Narcoleptic Squirrel

So, I decided to take a hiatus after I finished The Glass Menagerie this summer. Between the personal shite, the overzealous research I was doing, along with the character development and rehearsal, then buying a kitchen, then going out of town….it just would have been too much to throw another show in there. However, post vacay was wide open. Unfortunately, just not much in the way of auditions.
I had been debating, however, auditioning for the same community theatre that I did Night of January 16th for last year. It’s a community theatre…doesn’t get reviewed…has a questionable reputation in terms of quality…however, their holiday show was to be The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Seriously, how often does the chance to be the White Witch come around???
So, I decided to audition, made my intentions clear…it was the White Witch or nothing.
Apparently, the audition went well…for I am now the White Witch. Title character, yo. Plus, G gets to be in the show too, as Father Christmas.
Anyhow, I am not encouraging anyone to see the show just yet, as we haven’t started rehearsing yet…and I have no idea if it will be any good. If it is, you will be the first to know, and you can come see bad-ass me.

So G and I signed up oh so long ago to be extras in a local film. Bascially, all the calls were for the same type of people and were being filmed at area bars. Well, one of the scenes was needing “goths.” A chance to work on a film and to dress up. So there.
SUnday was the day of the shoot. It was all right, just neither handled very professionally, nor very well organized. I am cool with things being small timey and all, but at least have a semblance of professionalism and organization, and well a dash of professionalism. However, I will say that a portion of that was not their fault, and I did wind up having a fine time.
We arrived two minutes after call time, totally freaking out since we didn’t want to be those people. There are a bunch of people hanging out on the sidewalk, with no sign of anyone who could be on the production side of the film. About quarter after someone shows up with talent releases. About half after the director and producer show up. I guess I am used to everything being set up, ready to roll when they are ready for the talent. Anyhow, we were stood up by the person who was supposed to open the location for us, so there was a scramble to find another location so that they wouldn’t have to scrap the day. The original location would have been suitable to film the three chunks we needed to do, but without it, we wound up at three different locations. This is where it gets interesting.
Since we were supposed to film the stuff we were doing first, I showed up in the dress, my black and red bob wig, total make-up and super tall boots. They said they could use me in regular clothes for the scene that would be first due to the change, and I had brought them, but it would have been too much work to get out of the gear, change, then to get back into the gear. So, I sat and waited. Eventually we moved over to the next place, where they said they would shoot our stuff. Well, the director tells us suddenly that he found a better location, but we only had half an hour to get what they needed. Everyone starts bustling off…and I ask where we are going.
Club Three Degrees. I thought they were kidding. Nope. (for those of you who don’t know, it is not so much a “club” as a “church.” They were recently in the news because after someone had filed for all the licensing and permits for their new strip club, CTD decided that they were a church after all. Now, since they are very careful to mask the “Christian” part of their endeavor as to lure unsuspecting club goers into the fold, this didn’t go over very well and the strip club shall open.) We head over, and the head guy greets us at the door. I realize very quickly that they made their generous offer of us filming there in hopes of converting us. We get inside the club, and it is very posh, industrial looking. Everything is modern and red and black with brushed silver accents. There is a huge stage with their rock band practicing (I could tolerate some of the music if I tuned out the words). We could tell the family that was already there was freaked out by a bunch of weirdos coming into their space, but guy assures them it’s just for a movie. We are told to line up against the bar. This is hilarious. We are staring at a huge placard with a silhouette of a disco shick on it, with the club name. There are other large placards with the drink menu. This includes, smoothies, super sweet smoothies, flavored milk–bubble gum flavor is at the top, and a host of overpriced sodas and coffee drinks. Right-o. I often crave bubble gum flavored milk while at a club. Or church service. Or both. As we are filming, another freaked out looking family enters, and guy gives them the same assurances. We finish our scene (which if it makes it in, G and I are pretty prominent, even with close-ups of our faces!) and gather to leave. Guy is standing on the stairs, doing sort of a backwards walk to try and keep us in. He tells us they are having a barbecue that starts in two minutes, with burgers and brats, and we are welcome to stay. We try to keep moving. He tells us the barbecue will be followed by a short, half-hour service. Still moving. The…wait for it…he says…I kid you not…”Then we’ll be baptizing people in the hot tub all night long.”
Baptisms. In. A. Hot. Tub. Seriously.
We left giggling. I wondered if, since I have already been baptized, if they will just let me sit in the hot tub…..especially since my baptism was of the pitcher of water and a bowl variety.
As my friend Jen said after I told her the story, “Did you have any idea this was happening in our city?”
Indeed, I did not.
Bonus points to whoever can tell me who said the above quote and what film he was working on when he said it.
G, you can’t play.

