Devising Auditions 101

Maybe you're like me and you've never been to a devising audition before. Sure, you know how to memorize a monologue. You've been trained rigorously to introduce yourself, your piece, and then say thank you before leaving. You know where to set your eyes so you don't make the important people in the room uncomfortable. And you're certain that what you have to offer is different from everyone else, and hopefully that will be enough.

Devising auditions-- so I've learned-- definitely don't work like that. Now, let me clarify: I attend a Devised Performance MFA program with a prestigious devising ensemble theatre company. This does not mean by any stretch of the imagination that I know everything about devising. This weekend was the first devising audition I've attended outside of auditioning by myself for this graduate program.

A company from Chicago came to Philadelphia this weekend to resurrect a show they first produced a few years ago. The people running this ensemble company studied in Europe and have similar methodologies to what we study here in Philly. But, in case you didn't know, every single devising process on the planet is different from every other. No two companies devise alike. Everyone has created a different way of getting to the end result--a show.

This process takes time to create, and requires building a common language between bodies. For this reason, most devising companies are ensembles--they don't audition others to join them. Teaching others to work like them, after not sharing a common bond for so long is daunting and often fraught with pitfalls. Sometimes when companies are auditioning, they invite collaborators who have seen them work or seen their process to the auditions. Sometimes they invite only one person to come in. And sometimes, they'll get a whole new group together for a project so they can learn together. I would say this Chicago company is doing the latter.

This company originally split us into two time slots, with each time slot being two hours long. As they continued to accept submissions, they realized they'd need to adjust the timing. So each of these two hour slots was split into one hour slots. When I arrived (early, as we all know you should do) I learned that the time slots would hold about 20 people per group. That's right, in a devised audition you are there to show the director that you can create something from nothing with an ensemble. There is no auditioning alone!

And here's the thing. I knew this going in. I understood that I would be auditioning with other performers I hadn't met before. What I didn't understand, is what exactly that would feel like, and how it would function. Here's the basic run down of how the audition functioned:

1. Everyone circled up with the director in the middle of the room and we agreed that we were there to audition the company as much as they were there to audition us. We each had a say in how interested we would be in continuing a relationship at the end of the time slot.
2. We introduced ourselves with our name, our pronouns, and then our favorite brand of cereal.
3. We made eye contact with someone in the room (to prove that we could function as an ensemble of course) and switched spaces with them.
4. We introduced ourselves again, then switched spaces. We discussed not leaving gaps in the circle to learn how to work in close quarters together.
5. We introduced ourselves a third time, and then the director proved he could say all of our names correctly by memory.
6. Then we were asked to perform the history of the American Revolution in 30 seconds, individually. We were given 3 minutes to prepare somewhere in the room. No words allowed, but sound was.
7. We performed in a random order.
8. Then we were split into groups of 3, given the same assignment, and performed it again.
9. Then we were split into 3 groups of 5-7 and performed it again.
10. The audition was over and we were told we would hear soon about callbacks that evening.

After this audition I spent some time reflecting on the process. I'm one of those crazy actors that loves to audition. I get so excited to get into a room and show you what I can do. That's because I was always very good at cold reading from a script and interpreting a character. Or showing a monologue that no one else would think to do. I had to spend some time dissecting not only how different this process felt and how I felt about it, but I also wanted to ruminate on what I felt was successful about how the audition was run.

A few years ago, I would have thought the only important part of an audition was how I performed. These days, I'm taught to think more process oriented, and I'm encouraged to question everything. This weekend I proposed the question to myself: How would I have run this devising audition? What could have made it better?

I'm certain (certain) that every devising audition is vastly different from another, because every devising project asks something different of us. In this audition they were looking for 7 performers who would perform physically together on a platform that's around 3ft x 7ft. This is their technique. Give the ensemble a huge obstacle and see what engaging theatre comes out of it.

That means this company was looking for: very physically precise performers, who could use their body in multiple ways, and knew how to share space and give focus. There were other things like accents, singing, and characters involved. But generally speaking, you're looking for a specific kind of performer, probably of not too varying height, and they did specify preferring people of color.

