YouthAware Audition

I received notice through Bay Area Theatre Bums that YouthAware from N.C.T. was having an audition. I  thought Anees, my current B.M.U. castmate, might be interested in this company/type of work and forwarded the email to her. I started thinking to myself that it wouldn't conflict with anything I would be doing and might be good practice for K.P. so I decided to audition too. But then I was cast in a show and had a massive brain fart and thought the schedules for my new show and YouthAware would conflict. So I cancelled my Y.A. audition. Anees still went and was cast. And then I realized that the schedules probably wouldn't conflict after all but by then it was too late, or so I thought. Later during the week I got another B.A.T.B. audition notice that Y.A. was still looking for actresses. So I resubmitted to audition and was able to get an appointment. Yay!

So today I tok the BART upto the City, after making sure there wasn’t going to be a tsunami, and made my way to N.C.T.’s space. I got ther a bit early and was lucky enough to be seen early. Sara, the program director, is so nice. She brought me into a small studio space and gave me some paperwork to fill out, a schedule and a cold read monologue. She explained she'd give me about 10 minutes to fill out the paperwork, look over the cold read, warm up, etc. And that I'd do my piece first and then the cold read monologue.

I chose to do a new piece from Jeanmarie Williams "Vanishing Marion" instead of the "Oleanna" piece I'd been working on. It's the other piece I've recently been considering for K.P. I wanted to give it a test drive of sorts. The new piece seemed to work very well. I might just switch pieces after all.

After presenting my monologue I then did their cold read monologue from their play "Secrets." N.C.T. is hiring for "Out of the Closet," but there isn't a good female monologue in it so they chose one from "Secrets." That monologue also went well I felt. After I was done with the monologues I sat down with Sara and she went over somethings about the company, the different touring shows, the how’s of the show, etc. I felt like it was going great until we started to talk about scheduling. The last couple of weeks of the tour N.C.T. will perform in the Central Valley. Unfortuantely that’s the same week as my tech for "Much Ado." I’d have to get from Central Valley to San Francisco back to San Jose by 7pm at the latest. Sara basically said I wouldn’t be rejected because of a difficulty in the scheduling but it did need to go into consideration. I understood. Sara did mention about keeping me on file for future projects, which is great.

I'm a bit sad. I really felt like I rocked the audition but my scheduling really might cost me the job. I did have fellow B.M.U. cast mates encourage me to email Sara with some suggestions on trying to make it work. I think I’m going to try that approach. I don’t really see how it could hurt my chances. As my cast mates said it would show I really do want to for their company. Keepin' some fingers crossed.

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.

Prepping for Kaiser Permanente

So I've recently learned that Kaiser Permanente will be having their auditions for their Educational Touring Program in late March. So I've sent off my audition request and have been approved (yay!). I now have 3 months-ish to get my "ish" together. ETP sends out a packet that includes a list of monologue samples. I've decided to do a piece from David Mamet's "Oleanna."

I've auditioned for ETP last year and wasn't called back. I'm hoping to put in some very hard work so that doesn't happen this year. Last year I also did "Oleanna," however I did a different monologue than the one recommended. This year I don't want to take any chances so I'm do the one off the recommended list. I am a little worried about this because I have to figure out how to stand out among all the other actors who'll probably use the same piece.

ETP also offers a seminar in early March. Again I didn't attend the seminar last year, I think I was too busy. This year I plan on going. They offer a chance to present your monologue and I don't want to miss any opportunity for feedback.

This is an organization I want in with for a few reasons. The obvious ones being the steady pay/work and benefits. But working with ETP is more than that for me. I have a degree in Psychology that I feel like I rarely use. I love performing. Why not combine the two with educational theatre? Could this be my calling? I don't know. But I would love an opportunity to find out.

As a note, I have a love/hate relationship with "Oleanna." I've used one particular piece (starts with, "You ask me here...") pretty much throughout college. I enjoy the piece and the play, but I really struggle with it. I've never nailed down a full character analysis of CAROL. The way Mamet writes with his ellipses really confuses my brain. What are these people trying to say to each other? What do they mean? Why can't they finish a thought? When are they being interrupted vs. trailing off? It's a struggle. Once I get my groundwork done, A.K.A. memorized, I'll start in on some real character analysis and then take the piece out to my coach. Hopefully I'll nail it this year.