Thursday, April 9, 4:30 PM
My plan for April Boldness was simply to audition for a play. A local theatre is set to put on a production of Steel Magnolias in June, and the auditions took place this week. A friend and I agreed to audition together. We signed up for back-to-back times on Tuesday, April 7.
For the most part, I spent very little time worrying about the audition. Not because I was calm and collected, but because I ignored that it was coming. I didn’t even look at the monologue until the day before. I sent my headshot to Walgreens to be printed a few days before that and made a resume of just my theatre experience. But I told myself that my only goal was to audition. Not get a part, just audition.
The day of the audition it was nearly impossible to pretend it wasn’t happening anymore. My friend and I made plans to drive to the theatre together with enough time for us to pace around outside and get in the right headspace. She planned to audition for M’Lynn and I prepared for Truvy (if you have seen the movie, think Sally Field and Dolly Parton).
On the way to the theatre, I got a phone call from Monkey. Monkey never calls. With me being gone, it was their responsibility to pick up Squirrel from color guard. They had been waiting for thirty minutes with no response from Squirrel. I knew that their dad was already at home, so I suggested that they go home and have him help take care of things.
While pacing outside and running the monologue through my head, I got a text from my husband asking if I had the color guard teacher’s phone number. I do not. I suggested that maybe he could ping Squirrel’s phone so that even if it was on silent it would make noise. A few minutes later I got a text saying, “Contact has been made.” I didn’t bother asking any questions.
By this time, I was a nervous wreck.
My friend’s audition was first. It’s been forever since I’ve auditioned for anything and never for a theatre of this caliber. I had no idea what to expect and nervously waited in the lobby. At one point my friend came out of the room to grab her glasses. They were having her read for Truvy as well. When she was done, she said she really had no idea what they thought.
Then it was my turn. Both the director and the assistant director complemented me on my jacket. I’d debated on dressing nicely but ended up wearing my fuzzy mushroom jacket as a security blanket. It’s like a wearable hug. They asked how I was doing and I laughed and said, “Honestly? I’m really nervous. It’s been a long time since my last audition.” The director looked over my resume, which really doesn’t have much from the last 20 years, then had me go ahead.
I got through the monologue. They asked me to do it again, but to slow down. I tried again but still felt like I was going too fast. He said “Thank you so much for taking direction. We’ll be having callbacks on Saturday, and we’ll let you know if we need you.”
I was dismissed. The whole thing took about five minutes. I walked out convinced that was the end of it. There was no way they wanted to see me at callbacks. Sure, they were friendly, but they gave me not one bit of an indication that they liked what they saw.
No, I take that back. They did giggle both times I said the line “There’s no such thing as natural beauty.” So, I guess there’s that. Not sure if it was my delivery, or just that it’s a funny line.
I put the whole experience out of my mind. I’d accomplished my goal of auditioning, and my April Boldness was complete. Or so I thought.
A few hours ago, I got a message from my friend. She received a generic “thanks for auditioning, we don’t need you for callbacks” email. I hadn’t even looked at my email all day. I immediately looked. Nothing. I checked spam. Nothing. Two hours have passed and I’ve been obsessively checking my inbox and spam folders. Nothing. Every time I see that I’ve gotten a new email, I stop what I’m doing and check. Junk mail every time.
I don’t know if this means that I will eventually get an email asking me to come in on Saturday or if I was so forgettable that they even forgot to let me know I suck. And to be perfectly honest, I’m not sure which scenario scares me more!
I’m going to attempt to focus on something else for the rest of the day and wait to publish this when I know something. Wouldn’t want to make you all as crazy as I am waiting to know!
Thursday, April 9, 7:30 PM
Still nothing. I’m convinced that I must have been completely forgettable. Surely, they’ve notified all the people that are needed at callbacks by now! I do not need to be stressing about this right now I have an author table tomorrow to prepare for.
Friday, April 10, 1:00 PM
Still nothing. I’m going completely insane! I feel like this means I did not get called back. But hearing nothing, when I know they emailed my friend, feels unnecessarily cruel. I tried calling, but no one is at the theatre right now. So, I sent a message through the Signup Genius page where we signed up for the auditions. Not sure if I’ll get any response, but I’ve done all I can.
I really need to focus on the book fair that’s tonight. Therefore, I am going to go ahead and post this as is. If I happen to hear from them, I’ll update the post. Otherwise, assume I continue to hear nothing.
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