What I learned from watching my entire group perform is that these 30 second individual pieces didn't seem to serve the audition well. Many people did the same things, and for those of us (like me) whose idea was taken by someone else early in the line up, we were forced to try and take a risk being different doing something we hadn't rehearsed. Yes, the director gets to see an individual body move. Could that have been accomplished with a less in depth exercise? Absolutely. Did individual creativity matter from a 3 minute rehearsal? My experience in ensemble work is that you're learning to create together. Being a great individual creator doesn't make you a great ensemble member. In my opinion, giving such a labor intensive creation exercise to be judged on individually didn't reap huge rewards, especially when auditioning for a show that is not improvisation based.

I did think the sections of being grouped off in small and large ensembles was very effective. Perhaps if we'd had the extra time from the individual round allotted to this section they could have witnessed some very creative pieces. Again, many things were repeated. Certain groups agreed on an abstract aesthetic, and some agreed to be more literal. When not knowing your fellow creators, it can be difficult to find consensus on the kind of work you want to present in a high stakes audition. With our 3 minutes to rehearse my experience was going with the first idea and trying to sell it.

Reflecting on the audition I don't know that a creative space was made in the room until the end group performances. There wasn't an opportunity through exercises to showcase physicality. Because people were trying to show they could work in a small space, most stayed central during their performance. The time spent saying names and switching places didn't translate into anything helpful when we worked in groups later. Repeating the same story (American Revolution) in every audition performance could have bred creativity to try something different, but with the time crunch created instead a recycling of things. There seemed to be a lot of missed opportunities, and I'd like to think that's because they had to quickly restructure the time slots to accommodate more bodies. What would I have done differently?

I would have capped the number of people auditioning. I would have accepted no one late to the audition. I would have started with group exercises and not focused so much on names. Perhaps some trust exercises, certainly exercises of weight sharing or building images. I would have put the individual performances at the end, and prompted it to be a different story overall.

Something about asking people to perform individually in front of each other before creating a space for the group felt counter intuitive. As if the individual comes first, and not the ensemble. I would have cut exercises to give space for others to grow. And I would have been clear about what I was searching for. If you're searching for an individual who can be abstract, then let them know. If you want a literal representation--that's important to create with in mind. If you just want to see who improvises well, explain how that informs the process of the show.

To be fair, I can't know for certain exactly what they were searching for in this audition. I've seen clips of the show and know the end result. However, the show could have been half cast and they were searching for a specific role, height, size, or attitude of attack in someone. Maybe they were casting the entire thing and looking at people who were similar to who filled the roles before. There's no way to know, and it's pointless to speculate.

What I care about is how to create a space for devisers of varying degrees of experience to come together in a short amount of time and show their best selves. Unlike in a regular theatre audition, we didn't get to prepare something ahead of time, and we had to audition one after the other seeing when someone else was taking an idea of ours before we had the chance to implement it. There was a different level of trying to stand out, and an anxiety of people searching for what to show of themselves. It was unclear if being incredibly physical was more important than being precise, or if being thorough was more important than being interesting. With so many questions in the room and no time to answer them, I learned that a room with that energy didn't give as much space for creativity, jeu (play), or risks.

And if there's no risk, there's no reward.

Looking back on it, I didn't not enjoy myself. But I'm in a program where I audition every week a new idea I have. Sometimes every day. And I know by now the difference between when my creativity is being squashed and when it's being pushed.  I also know by now, that if you asked others at this audition they would disagree with me. That's the beauty of devising, I suppose. Everybody likes to do it differently. If you're lucky enough to find others who enjoy doing it the way you do, that's something special.

I think devising auditions don't happen very often, and because of that it's something without form. Even still--it needs to function. It needs to serve the purpose of seeing the best sides of your performers, by setting them up for success before they enter the room--and definitely when they're in it.

Grad School Year 2--Half Way Through

This first semester has flown by, and tomorrow is the beginning of second semester of my second year of graduate school. The second year began with Translations. Which was really about devising adaptations of films and novels, and 'translating' them to the stage. We worked on Melodramas, Commedia, Balinese masks, Bouffon, and Cabaret.

