning and you can stop me when you get bored."  I sing.  (NAIL IT!)  They listen, laugh, and stop me right after I hit the big note.

"Is there anything else you need to see?" I ask.

"No, I think we have seen everything we need." 

"Cool.  Well thank you so much! And thanks for your patience through all that"

They laugh, say thank you one more time, and I get the heck out of there!

I got a callback but it was cancelled because of weather.  So he called me and said they loved my audition and really wanted to work with me.  And that's how I got cast in Chicago; by being a complete nutcase that didn't have a clue what she was doing and couldn't be anything but her goofy, giggly, air-headed self because she didn't think it could be any worse. 

The End.

Here's what's up

OH. MY. GOODNESS.  I can't believe it has been so long since I have posted! The goal was to post at least once a week...but I can hardly manage once a month!  I am terrible with keeping on top of these sort of things and keeping in touch with people.  

Here is a quick recap of my and Diana's lives. 

-It's cold.  And it has snowed more in the last month than it has all winter.  We are more than ready for spring weather and have decided that maybe two years in Chicago will be enough ;)

- We are still stuck in this little, nasty apartment.  It's teaching us patience and tolerance and building character.  HA!  How is that for an optomistic attitude?  But seriously, we are thankful for clothes on our backs and a roof over our heads and for each other...because this whole sucky apartment experience would seriously blow if we were doing it alone. 

Our tiny apartment

- Diana has an interniship at Claire Simon Casting.  She has been doing this since the New Year and finishes up in April.  It has kept her very busy. 

- She is also opening Julius Ceaser with the company Babes with Blades!

- I was cast in a play..  WOOT!  It's a comedy with a lot of adult humor.   I get to sing and play my ukulele!!!! I'm pretty excited about that.  

We take acting very, very seriously

- I have also become an excellant egg cook.  Just yesterday I made us outstanding scrambled eggs, if I do say so myself.  Yup, I'm growing up and learning to cook.  Although I tried to make instant pudding a few weeks ago and it didn't turn out.  I'm thinking it was just a bad box :D

- Winston is fluffier than ever.   He is enjoying the snow the most out of the three of us.  Eating it and jumping around and digging till he finds mud is pretty much his favorite thing.  He had stopped eating his dog food because he is a picky diva...or maybe because of an ongoing upset tummy.  It's hard to tell.  We recently changed brands and he is back to eating two cups of food a day.  (I know you are as excited as I am)

And that's all I have to say about that.