featured article from the july/august 2004 issue

Auditions Tonight...
No Experience Necessary

There it was, as plain as day. “Auditions for the adult spring drama. Monday evening. Seven o’clock.” Something nudged my curiosity that moment and I jokingly told my friend, the director of our fine arts program, that I was consid-ering attending his audition. He said, “It’ll be fun.” I said, “Oh, I could never.” He said, “Oh, just come.” And I did.

Now please understand. This wasn’t just any run-of-the-mill casting call for me. It wasn’t my fifth or fiftieth. It was my first. Don’t ask why I felt drawn to the audition or what I was trying to prove. I should have taken my husband’s deer in the headlights look when I told him where I was going as my revelation that the volcano brewing inside of me was about to ooze something fishy. However, the insatiable urge from down in my unpainted toenails to do something off the cuff, something out of the ordinary, prevailed. It was more likely the need to get out of the house after a manic Monday: two cranky kids, an icemaker that wouldn’t work,
and the inane dog that kept stealing marshmallows from the open pantry.

Really…how tricky could it be? Nicole and Julia make it look so easy, so undemanding. And leaving the house to go to the audition was indeed a wind through my hair, standing on top of an icy mountain moment. A stiff drink would also have done the trick, but I am not one to indulge.
I walked past the small auditorium and casually peered into the window while moving by, quite possibly unnoticed. I headed to the water fountain and swigged down some cold H2O. I considered walking back to my car instead of confronting the semicrowded room of mostly familiar faces.

I knew I was one of only a couple of first-timers and they’d
all be thinking, “What is she doing here?” The question crossed my mind also. However, I promised a friend that if
she would go, I would too. I couldn’t let her down.
Then it was my turn. Which character was I there to try out for? I actually hadn’t gotten that far, but didn’t want to tell
on myself. I picked the one that looked the easiest and most sensible for me to emulate and took the stage.
Newsflash: Acting is not for the fainthearted. It is not for the bashful. And it is not for someone like me who worries pointlessly about what other people think of her. Maybe the characters weren’t right. Maybe it was too early in the evening; my inhibitions usually don’t disappear until after 10 p.m. But the moment was do or die.

I had never been to a casting call before, but certainly wasn’t going to divulge that information. I could either act clueless and whiny and start pulling out lines like, “Okay, guys, I’m so embarrassed. Don’t laugh at me, okay? Here I go…oh I can’t do this. I’m sooo embarrassed,” or I could give it all the gusto I could muster and act like the stage was my friend.

The bravado I didn’t know I had came, and the night left
me only slightly red in the face. And I came away from the evening able to say I tried something new. I left not with a feeling of rejection, but with a feeling of daring—I had done something fresh. How exhilarating to step outside the box, especially for one who usually stays securely within the four walls of her own court.

Not everyone can have the starring role or their name in lights. The curtain doesn’t call for everyone. I think I found out tonight that the true champions are ultimately the directors, the writers, and the producers, without whom there would be no casting calls. Without them in the picture, people like me could not escape their harried lives to live vicariously through another character, even if for one stellar performance. Ahh—the joys of drama.

Who knows. I’ll know tomorrow whether I got a part. Check back in the next issue for all the juicy details

I got the part! I GOT the part!

I got the PART! I tried to act nonchalant, like it meant something, but not like it was so important that if I hadn’t gotten the part, I couldn’t have pulled myself together. Let’s face it—for an amateur like me, someone who has never been in a play before, the simple fact that I had been cast was big news.

I looked forward to our first rehearsal with enthusiasm and some trepidation. Feeling the pressure of knowing it was do or die, I faced the reality that I had a lot to learn. Performing would be fun, but learning would prove invaluable.

Where does a rookie begin?
I showed up to my first rehearsal and listened.
I didn’t know what questions to ask, so I didn’t ask any. I listened to the director and processed everything he told the cast. We then did a read-through of the script simply to orient ourselves with the story. From there,
I took my script home and studied my character.

The rehearsals were weekly from that point, sometimes twice a week. After about two weeks of trying to memorize my lines, I decided to try and recite a few without looking. Difficult. For whatever reason, it was easy to memorize in the quiet of my home, but I froze up with an audience. The director and my fellow actors assured me that in time, and after weeks of rehearsing, it would become old hat.

Where does a busy mom of two find time to learn her lines? Any time I had a few minutes. I carried my script around religiously, determined to memorize my part sooner rather than later. Who knew what could happen at any unannounced moment? Eventually the lines replayed themselves in my mind whenever I couldn’t sleep at night, in the shower, while I washed dishes…just about constantly.
And our director was right. I soon began leaving my script at home for rehearsals and found that my lines became second nature. Learning quickly freed me up to concentrate on learning how to be my character. Eventually, the significance of our time together became clear. This casual, intimate time between friends was preparation for us to bring a message of hope to a world in need of a Savior.

When a person is determined yet unqualified, I think he works harder. That was me. While many of the cast members hadn’t acted since high school (okay, we’re not as young as you think), I had never acted. But I wanted to. That kept me going.

The actual performance was, in a word, exhilarating. With anticipation and nerves in overdrive, we took to the stage and gave a close to flawless performance. The weeks of rehearsing culminated in laughter, tears, and many appreciated accolades. Moments before we took the stage, the butterflies fluttered relentlessly in my stomach. I focused on the other actors and put out of my mind the fact that my friends and family were watching. We had a message for the masses and we certainly prayed that our efforts would strike a chord in their hearts. After all, it’s not about how well we act or who steals the show. In this line of drama, it’s whether or not hearts are changed.

I know mine will never be the same