We cover so much so quickly in this program, and most of it will sound like nonsense if you aren't a theatre person or even if you are a theatre person but you live in America. Our school is grounded in the pedagogy of Jacque Lecoq who started a physical theatre school in France. Mask work, melodramas, and critical, mocking pieces of theatre are not the norm here in the west. These are usually labelled as traditional, old, and definitely not for a contemporary art audience. I think if I had seen mask work a few years ago, I might not have understood it. Now, it's one of my favorite things about this program.

Here is a brief summary of the semester:

We were partitioned off into small 'companies' or ensembles that we worked within for 10 weeks. We learned the inner workings of how to communicate effectively, attempted to agree on a universally accepted aesthetic, and tried our best to make work that we found exciting, bold, and new. I felt we were successful, but this is generally a tumultuous time. Outside of school most of us hope to form companies, and when doing this we'll choose the people we want to create with, who have a similar vision, but hopefully enough difference of opinion to never become complacent. Inside graduate school however, they choose companies for you and this can make it difficult when working with people who want different things or whom you don't function well with.

I had an overwhelmingly positive experience and learned a lot about myself as a creator, more about what I enjoy making aesthetically, and even more about how I like to work and function in a group. I also can't stress enough that this was finally the point in the program where we learned what it really was to make fully fledged shows. Putting an entire show together from just a nugget of an idea, and sometimes no blueprint at all is really an amazing process. I've learned that this is a form of theatre that I find exhilarating and important. Six months ago, I hadn't really done this yet. Crazy how time flies.

My company translated the film Baby Driver to the stage, as well as the novel Oryx and Crake. We created a melodrama that was loosely based on a real life woman who operated a lighthouse with her family in New England. We learned to write musical scores, and play foley (Which means creating real sound effects on stage with items that wouldn't normally create these real sounds. Think: how do you make it sound like waves are crashing on stage? What does a shipwreck sound like? The slosh of a boat on water. No computers allowed). We learned how to function as an outside eye (Which, after much debate, is different from the role of a traditional director, but that's another story), and play a mimeur (A body that creates space on stage, sets a scene, and can be the inner desires of a character).

We did a crash course in Commedia Del Arte masks and Balinese masks. And then we started a very long study (which we're still in the middle of) on the bouffon. The buffoon, in English. These characters mock everything and everyone. They can be ugly and grotesque but they always think they're beautiful. Their truth is beautiful. They know when they've gone too far, and they always apologize. But their goal is to make the audience understand how hypocritically they live their lives. It's a daring and dangerous form, and few can do it well. When you see a master at work, it's something to behold.

Cabaret wrapped up the semester. I created a character who left modern society to live on her own in the wilderness. I sang Survivor by Destiny's Child. It was something else.

I stretched. I grew. I failed. I don't fully understand all that I've learned. However, that is the beauty of my school. You learn it all, and then you choose what to gravitate towards.

We start taking a pedagogy course in our second year as well. This is really helpful because we continuously review what we're learning and learn to teach it. So, often, it's an opportunity to go back over something you might not have understood the first time. It's a time for exploration and innovation in how best to teach the work. This is a course we'll continue as we go through the program.

This second year focuses on performing. We'll be performing our bouffon pieces soon, then taking a showing of our favorite pieces to New York. We perform a clown show back in Philadelphia. The final show of the semester is called Dares. The faculty here will individually dare us, and we create our own shows surrounding these dares. We can be in them or we can direct them, but they'll be devised by us. Last year, the Dares showing was the best thing I'd seen in the city all year, not just at the school.

There's a lot to look forward to. I think it's easy in this program to get so wrapped up in the crazy that you can't take a step back and savor everything that's being learned. It's a whirlwind, and sometimes I wish it would slow down so I could catch my breath and remember more. But some things can't be changed, and the pace is part of how this program functions. I'm sure I'll be running around just as crazy as I was last semester starting tomorrow.

Wish me luck!

Graduate School Year 2 Begins! My MFA in Devised Theatre adventure continues...

Ready or not, here it comes. Tomorrow begins chapter 2 of this new life journey I started a year ago. I wrapped up year one of graduate school in May. I survived the first year with a few scrapes and really looking forward to a summer break.

