October 31, 2003
Twelfth Night
Last week I auditioned for a production of "Twelfth Night." Coincidentally, it's my favorite Shakespeare comedy, so it would be a fun show to do.
The first audition was by appointment, which was REALLY nice. No waiting around with a ton of people, spending a whole day only to find out that they're looking for someone in their 60's. I did a couple of monologues, and was out within 10 minutes. It was great! I found out later that they had auditioned about 100 women for the parts of Viola and Olivia.
Then a couple of days later I got a callback. They told me they were considering me for the part of Viola...the LEAD!! I was pretty surprised, to say the least. The other women I had met at the audition were "professionals," so I didn't think I had much of a chance. They had me do some cold reading from the script.
Then the next day I got ANOTHER callback; they had called back 4 women for Olivia, 6 for Viola, and several men for Sebastian. We did some improvs, and they matched up the Violas with Sebastians. The two characters are twins and Viola dresses up as a man and is supposed to pass for Sebastian, so they have to look alike.
Then yesterday...another call...it was down to me and another girl. And two Sebastians. So again I went to the theater and did my stuff!
They said they would call today with the casting. If I don't get in, being the last two out of 100 still makes me feel pretty proud.
I'll let you know when I hear anything...
October 28, 2003
Summer At The Pageant!
Well, I spent my summer covered from head to toe in white makeup!
That’s right, it was business as usual at the Pageant of the Masters.
If you happened to see it, I was in the giant white sundial piece, the one with the Three Fates. It’s a truly humbling piece - the Fate representing youth stands at one end, spinning a giant skein of thread; the Fate representing adulthood stands tall in the middle, measuring out the thread; the Fate representing old age sits hunched on the far end, holding a pair of scissors to cut the person’s life off. The Tree of Life hangs over them all, blossoming on the youth side and bare branches on the old age side. The music for our piece was quite lovely, too. Very haunting.
I played the young Fate, and I was hanging out over the edge of the stage - I looked like the prow of a ship! We were on a pedestal and I have to tell you, I was holding onto that skein for dear life as we spun around!
This was such a fun year for the Pageant; I really think it’s one of the best years I’ve seen. Last summer the theme was Heroes and Heroines, and there were a lot of references to September 11th. It was very moving and very serious. This summer I suppose they decided to go in the opposite direction, and it was all about youth and childhood. Almost the entire cast was made up of children – extraordinary! I believe that every adult in the cast must have played either a disciple or a nude!
They had Polynesian dancers, ice skaters, snow, a barbershop quartet, an audience singalong, giant confetti cannons…it was great fun.
If you think you might want to go next summer, don’t forget to buy your tickets early!!