Callbacks and What I've Been Upto

So let's do a re-cap on what I've been doing since April. I actually have a few back log posts in queue that I'm hoping to get to, but let's give a breakdown.

I worked with Teatro Vision from January through March, performing in their West Coast Premiere of "Bless Me, Ultima." It was a wonderful, amazing experience in which I met some awesome veteran Teatro Campensino actors and got in touch more with my heritage.

As Ultima came to an end I started working on my next show with Arclight, "Much Ado About Nothing." Really working with Arclight feels like coming home. This was the second year I worked with them and juggled Fanime at the same time. I had a great time back at San Pedro Square and playing around with my character, Verges.

As the month of May came to a close I began my work with The King's Company in their production of "Godspell Jr." I was upgraded from Ensemble member to Apostle within a few weeks and had a lot of fun working with this group's first ever performance.

I then spent the rest of my summer helping out Shady Shakespeare. I worked as summer camp counselor intern, teaching 8-11 year-olds theatre and "A Comedy of Two Errors" and then teaching 8 and 10 year-olds theatre and "Julius Caesar" (no, really), as well as giving Shady a hand with set build.

The summer is coming to a close and for the first time in seven months I don't have a show lined up. Which is kind of freaking me out, but brings me today. I had a callback today with Broadway West for "The Last Night of Ballyhoo." This callback was actually happenstance for me. A few weeks ago I was talking with the director Ballyhoo asking him how his planning was going. He then looked at me and asked if I was coming to his audition. I reminded him I had already been the company's general auditions almost a year ago and then he asked me to come to his callback. This is networking people! I was genuinely curious about how his production was going, not fishing for anything, but because we've worked together and auditioned together he knows what I'm capable of. I was genuinely surprised and flattered to be invited to his callback.

I think the surprise had more to do me not seeing myself in any role within Ballyhoo. I had read the wiki awhile back and all that really stuck out in my memory were all the characters are supposed to be Jewish. And while I think I certainly look ethnic, Jewish doesn't come to mind. However, once I was invited to the callback I began doing more research. And while everyone is supposed to be Jewish, after reading the play I really felt a connection with the character Lala. And I felt that since the play takes place in Atlanta, Georgia that the Southern accent would actually take away from any discomfort I felt about ethnicity.

So I went into the callback and actually had fun. My mentor is always telling me to relax and have fun. And seriously, it's some of the best advice I've ever been given. I always try to tell myself before any audition or callback that it's supposed to be fun. I'm getting a chance to use my imagination like when I was a child and hopefully will get paid for it. Either way, I had a great time at the callback. I was there for about 4 hours, but pretty much read for Lala the entire time. I read once for Sunny, but just didn't feel I had the right look for Sunny. Honestly, looking around at all the people who'd been called back I pretty much felt like I was either going to get Lala or nothing. Sunny is within my age range, but she's the "pretty" one. And really, I play quirky characters, which I think suits Lala. The other women roles available were out of my age range. The other young girl reading pretty much read for Sunny the entire time. I felt like we had a pretty good chemistry together and it was fun working with her. I have to say my favorite part of the audition was actually doing the scene with her about Lala and Sunny's big fight. It felt so intense; it was great. I saw a lot people I knew at this callback and that's feeling more like the norm these days. Actors I've either worked with at other companies or have seen perform at Broadway West. Another thing of note that I liked is the way the director makes his adjustments with actors. His favorite line is "Give me three words that describe your character." I like how it clicks in for actors easily to make the adjustments he's looking for.

I still have a few days of waiting before I find out whether I got the role or not, but even if it doesn't work out there's always another audition coming around. And I just remind myself the exposure doesn't hurt either.

Callbacks for Teatro Vision: "Bless Me, Ultima"

Teatro Vision is currently working on adapting Rudolfo Anaya’s Bless Me, Ultima into a play. I loved this book in high school and am looking forward to it going up onstage, even if I’m not a part of it. Elisa Marina Alvarado will be directing. You can check up on Teatro’s updates on their Facebook page.

My callback time slot was for 7:30pm, but I arrived at 7pm to give myself time to warm-up. A bunch of actors were sitting around chatting. It was a very familiar feeling. A lot of people seem to already know each other. It reminded me of my family gatherings-all the laughing, storytelling and joking. I hadn't been sent a script because at the time it hadn't been developed yet, so we were asked to read the novel. However, when I got there some people already had scripts. I was a bit confused. I also had the impression some people had been precast.

I was also wary of the outfit I had chosen. The email that was sent to me said that we should wear comfortable clothing and bring our own water with us. To me, that reads as I’m going to either be dancing or just doing a lot of movement. So I wore some workout shorts, a rock tee that I cut the collar off of, my vans and some makeup (gotta look good, right?). However, a number of people were dressed in jeans, nice shirts, some of the ladies even had heels. Only one other lady showed up wearing a workout sort of outfit, and a couple of the guys. I was initially really worried I had picked out the wrong outfit. As I learned later though, I did not.

It was at least a half hour before I was called in to read, so in the meanwhile I talked to the other actors who were also waiting. I talked a lot with a young woman who was working for Kaiser Permanente's youth traveling program, which I am very interested in. I grilled her about the program. She had travelled all the way from Fresno, where she was currently touring and then had to return the same night. Another gentleman, also with Kaiser, had driven from Sacramento.