We put on our first show in March. It was really just the ensemble's favorite Friday Creation projects thrown together like a showcase of what we'd accomplished so far. I was pleased at the time with how it turned out, but like all things I look back on it (literally I watched the video) and thought--wow, we've come so far as a class since then. My pieces selected for the showing were from the creation prompts The Chase and One Place, One Event. I was incredibly proud of my ensemble for coming together and putting something up in such a limited time frame. Part of the pedagogy of the program we learned this year is to cram a lot of lessons into a short amount of time and to never stop generating material. I suppose the lesson is to do work, often, even if it's not good. Don't ever be afraid to produce work just because it might fail. That's never a good enough reason.

Border towns being created around churches before the border was established.

Quickly after that showcase, our ensemble took a trip to the northern borders of America. We crossed into Canada by train and saw a fantastic show in Montreal about the invisible borders between cultures indigenous to Canada and those there now. After just one night in the province of Quebec, we rented cars to head to Edmundston, Canada (province of New Brunswick) and Madawaska, Maine. These two towns are on opposite sides of a border that separates two countries. Yet their economies rely on each other for most things, and most people here have an Acadian heritage meaning they don't really consider themselves Canadian or American. They're so removed from the rest of their countries that they've grown very close together.

The project was to visit border towns and interview people about their experience there, and then to tell that story. The show was meant to be a foil to the national conversation happening about our southern border and the misconceptions people might have based on the national dialogue that every border is the same.

This is the bridge separating Madawaska, Maine and Edumndston, Canada with a frozen river running beneath it.

The train ride to Quebec

It was a fascinating experience. I had no idea that taking a trip like this could translate into a piece of theatre, and certainly no experience in making something like that come to fruition. But these are the joys of being part of an ensemble devised theatre program! Together we had some amazing experiences, met some fantastic characters, and managed to translate real life onto the stage!  This was the seminal experience for me in my first year. Everything I learned lead me to the moment of accomplishment and pride I felt when we were able to stand together and say, "We built this." I spent my entire year taking part in making short theatrical bursts; 3 minute appetizers to sustain me until I could learn to create a main entree. And while the entree was still less than 20 minutes in length, and was only given a few weeks to shape itself into a main course meal, and was admittedly still unformed because of the trial that is ensemble devising--it happened. I learned from it. My confidence in myself and my ability to create theatre experiences from nothing evolved and reshaped itself into a new part of me that I will carry into year two!

Snow falling at night

A crane we saw tearing down a dilapidated house in the middle of down town Madawaska right before an accident tipped it over into the basement. No one was injured.

This summer was full of real life trials and tribulations. But I did ultimately have the opportunity to help create an independent study to fulfill a credit I'll need to graduate. We're allowed to take any class the university offers, but after a fascinating workshop we were able to take during the second semester there was a small group of us that knew exactly what we were interested in pursuing.

Five of us took a month this summer to take a class on Gaming Theatre. Our amazing Voice teacher actually runs her own company that creates theatrical experiences for non theatrical audiences in the form of interactive and playable games. Some of these are site specific works, others are educational in nature, and a few have been actual card or video games. She works with community partners and organizations to create these experiences to fill a need, and usually has several projects going on at once. She's a wealth of knowledge and we were dying to learn from all of her experience. We were able to do a broad reach into the background of interactive and immersive performance experiences, the history of game design, and the impact of agency in theatrical applications. We also created our own games, tested them (in small doses), and learned the road map to creating successful gaming endeavors. It was quite honestly my favorite class I've taken yet!

It's the specialty classes that have really made this last year so special for me. I was excited to attend graduate school to broaden my knowledge of the ways that theatre can successfully be done. I knew I'd learn skills I wouldn't even know about before, or maybe skills I didn't think I could do. And that's exactly what happened. My music theory course this last semester became a composition course where every single week we wrote new songs. In an ensemble program I was desperate to have complete control over a finished product and this class gave me that opportunity. I'm so proud of the new skills I learned in that class. This gaming workshop was similar and is something I'm incredibly interested in pursuing in my future going forward after this program.

