Auditioning for Shady Shakespeare

I had planned on auditioning for Shady about sometime last year and started reading up on Henry V (because I've never read it) and picking a new monologue for my second piece. But when Kaiser's Education Theatre Program came along I thought I wouldn't be able to fit Shady into my schedule, and then I later learned that it could theoretically work, but by that point I couldn't request any time off from Bless Me, Ultima rehearsals. Fast forward to this past week and a last minute rehearsal cancel, led me to think "Why the hell not?" Unfortunately I had stopped prepping for the Shady auditions months ago and now had to cram a new monologue and play prep in 2 days.

This year Shady will be producing The Imaginary Invalid, Henry V and A Midsummer Night's Dream. I can't do Invalid because I'm going to be out of town during the run of the show. I'm very familiar with Midsummer, it's one of my favorite pieces, so I wasn't worried about cramming in a review session. However, I knew pretty much nothing of Henry V. I decided I wouldn't worry about a major cram session for it until I knew I was going to be called back. So I just focused all my energy into learning a new monologue.

Shady asked for 2 contrasting Shakespearean monologues no more than 2 minutes each. I knew for sure I would be doing Mariana from Measure for Measure. I had debated on doing Julia from Two Gentlemen of Verona, but I honestly didn't think I could get down just the way I wanted in time. So instead I opted for the Courtesan from The Comedy of Errors. (Both speeches that I used are from the book Alternative Shakespeare Auditions for Women by Simon Dunmore.) I pretty much spent all of Friday trying to get the Courtesan speech down and working on characterization, but by the time my audition time slot rolled around I just didn't feel 100% confident in it.

To be honest, auditions just didn't go as well as I wanted. I managed to get to the space fairly early, and was even asked if I wanted to go early. I opted not to. I wanted to use what time I had to relax and work on my piece some more. Unfortunately I didn't take advantage of my time to really give myself a good physical and vocal warm-up. I was so busy trying to calm my nerves. I also tried distracting myself a bit by saying hi to a bunch of other auditioners I already knew. I rarely get to see these people outside of auditions, rehearsals and performances so it's kind of nice to catch up a bit.

The space was really echo-y. Even with the door to the room shut you could hear auditioners pieces down the hall. Including a woman who was a couple of people ahead of me doing the Julia piece I had contemplated. Glad I decided to go with the Courtesan. When it was finally time for me to go I actually relieved I knew everyone in the room. I like all these people and tried to make it feel like I was just talking to friends instead of auditioning. It helped, a bit. This also meant I didn't have to introduce myself, just let them know what pieces I'd be doing. I decided to do my Mariana speech first because it's my strongest. I had hoped it would help bolster my confidence and get me a bit more relaxed. I took my moment and a couple of breaths before launching into my first monologue. About a quarter of the way through my first piece I realized I was starting to go on autopilot a bit and just saying the words instead of actually trying to be in the moment. Luckily I found my focus again. Then came my second piece. Well...I didn't blow it, but I certainly didn't nail it either. Parts of lines just seem to disappear from my brain. I knew what my intention was so I just started saying things that sounded like the lines I wanted to say and I think transversed a few bits as well. Hey, at least I didn't freeze and just kept going. Since I was scrambling to get my lines correct I felt I lost a lot of the nuance and intention I had wanted to convey. My blurry recollection of the event tells me at least I didn't completely fuck things up. I finished up the piece, gave my thank yous, and then hung out in the hallway while I tried to stop my hands from shaking. I was pretty annoyed with myself and started in on the self-berating. However, my fiance and the rational part of my brain kept telling me that I had done ok. You can't keep beating yourself up over things you can no longer control, just focus on the next thing. In this case, waiting to hear about callbacks. We had been told we'd be notified either way later this evening. So I sat anxiously waiting by my phone and checking my email. Of course, it was until H4773r got his email that I shortly thereafter got mine. I got a callback! Since I'm pretty tired, I'm planning on going to bed early and then getting up early to start my Henry V prep.