I would have to say that I think the audition process is the most horrendous part of the acting profession. You are walking into a room with one or maybe several people that you HAVE to impress or you don't get the job. You are walking in there hoping you look like whatever it is they're looking for and you often have no idea what that is. You have this little piece of paper that shows your previous work, but there is nothing on that piece of paper that says how good the production was or how good you were in it. You have a picture of yourself which, if you're like me and hate most pictures taken of yourself when you're trying to look normal, only serves to remind somebody who the hell you are. E.I., "Who the hell is Chad Yarish? Oh right...that guy." You go in, hoping you're not sweating or shaking too much; hoping that you don't have some previously unnoticed stain on your shirt; something in your teeth; your fly open; a renegade booger, or any number of other social faux pas. You go in hoping you don't butcher your monologue, hoping your voice doesn't come out sounding like Gilbert Godfrey, hoping you don't trip over anything...just generally hoping.
So, this summer Sonoma County Rep is doing a new version of The Three Musketeers. I went to the audition last night for said show. Good times. This was also the audition for all the other shows the Rep is doing this summer. Each of these shows has a different director, so in theory you could have been auditioning for several different people all at the same time, all with completely different ideas about who you should be.
Now, I've worked with the Rep before, and I knew everybody in the room and had worked with most of them, so that should have taken some of the pressure off. And for the most part, it did. Except for one.
You may remeber a while back I wrote a blog that was pretty scathingly insulting about an experience I had with one individual's theater company, and this individual found and read the blog, and was duely insulted and let me know, and I apologized. I have had no contact with that person since that incident.
So when I walk into the theater to do my bit and I see this person in the seats amongst the auditioners, I immediately thought "Well, shit." Fortunately, I was not auditioning for him. But just having him there watching me as everybody else was watching me was kinda distracting, as you might imagine.
But I'm a professional, or at least I try to act like one...mostly. So I got up, I did my monologue, and I did as I think any professional would in my shoes: I avoided all direct contact with this individual. My monologue was ok. I've done better. In truth, I think I really just wanted to get the hell out of the room.
I have a feeling that the afore mentioned individual may have mentioned something of our confrontation to the others, because the guy I was actually auditioning for let me finish, told me I was already called back for several parts and he would see me Monday, and sent me on my way. I only take not of this because a friend of mine had auditioned just before me and she had done 2 monologues and they had chatted her up for a while afterwards.
I think in the end all will work out fine, but I think this is a pretty good example of that whole burning bridges thing. And I think the ultimate lesson here is: don't name drop when you're flaming on a public forum.
Happy Jenday!