This next year holds a lot of firsts for me. Cabaret, clown, commedia, buffon, and other new styles will be learned. I'll be making another mask, adapting movies and books, and trying on genres for size. We'll be given dares this year, and then dare to create our own. What I'm most excited about is that this year is more performance based. Instead of performing for our faculty, we'll have many more opportunities to perform for the community, including a New York showcase in the spring.  This year I can see my future a little more clearly. Life after graduate school will sneak up on me fast, and I'm taking steps to test out what I think I'd like to do next.

First on the list? Try everything. And visit some new places to see how my art fits in. Here's to another year of ensemble training!

Life on the Road: Lessons to be learned from a Touring Artist

My tour of Washington included many murals.

I've been staying pretty busy with Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. I was cast in November, rehearsed all of January and opened in February. We started out with a few shows here and there but the pace has really picked up.

We left Seattle for the month of April to travel to Northern and Eastern Washington (and eventually a bit of Idaho)  on what Book-It calls an expansion tour. It was my first taste of life on the road as a job. We'd previously been making mostly day trips in the Seattle area, and a few over night trips on several of the islands. Now we were leaving home with our bags and not coming back for three weeks.

Three actors, one touring van, and a sizable set took off to see the state! I have to say that I really enjoyed it. Tour life agrees with me. Many of the schools we went to were full of children that had never seen a live production before, and several of them had booked tours with Book-It Rep in the past and were really looking forward to their one annual theatrical performance.

Children's Theatre is an incredibly rewarding experience in many ways, but I think my favorite is getting to introduce the performing arts to young creative minds. After every show (of which we did two a day) we held 'talk-backs' where the kids got to ask us questions. I had the lucky opportunity to run these talk backs and I got to facilitate the answering of all the questions.   Many of the children that hadn't seen theatre before were amazed at simple things like quick costume changes and remembering all the lines. Others wanted to know how long we'd been acting, how did we learn to do it, and was it too late to start?  My absolute favorite part was seeing kids faces light up when they fully understood that acting was our job, and that it could be their job too.

One great quote from a question and answer session came from a one building school house in a very rural part of Eastern Washington. There were about 40 kids in attendance and after the show a little girl (maybe first or second grade) asked me, "Why is the Queen of Heart's so mean?" I play the Queen in our production, and she can be a very intimidating character so I was prepared to field the question. "Do you ever wake up on the wrong side of the bed somedays?" I asked, like I usually do. "No," the little girl said--which totally stumped me. Then out of nowhere an older boy spoke up and very simply said, "It's just how she feels." To which the little girl nodded sagely. And we looked around and realized that everyone understood that explanation! So simple. So cute. And so wise.

We had several especially fun performances, one of which was a school of about 600 students who were celebrating facial hair day. We came out onstage, and I looked up to say my first line only to see 600 or so bearded and mustachioed children looking back at me (clearly having forgotten that they had all drawn on their faces in colored markers) expectantly. That was possibly the biggest challenge not to break I've faced.

I have to say that this tour has taught me a lot about the different kind of theatrical experiences you can have in your professional career.  Every show is different, and every company is different. But it's important to take lessons away from each production you do to help you on the winding path to success in this crazy business. Here are several lessons I learned:

Like getting a flat tire when you're supposed to perform in 30 minutes.

1. Doing a show without a stage manager is as fun as it is frustrating. We have no stage manager touring with us, which means that we're in charge of our own show. We run our tech, we make our own executive decisions about show adjustments, and we keep track of our own schedules. This can be very freeing, not having a person to answer to. However, I now know that I don't enjoy fixing my own props, sewing my torn costumes, or generally not having someone who is responsible for issues that arise. My 'mainstage' mentality has had to adjust to tour life quite a bit.

2. It's important to introduce children to live theatre not just so they can experience acting and storytelling, but also so they can learn audience etiquette. I'd never thought about what age children are when they learn how to be an audience member. Many students had to be told by the faculty that cheering was for sporting events and clapping was for when you enjoy something at the theatre. Other student audiences were so incredibly free with their laughter and vocal responses because they'd never been told they had to sit in silence respectfully--and that was a beautiful thing. Children's Theatre is definitely a lesson in audience engagement.

