Wow. When stuff starts to happen, it really just doesn't stop happening. Tomorrow I have to teach, go to a callback, rush from there to a voiceover booking, and from there to a commercial audition.
Then I plan to come home and collapse on the couch and watch a movie or something like that. Whew!
The callback is interesting because I walked out of the initial audition at about 4:35 pm, and got an email asking me to a callback at 4:56 pm. I know computers and smart phones and tablets make it easier for folks to make those requests faster, but that's still really fast. (I'm tempted to say "hella fast", but I am old and it sounds ridiculous.)
It's tricky, though, because if I book this job, I have to fudge an offer I made to my Dad, which I would do (and hopefully he would understand) but would feel awkward. (Why is it that projects are never slated for the long long stretches of time in which I have nothing whatsoever planned??)
Still, I haven't been offered the job, so at the moment, there's no conflict and I can bask in the success of being called back. Better, I can bask in the success of having made a Really Good Impression. How do I know that? Because I had that experience again, the one I am happily having more and more often, where I treat myself as a professional with a point of view worth having in the room, and I ask a legitimate artistic question. And today's question was especially genuine/ I always like to have some kind of artistic question on hand, but today's was absolutely necessary - it was a "does this character know x or not at this point in the song?"
There are several reasons this was a great question. One, knowing or not knowing something changes how I sing the song, and by asking, I've implied I have more than one way to approach the song. Two, in asking about this, I have proven I've read the entire play and have some understanding of the arc of this character. Three, I've established that I am thinking about the project as a fellow artist, not as a supplicant for a job.
I think it's three that makes me the happiest, and has been the nicest part of my week. I like acting, the doing of acting, and when I can turn auditions themselves into the doing, into the experience of figuring something out and trying it different ways, then I'm really getting to a new level in terms of my comfort with the craft. NOT that I am mastering the craft - no, no, no. But being comfortable with it as a discipline is far preferrable (for both sides of the table) than being obsessed with whether you get the job or not. I probably won't get this job. But all of those people in that room today work all over the place, and I walked in and showed them I work as well. I think, and I haven't been in enough rooms on the other side of the table to be certain but I'm pretty convinced, that showing up prepared and behaving every minute as if I have something to contribute makes an impression, and I don't think many people do that. I don't always do it. Nerves win often, and wanting work can mess with your presence, and being rejected (especially after auditions that seem to go well) takes its toll.
I did a different audition last night for a team I know well - well enough that they went "hooray!" when I walked in (which was charming and lovely and I felt exactly the same about seeing both of them, hooray indeed). And again, the best part is just being able to concentrate on the work itself, on trying to play with the words and tell the story and react appropriately. That team called me back as well - and again, I could easily not get cast, because they have a ton of great people auditioning, but I also know they understand what I can do, and if they make another choice this time, they would still like to work with me. It just makes the rejection so much easier to handle, knowing you were relaxed and did well and they liked it, they just couldn't choose it this time.
Oof. Now I have to go record 3 voiceover auditions and get read for my 2 auditions tomorrow. I tell you, come late Thursday or, at the latest, Friday afternoon, I am going to lie around on the sofa and NOT MOVE.
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