When my time slot came up I was not prepared for the first part of the audition. I, 3 other ladies and 2 men were called in. There were sides on a table in the room, but we hadn’t been handed any. Instead, we were assigned characters, I was given one of TENORIO’s daughters, and a scene was described to us. I was very confused as to what was expected of me. I wasn't sure if were improvising, improvising with dialogue we were supposed to make up, or I was supposed to have something memorized. And we were just told to start. I became more confused when one of the guys started speaking. I looked at the other ladies who were also assigned to be daughters for guidance. They looked as confused as I was, but we all just sort of went for it. So we all just improvised it. After performing our improv piece one, which involved quite a bit of movement, we were assigned a side.

The first side was LUCAS stumbling upon TENORIO. The side was very similar to the scene we’d just improvised so I was thinking that Elisa had just wanted to see our physicality. After doing that once were then assigned sides similar to what we'd just done. Again, I was assigned to be one of TENORIO’s daughters. We ran the scene a couple of times. With the same group were assigned another side (minus a woman who had been playing "Death")-a school scene. Myself and another lady swapped JUNE's lines on different turns. We were dismissed for a bit after running the scene a couple of times.

I had some down time and spoke with a gentleman working on WVLO's White Christmas. He has a blog you should check out. I then was called back in to work with another group did the same TENORIO daughter scene. After a couple of runs with it I was let go for the evening.

I was quite satisfied with my work. I was also glad I spent time physically and vocally warming up. I probably should’ve warmed up more since I spent at least half an hour not doing anything. Also, I was glad that I was wearing the workout clothes because I spent much of my time being physical as a daughter. Now comes the waiting game. As I said before, even if not cast I felt I did a good job, there’s always room for improvement of course, and am looking forward to the production in general.

Auditioning for Teatro Vision

So I'm going to start with an update on Foothill auditions: I did not get a callback. I'm a little uncertain as to why and am debating on emailing the director and politely asking for a critique on my audition.

Onwards! I attended South Bay Regional auditions back in June and was very lucky to get an email from Teatro Vision inviting me to audition for their production of Bless Me, Ultima. I quickly emailed them back and set up an appointment. They asked me to prep 2 contrasting monologues, preferably one in Spanish.

I do not have monologue prepped with Spanish in it and didn't give myself enough time to learn one. Instead I used a monologue from a play I did called Miriam's Flowers by Migdalia Cruz. I played Delfina and used one of her many monologues that had a Spanish/Latin feel to it. I also decided to do Goodnight Desdemona (again) because I really needed a contrasting piece.

This was one of those low-key auditions I'm beginning to enjoy. Auditions were held at Hoover Theatre and we had 15 minute time slots. I met with Dianne Vega and Elsa Alvarado to perform my monologues. They both went very smoothly and I felt relaxed for the first time in a long time. I attribute this to knowing my monologues really, really well.

Elsa, who will be directing Ultima, asked if I spoke Spanish. Unfortunately, no-or at least not that well. I took 3 and half years in high school and both my grandparents spoke fluently  but I am far from mediocre. I usually understand better than I speak it. But I remain hopeful. Once I translate what I'm saying I can get it down well, I think. She also asked if I had seen any of Teatro's productions. Much to my embarrassment, I told her no I hadn't. To be fair though, I have only recently made it a priority to catch more theatre.

Teatro's production doesn't go up until next Spring, so it may be awhile before I hear back from them. But it was good practice overall.

Auditions for the week of 9/19

Notes about audition postings: This is just a quick overview of info I've received on Bay Area auditions. For detailed information please subscribe to Theatre Bay Area or bayareatheatrebums. Please do not email me for more information.


Woodside Community Theatre
The Drowsy Chaperone
Auds 9/19 6:30-9pm. Email: auditions@woodsidetheatre.com

StarStruck Theatre
Annie
Auds 9/19. Appt call (510) 659-1319 or sign up online.

Broadway West Theatre
General Auditions
Auds 9/19 1-4pm and 9/20 7-9pm. Appt: (510) 638-9218.

Lamplighters Music Theatre
The Yeomen of the Guard
Auds 9/19-9/21 7-10pm. Email auditions@lamplighters.org with 1st and 2nd choice times and phone number.

Berkeley Playhouse
Little Shop of Horrors
Auds 9/20 4-5:30pm. Register berkeleyplayhouse.org

Bay Area Children's Theatre
Little House on the Prairie
Auds 9/21-22. Email HS/Resume to nina@bactheatre.org

Foothill College Theatre Arts
The Winter's Tale
Auds 9/21-9/22 7pm. Callbacks 9/25. Call for info (650) 949-7268.

Stanford Savoyard
Princess Ida
Auds 9/23-9/25. Email stanfordsavoyards@gmail.com.

Mary Sano Studios
My Kanrin Maru (working title)
Auds 9/24 4-6pm. Email HS/Resume to nonoko@gmail.com.

Coastal Repertory Theatre
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
Auds 9/25 11am-3pm. Callbacks 9/26. Call for info Michael Lederman (650) 726-0268.

Pleasanton Civic Arts Stage Company
The Princess and the Pea
Auds 9/25-9/26 12pm-5pm. Appt rennals@sfshakes.org

Teatro Vision

Bless Me, Ultima
Auds 9/25 1pm-4:30pm and 9/27 6:00pm-9:00pm. Email dianne@teatrovision.org.