3. It's hard to be healthy on the road. Many hotels (surprisingly) don't have gyms or aren't in safe places to go for a run. Without a kitchen it can be difficult to make your own food, especially if you want it to be fresh food, not from a box. We were lucky enough to stay in a suite for a week that had a kitchen, but I know this isn't a normal accommodation for a touring actor.

4. SAVE. The whole point of touring is that you aren't paying for lodging, so you should be saving that rent money. If you're with a wonderful company who pays you per diem or a stipend for food you should be able to save most of that as well. Budget what you think you'll need for food before you leave. And get your fellow actors on the same page. My cast agreed to do mostly grocery shopping and very little eating out. I shopped before I left and barely bought anything while we were out. If you're smart about it, you can walk away with more money than you'd think. Also, just don't ever accept a touring job that doesn't pay for your food. That's cheap and you're worth more.

5. A positive attitude is a must in any professional work environment--but especially so in a small van or a shared hotel room. If you have something to vent about do it and then leave it behind. There's no room for an attitude.

6. Two shows a day for three weeks teaches you that water and a good warm up really are the most important tools an actor has at their disposal.

7. Take time to go out and enjoy your new surroundings. We visited parks, local hole in the wall restaurants, did some wine tasting, and even attended a guest lecture by Jared Diamond while on tour. The whole point of going on the road is to really experience all the places you're traveling too. That could mean walking in a corn field, checking out the mountain biking path, or going dancing at the nearest downtown hot spot. Take time away from the show to remember you like doing other things--you'll need the distance.

8. On the flip side of that, don't be afraid to stay in with your cast and watch Dirty Dancing and Boy Meets World. Relaxing is important too.

9. Do a tour. If you haven't done it and you think you'd like it--do it. And then get ready for all the other touring companies to call you and ask you to do theirs. They will because being a touring artist is a special skill. Not everyone enjoys it. Not everyone wants to be away from home for that long. But once you do one you can really set the bar for where your professional standards are. I lucked into a great one for my first touring gig. And I don't think I fully appreciated how great it was until I had other offers. You would be surprised at how many companies want you to travel 1,000+ miles a week for $300 or less. You'd be surprised at how many companies want to book you for an entire six months on the road with no vacation except your weekends. And you'd be surprised at how many give you pennies for a food stipend. Do your homework and be prepared to ask yourself some serious questions about what you think you'd enjoy. Not just what you can handle, but what you actually want to spend a significant amount of time putting yourself through.

10. Figure out the direction you want to take in your career. This is something I'm still juggling (obviously. And aren't we all?). Once you do Children's Theatre you have an in with a lot of companies. They'll see it on your resume and know that they can use you and your experience to help them get all that educational grant money they want. As they should! Educational theatre is incredibly important for the next generation of artists and theatre goers alike! But do you want a career of Children's Theatre? Do you want to tour for a significant amount of time? Do you think other companies looking for their next Shakespearean ingenue will skip over you for an audition because they see your last few credits are for kids? Do you want the money you can save by going on tour more than the opportunity to play a role that reviewers will write about even if you have to give 3/4 of your paycheck to your landlord for rent?  Really put your business hat on and realize that Children's Theatre and being a touring artist will open new doors for you--and it's your responsibility to keep all the doors you're interested in open.

It's been a crazy 4 1/2 months of theatre for me.  I've learned a lot. More than I think I usually do purely because this is the longest contract I've ever taken. By the end of this run I will have done 70+ performances of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. One more month to go!

But as usual, I'm enjoying this crazy theatrical life--and already looking ahead. I have some fun big announcements coming your way as soon as I'm clear to reveal all!

I can dunk in an elementary school gym!

The best BBQ in all of Eastern Washington is in the tiny town of Republic. GO THERE.

Unified Professional Theatre Auditions--Or the best weekend ever

 I did it. I flew across the country after months of planning, arrived in Memphis, TN for the first time ever, and successfully (and within the allotted time limit) completed my first UPTA audition.

I've heard a lot about the UPTAs over the years. Especially when I was in school, it was lauded as one of the best auditions to go to, over the NETC or SETC. Originally I believed that was because it was much closer to my midwest college, but after much research I learned it was because of many other factors.

