Monday, March 7, 2011

Kaiser Permanente Seminar



I’m auditing for Kaiser Permanente's Education touring group at the end of the month. This is my seond time auditiong for them. I tried last year but didn’t get called back. Since I desperately want this job I’ve been preparing it since January. K.P. holds two seminars before auditions start to give a prospect an opportunity to learn more about the company, what’s expected, how the audition process works and gives them a chance to workshop a monologue and get feedback, as well as participate in a mock audition.

I decied to take BART. I hate driving and looking for parking. Unfotunately I didn’t plan well and made it just on time to my seminar appointment. The group was introduced to various program directors who led us through the informational part of the seminar, along with a power point presentation. After a Q&A session we were split into 4 groups to workshop our monologues. In my small group of 5 people only myself and one other girl, Calia, had fully prepared a monologue. I actually recognized her from last year’s K.P. audition. So we each went up and got great feedback from the group and the director, Keinya.

I had mainly been worried because I chose to do a piece off their example list instead of choosing a different piece. I was concerned that so many actors would be doing these pieces that I would not standout. My concern isn't unwarranted, but they did say it was OK for us to use the pieces off the examples list. I have spent quite a bit of time on this piece and don’t want to change it even though I find it really challenging. It’s from David Mamet’s "Oleanna." And I’ve been stuggling to make CAROL, who supposed to be in her 20s, appear younger as well as give the piece some range. Advice given was: pick a specific age, really figure out how that age would respond, don’t play the end of the monologue at the beginning. They also encouraged us to dress young for the actual audition. I had the chance to perform my piece twice. After we worked on our pieces a bit we did a mock audition. It was to give us an idea of what to expect for the auctal audition-which isn't much. You’re called on deck and get a couple of minutes in a quite room to center, ground, and rehearse. Then you’re called in the audition room. You introduce yourself and perform your piece in front of a panel and that’s it. As soon as I was done with the mock audition I got to go home.

I’m really glad I went. I appreciated the feedback and I felt that I would more easily be remembered from the other applicants because I had indiviaul time with the directors.

One of things that came up during the seminar is most people had to audition more than once. Some members auditioned as much as 2-3 times before being cast. Certainly what types they need to fill make a difference and unforutaly they don’t tell you what roles need to be filled. I also think I wasn’t called back last year because I just got it wrong. I picked the wrong monologue, performed it incorrectly and wore the wrong type of outfit. As my professor told me recently “do you research.” If a company or school has a special focus be sure to tailor your audition as such.

I also learned during the seminar that rehearsals for the program start in August, not September. This timing would actually be perfect if I'm cast. It would mean breaks in between shows, but I’m OK with that. And then I would be set for a whole year practically in performance. I really hope I get this job.

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