To Lay Down On The Job
I auditioned for Wooden O last night, one of the Shakespeare in the Park companies. I hope to audition for the other established company next week, if they have slots left which don't conflict with my rehearsals.
How did I do you ask? Or did you? I stank up the place, but I'm in a good mood just the same. The suckage factor was much lower than the last round of auditions. I did an ** Iago monologue which raised the stakes for me. One of the most well loved villains, one of my favorite monologues, and considered to be an overdone monologue by some. I did it anyway as a treat. It would have been a terribly bad choice for me had I used it forty pounds ago, and I'm not so appropriate for Friar Lawrence roles any longer.
Next week I may use Iago again, but a later not so well known monologue, which starts out, "That Cassio loves her, I do well believe it..." Last night there was only one auditor. I'd expected more, and while it didn't throw me too badly, the fewer people the tougher for me. I caught myself being not being present and sounding too oratorial, and dove in for the characters and my actions on them, as well as some of the physical scoring/shape I'd worked out. So while it was god awful, I grew the piece instead of simply gritting my way through. It ended up mediocre. I'm pleased, but not satisfied. I finally feel like I'm moving forward on my audition skills and experience. Enough that I have a focal point for my prep work for next week. Text analysis is not the big issue at the moment, particularly for the contrasting monologues I plan to use, which are old friends. I need to spend more time with imagery, Meisner type character work. That is what will pull me into the world and create characters with more life.
Damn those auditions! Everything goes right out the window. The work to get me into the world will address my most serious lack. I had figured out where I was coming from, my intent, etc. Yet, when I stood in front of the auditor I just started the monologue, cheating myself out of all the richness that work can provide. The imagery needs to be more solid and specific. The technical side of me wants to just keep running the lines. Or is that habit or emotional laziness? Lying down and working your imagination is really hard work. Especially when you're going to uncomfortable places. It makes worlds of difference in the work. If I walked out and could really picture Roderigo, Othello, and Cassio or Stephano, Trinculo, Prospero, and Miranda before I even started I would improve my audition immeasurably. Instead of trying to warm up to the monologue and capture the auditors I could be engaged from the start. I have to lay down and work real hard to get that.
Yeow! I had coffee this morning. "Bing, bing, bing, Ricochet Rabbit!" I should have guessed, the same thing happened yesterday afternoon when I had a large soy chai and felt like running in circles around the room and squealing like a delighted three year old instead of sitting still for a meeting, but I figured it was the sugar. I think tomorrow I'll go with a normal unsweetened cup of tea.
I've been a little spotty on breakfast lately, and reheated a couple chicken sausages which I cooked last night before they got too old. Actually it wasn't quite two, I had a couple bites last night to be sure they were thoroughly cooked. I thought it a small breakfast, but I wish I'd only had one. I felt a little overfilled on the way to work. I'm still trying to get accustomed to my altered metabolism. The up side, is when eating healthier food, if you go on a binge for a couple weeks you don't put on nearly the weight. The cold and such had me going for a lot of comfort foods and eating, and though it was less than in the past I was surprised to find I only put on a couple pounds the last month, and those seem to have nearly gone away after two days of normal eating. A year ago, I would have had five or ten pounds to take off. Partly because even a binge involves a lot less food than the past, and more so I'd guess as a result of giving your body healthier materials to work with.
How did I do you ask? Or did you? I stank up the place, but I'm in a good mood just the same. The suckage factor was much lower than the last round of auditions. I did an ** Iago monologue which raised the stakes for me. One of the most well loved villains, one of my favorite monologues, and considered to be an overdone monologue by some. I did it anyway as a treat. It would have been a terribly bad choice for me had I used it forty pounds ago, and I'm not so appropriate for Friar Lawrence roles any longer.
Next week I may use Iago again, but a later not so well known monologue, which starts out, "That Cassio loves her, I do well believe it..." Last night there was only one auditor. I'd expected more, and while it didn't throw me too badly, the fewer people the tougher for me. I caught myself being not being present and sounding too oratorial, and dove in for the characters and my actions on them, as well as some of the physical scoring/shape I'd worked out. So while it was god awful, I grew the piece instead of simply gritting my way through. It ended up mediocre. I'm pleased, but not satisfied. I finally feel like I'm moving forward on my audition skills and experience. Enough that I have a focal point for my prep work for next week. Text analysis is not the big issue at the moment, particularly for the contrasting monologues I plan to use, which are old friends. I need to spend more time with imagery, Meisner type character work. That is what will pull me into the world and create characters with more life.
Damn those auditions! Everything goes right out the window. The work to get me into the world will address my most serious lack. I had figured out where I was coming from, my intent, etc. Yet, when I stood in front of the auditor I just started the monologue, cheating myself out of all the richness that work can provide. The imagery needs to be more solid and specific. The technical side of me wants to just keep running the lines. Or is that habit or emotional laziness? Lying down and working your imagination is really hard work. Especially when you're going to uncomfortable places. It makes worlds of difference in the work. If I walked out and could really picture Roderigo, Othello, and Cassio or Stephano, Trinculo, Prospero, and Miranda before I even started I would improve my audition immeasurably. Instead of trying to warm up to the monologue and capture the auditors I could be engaged from the start. I have to lay down and work real hard to get that.
Yeow! I had coffee this morning. "Bing, bing, bing, Ricochet Rabbit!" I should have guessed, the same thing happened yesterday afternoon when I had a large soy chai and felt like running in circles around the room and squealing like a delighted three year old instead of sitting still for a meeting, but I figured it was the sugar. I think tomorrow I'll go with a normal unsweetened cup of tea.
I've been a little spotty on breakfast lately, and reheated a couple chicken sausages which I cooked last night before they got too old. Actually it wasn't quite two, I had a couple bites last night to be sure they were thoroughly cooked. I thought it a small breakfast, but I wish I'd only had one. I felt a little overfilled on the way to work. I'm still trying to get accustomed to my altered metabolism. The up side, is when eating healthier food, if you go on a binge for a couple weeks you don't put on nearly the weight. The cold and such had me going for a lot of comfort foods and eating, and though it was less than in the past I was surprised to find I only put on a couple pounds the last month, and those seem to have nearly gone away after two days of normal eating. A year ago, I would have had five or ten pounds to take off. Partly because even a binge involves a lot less food than the past, and more so I'd guess as a result of giving your body healthier materials to work with.
** This is an interesting version of the monologue not quite like the first folio, but the punctuation is close -- don't listen to the audio, it is good for enunciation, but not the feel of the piece.
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