I never did attend any regional auditions in college. I had plans to move to a market and build a resume. And I, truthfully, probably didn't trust my audition 'package' to get me anywhere. Now, a few years later I can say that waiting paid off. Here's what I learned from my UPTA audition:

1. The UPTAs are the most highly attended, and most difficult to get into of the larger regional theatre auditions. They also boast that they are the largest regional theatre audition in the country, with the most companies attending to offer paid year round work.

2. The reason it is the 'hardest' to get into is because of their new policy for 'qualifying'. If I had gone when in school, I would have needed an instructor approval and would have been on my merry way. Now, there's a highly selective screening process for pre-professionals, which (luckily for me) gives first dibs on attending to Equity and EMC candidates. Though, there were a ton of soon to be graduates there!

3. It pays to be a singer. But we all already knew that. For those of us that aren't singers (or as is the case with many of us, choose not to be interested in performing musical theatre though we may have the capability) there is much less opportunity for you here. Out of the 85 companies attending UPTAs this year, 30 were also casting non-singers. There was ONE group of non-singers on my day of auditions, and when I got on stage to audition there were approximately 15 auditors left in the audience. Though 30 companies had signed on to watch us, many of them either did not stay for my afternoon, or had called back so many singers who can act that they didn't feel the need to stay and watch us--actors who don't sing.

Beale Street

4. If you aren't a singer, most people don't care that you do Shakespeare. And they don't want you to do Shakespeare. (For the record, I didn't do Shakespeare, I chose a Restoration Comedy. Though I did whip out a Shakespeare monologue for a callback--always know multiple pieces! But I digress.) The majority of the companies staying for the non-singers were for touring children's theatre. Yes, I love children and doing theatre for them. Yes, I would prefer my resume read credits that don't all come from a beloved child's bedtime story book. However, there happen to be some really cool children's theatre companies out there doing great works of literature, or who choose to do children's theatre on a more sophisticated level. Basically--

5. I learned a lot about the different styles of children's theatre. Any profitable, long running theatre company has an educational component. Meaning--everyone does children's theatre. And most of all--it's important to do children's theatre. Because, let's face it, we can't be in this business just for ourselves, and if you are then at least think about your future in this business. There won't be one if we can't help the little tikes see how important it is to support our art. They're going to be making money some day, you know? Also, it's just a great communication and coping tool. I could write endlessly about why I think theatre for young audiences is important though.

6. But I also learned about some awesome companies that are interested in hiring me for not just children's theatre. Which is what I really wanted to happen at these auditions. The best of both worlds. I'm just so happy and excited about this.

7. Yes it does suck when the Texas Shakespeare Festival stays for every group but mine.

8. This is perhaps the most important lesson: your resume is just as important as your audition. Yes there were so many college kids attending. Yes, they do get called back. But regardless of how great your audition is--what you've done so far, how experienced you are in certain areas is what makes companies look at you seriously. I have Shakespeare, I have Sarah Ruhl, I have classical literature adaptations, new works, fringe festivals, and experience as a teaching artist. This experience above all else, is, I think, what resulted in a lot of my callbacks. But I like to think it was my audition...

9. I am young in the world of theatre. My resume is longer than some, shorter than others. I have known credits, and unknown credits. But what I do know is that I know people from very few places. I need to make more connections out in the theatre world to continue to work the way I want to--which is outside of one market. I want to travel, and I want to see what theatre is like everywhere. I want to know how different companies run their business, and what it's like to work on a beach as opposed to in a barn. I want to see what builds successful relationships with a community and most importantly I want to learn how to replicate all those things when the time comes.

Best BBQ I've had outside of Texas!

10. These auditions made me look at my market in a new light. I was able to compare my pay scale here to the pay scale that other companies were offering me. It's interesting how much people think your time and your work is worth. And far more interesting how much you think your time and your work is worth. And there's the other side of that coin which is just about how much they can afford to pay you and other actors on their business model.

11. I recommend the UPTAs to anybody looking to do contract based work, who wants to build their resume, or who is tired of living in one place. Hey, most everybody offers free housing! It definitely makes you look at the world of theatre differently.

If you have any questions about the UPTAs, my experience with them, or want to share how you felt about your own experience there, please leave a comment below!

