Auditioning for Foothill College

I auditioned for Foothill College today. They will be producing The Winter's Tale. I had not read Winter's Tale previously and the audition had asked for a Shakespearean monologue and cold readings from the play. For the monologue I opted to do Mariana from Measure for Measure. Actually, this is my only Shakespearean piece I have down. I'm hoping to get a new dramatic piece and a comedic piece at some point.

Since I pretty much had the entire day free I spent it in the student center reading The Winter's Tale. I read the wiki on it for a summary and then read all the parts that had women in them. I took a shortcut because it's honestly really hard for me to translate Shakespeare well in that short amount of time.

I arrived at the audition to learn that in addition to the monologue we might be asked to sing. This is not good for me. I'm not really a singer, and certainly don't prepare anything (which I need to start doing).

During the audition my monologue went very smoothly. I was quite proud actually. Marcia Frederick, the director, asked me if there was a particular part I had in mind and I immediately answered Paulina. (Although I would be happy with any part.) So she had me read Paulina's monologue from Act 3, scene 2. I was also, unfortunately, asked to sing. Since I had nothing prepped I struggled to think of something I actually knew the words of. Finally, I blurted out with "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star." Really, that was the best I had. I got through the first stanza ok and then struggled through the second. Luckily, Marcia cut me off.

Once I get my cold reading piece(s) I do my best to score them. I try to set a tone, objectives, character choices and substitutions. This is why it's important to read the play beforehand if you get a chance. It makes all this work go faster.

Since there were quite a few people at the audition and we were doing monologues plus cold readings, I spent more time than I should have socializing. But it was nice to chat with people on upcoming projects. I also spent some of my time talking to the Stage Manager about Foothill's conservatory. She was great and asnwered all of my questions.

When it was finally time for me to perform the cold reading I have to say I did the best to my ability, but I think I still screwed up. All the prep work I put into it while waiting didn't seem to show itself when it came down to it. The monologue read as quiet anger. Marcia thanked me when I was finished, double checked the information on my resume and then told me I was finished. I was pretty bummed. I wondered if I should have made a different choice, like maybe I should have been loud angry. And then I wondered why if I had been doing it wrong she didn't correct me? As in, ask me to read the monologue differently. I left the audition feeling confused and wondering if I would be called back.