"It's a Wonderful Audition", Part 2

More like an exhausting one.

Actually I don't know if exhausting is the real word for it. And even if it were, most of that would have to do with the long commute I take to get to Winchester. But near the end I certainly was a bit fatigued. I appreciate the committee being thorough, because that is better than casting out of hand without enough information. But spending two evening in a row, three hours at a time auditioning takes its toll.

Plus there were so many people to get through. More than the previous night, and as the director told us, between 65 and 70 people altogether! Given that he wants to keep the cast down to 16, that makes for a narrow window for me. (Being an out of town sort.)

Not that I can complain about my second night from a personal angle. I tripped up in one or two places, but otherwise did well. I once again did pretty much the very best I felt I was capable of doing with the readings I was asked to give.

Which is where some of my concerns come in. The readings I was asked to give.

Both nights, 90% of what I read was for George Bailey, which is of course the protagonist of the piece. I would be happy to be George, as I feel I have a lot to offer the role. Yet I didn't request him, nor did I refuse to take any other part. As I said before, I got there two nights in a row with no expectations in my head. No preferences. I just wanted to be involved.

But when it became clear that I was reading almost exclusively for George on the first night, and especially on the second, a few things started to enter my head. The first thing was that it was shaping up like a zero sum game for me. That the appearance was the committee was trying to decide if I should be George, or not be in the show. I have no proof of this, but it is a hunch I have, based on the fact that I was asked to read George more than anything else. By a long shot.

The second thing I am thinking right now, is that it is between me and one other person, for the role of George. For this other person, whom I know, was asked to read almost exclusively for George as well. This by itself doesn't bother me, but it does once again indicate to me that the committee was basically going back and forth between this other guy and myself in regards to casting George. I say this because he and I were almost the only ones to read for the part, and because neither of us read for anythign else. This reinforces my concern that I am not being considered for any other role.

One way I could look at it is that the committee must really be working extra hard to get me in the play SOMEHOW, and they are just determining where. That if I am not cast as the George character, after all that time spent evaluating me, that I will stand a good chance at being someone else in the play. Which would not be horrible.

Yet I would be more likely to think that way if I had read for dozens of roles. Obviously not all 65 roles could be read for, but if I had been reading for say, 5 different roles throughout the night, I could see perhaps the brighter view; that they wanted me in the show somehow, but didn't know where yet. But since I read almost exclusively for one part, my initial concern is that if they decide they don't ant me in that role, they don't have enough to determine that I would be good anywhere else. So I would not make the cut.

Again, this is all circumstantial evidence. If it even passes as that. But it is backed up with ten years of accumulated theatre audition instinct. I'd be happy to be wrong about it. I just feel that I am on target with it. At least to some degree.

I won't know of course until the end of the week. They expect to call people Friday or Saturday. So I suppose you will have to tune in then to find out what happens.

In the end, though, the audition process for this show was, to me, a better experience than the last time I auditioned for one of their shows. I am thankful for that at least.