So, back before all the drama, I auditioned for and was cast in a production of The Glass Menagerie. Now, being the world’s biggest dork, I first re-read the play to be sure I had a good hold of the text. I decided to do a monologue I haven’t used in a while, so I broke down and purchased a copy of the play it’s from (Journey to the Day), read that, and worked the monologue. I thought it to be appropriate, since the character is a 19 year-old mental patient, and the play is a drama. I also researched dialects, examining the way people in Saint Louis speak, compared to other parts of Missouri and true Southern. Basically, it is midwestern, with a few hints of dialect here and there. I researched the various conditions either mentioned about Laura in the play, and some that I felt possible for her to have. I reasearched Tennessee Williams’ life. When it came to the day of the audition I wore a vintage dress (given to me by G‘s paternal grandmother) and did a pretty darn good monologue, if I do say so myself.
I was cast in the show. What is weird is that the guy I had all the drama with is how I heard about the audition, and followed up on it. He was positive that he was going to be cast, which he wasn’t. He held out hope through the readthrough, and was sure it was an oversight…it wasn’t. He then proceeded to be jealous of me…again, weird…we weren’t even up for the same role or anything. He told me at one point that it just wasn’t the type of role he would see me in, since it was different from the other roles he’s seen me do. Ummm…hello, why it’s called acting.
Anyhow, I’ll start with the readthrough. This made me nervous. The woman playing Amanda seemed excellent. The guy playing Tom at that point seemed okay, but I was sure that with work, he would be okay. The guy playing the gentleman caller gave me pause. He couldn’t read. Seriously. He would get lost midsentence and would say words that weren’t close to what was on the page. However, I decided to trust the director. My first rehearsal with him, he was totally unprepared. He didn’t have his lines highlighted, and didn’t have anything to take down his blocking and business. He was getting acting notes, but none about the random words he used and mispronounciations. There were so many, I won’t even attempt to catalogue them here. When just he and I were running lines, I attempted to correct some of them (against my rule of not giving fellow actors direction, but it came to a point where I realized it wasn’t gonna happen). In a few cases, it worked. Now, don’t get me wrong, I think the kid has potential, but he needs a lot of training, and someone needs to call him on the reading thing. He’s a high school graduate, yet apparently no one checked to make sure he was fully literate. But, that is a tangent for another day. He also needs to learn professionalism. He was the last actor to be off book (he was calling for line the day before final dress, when there was no one on book), and there were times we had to wonder if he was going to be there for performances. EEK! We made it through the run, however. Tom wound up doing pretty well, and I felt like we had some nice brother/sister moments. I adored the woman playing Amanda. She was a delight to work with, and was very professional and talented. I’m hoping to have an opportunity to work with her again.
While I enjoyed doing the show, I was also happy to put it to bed. It was an exhausting process, both because there was a lot to the character, and because there was so much shite going on. I’m proud of my work on the show, but wish I could have been more focused.

So, I’m about to go plop on the sofa for a short spring nap. (for some crazy reason I agreed to work a long overnight shift at the old full time job, hence I need a nap) But, I thought I would share a bit of pleasant news.
Monday, I auditioned for The Glass Menagerie. I did my monologue from Journey to the Day and wore a vintage dress that Geoff’s grandmother gave to me. The director seemed impressed by my audition, and proceeded to ask me about conflicts. He asked what part I was interested in, and was pleased to hear me say Laura (I so wanted to be a smart ass and say “Tom. I’m looking to challenge myself as an actor.”) then asked if I could do a southern dialect. I said I could, however, I told told him, a Missouri accent is slight, if any. He told me I was totally on the right page, and seemed pleased that I knew something about dialects. He told me he would definitely be in touch. Later that evening, I got a call from a friend who auditioned for the show on Saturday. He was asked to read again at the end of Monday night. He called me after he read, and asked if I wanted some good news. He proceeded to say that he didn’t want to jinx anything, but that he was talking to the director, and the director said he wanted me to do Laura. Let me tell you, yesterday was tough to get through. I checked my voice mail at every possible moment. It was harder to know that he was considering me…what if he changed his mind?? I came home to a message on my answering machine, I returned the call, and was offered the role!! I don’t know the rest of the cast yet. I am hoping my friend is in it…we would have so much fun! (Now that I know what I got, I am nervous for him…he has to wait a couple more days, because the director wanted more time to cast the men.) I guess I just want a strong cast. The theatre is lovely, and the set that was up for the current show was beautiful…so I’m guessing that as long as our cast kicks ass…we should be good to go.
Whew…now I can breathe a bit. I also don’t feel like such an ass for researching Missouri dialects and “pleurosis” (more commonly known as pleurisy). Now, I am listening to dialects from Missouri, and once I’m done re-reading Little Women (it’s a long story), I am going to get cracking on my lines. I feel like Laura is so different from me, and I really want to get her right…and not seem like a limping jackass…so I want to get the lines down so I can really focus on character.
Ugh…I am sleepy. I’ll write more when I am more awake…

So, right before my vacay, I auditioned for a show. I hadn’t heard anything, either via my cell phone, or through G via our home phone. So, I assumed that I was not cast. Then, this evening, I get an e-mail from the chair of the theatre congratulating me on being cast, and offering to arrange an opportunity to pick up a script before rehearsals start. Errr….ummmm….great?
I want to do the show, but only certain roles…so I’m really wanting to know what is up, so I don’t commit to something I really don’t want to do. On the other hand, at least I’m being offered something, and don’t have to hang myself over not being cast in anything for a few months.
I did reply to the e-mail and mention I would love to chat with the director,l so hopefully I will hear something soon, and will be offered the role I really want (well, there’s a first, second and third choice, any of which I would accept, though I am pretty sure I am too young for at least the third choice, hence the reason it is third).
Cross your fingers, kids.