And enjoy some sight-seeing pictures!

I found this written on an old building on the same street where Martin Luther King Jr. was killed.

National Civil Rights Museum

Rosa Parks

Pride and Prejudice: A Holiday Extravaganza

During Horse Girls I started rehearsals for Pride and Prejudice. This was to be the 4th iteration directed by the original director and adapter -- who is British. So really, we had the best insight!  The actress who played Elizabeth was reprising her role for the third time, and the actors playing Mr. and Mrs. Bennet were performing the show for the second time. The entire cast was the most experienced cast I've worked with to date and it was a delight and a lesson every day of rehearsal.

We were performing the Christmas/Holiday show for Book-It Repertory Theatre's 25th season. We ended up selling out the entire run after our second week, and added a performance because of popularity. This was the longest running show I've performed, to date. It came in at just over 30 performances.

I had such a great time playing a character I've never had the opportunity to play. I love classic work, I love dialect work, and I love character roles. Most of my time in Seattle I've spent playing 'leading ladies' or 'ingenues'. This is the gift I've been given by Seattle, because this city has yet to type cast me. This time, I was being given the opportunity to play the slightly dour, very inquisitive, uniquely insensitive, and incomparably competent Mary Bennet.

I read 12 books onstage every night. By the end of the run I had read the history of Japan, the history of Jesus Christ, the history of World War II, the collected short stories of Edgar Allen Poe, several tales from the 1001 Arabian Nights, The Story of The 47 Ronin, two encyclopedias full of random pages about numerous subjects, several presidential addresses, and all about the inventions of Thomas Edison.  I also got some great arm muscles from miming piano playing every night.

Mostly, I was reminded of the lessons I'd only recently learned during Frankenstein.  And I learned some new ones too.

1. Performing a show night after night, and sometimes more than once in a day, can be the most rewarding experience. Even if I was exhausted I would still wake up the next morning and think I had the best job ever.
2. Always remember your training--warming up really is the most important thing you can do.
3. Supportive shoes can make or break a long running show.
4. Baking for your cast is always the right idea.
5. Dancing 300 year old dances teaches you that dancing then was no less exhausting than dancing now.
6. Layers upon layers of clothes onstage that make you incredibly hot is still my favorite thing. Maybe this is why I love classical shows so much.
7. Hearing a young or an old person tell you after a show that they love this book and you helped them want to read it or read it again never gets old.

I'm sure there were other lessons, but I can't think of any more at the moment. It was an incredible experience, and I made great new friends, and I'm grateful for my time spent on this wonderful piece of literature.

Reviews posted for posterity:

Broadway World

TeenTix

Seattle Weekly

Seattle Times

Encore

Heed the Hedonist

Push to Talk

Drama in the Hood

I'll post the pictures when I receive them. I had one week off between the end of this show--and the beginning of my next!

Horse Girls and girls and girls and girls

I returned from my summer in the south reluctantly, but excited to start the projects I had signed on for. I submitted myself for the UPTAs in September. I started making my plans for the regional theatre movement I was attempting to start for myself.

The day after I got back, I had a photo shoot for promotional photos for the show. The reason I agreed to Horse Girls was not only the incredibly fun and challenging new script I had read, but because for the first time since college I was going to do an all women show! An ensemble based script, I was playing the lead Ashleigh, who was a preteen award winning equestrian. The director was a friend who had previously asked me to do a reading of the script a year before that I'd had to miss. Now, all these women were coming together to produce great work--at the perfect time. The subject matter starts fluffy but quickly turns dark. We ended up opening the show the week after a terrible school shooting in Marysville, WA. Because of this event, our opening night was poignant, tragic, and very real.


 We drove out of Seattle to a ranch that had offered us their horses and land to take some pictures. We hadn't rehearsed and we didn't know each other (as is often the case with these things) and got to bond over an afternoon of horses and girl talk. I couldn't wait for the next two months with these ladies.

As Development Director at Annex Theatre (who was producing this show as part of their season) I was a staff member, and company member, and now a cast member. Another of the cast members was also playing my sister Lydia in Pride and Prejudice, and before we opened Horse Girls we were already spending our days rehearsing for P&P.

I also had the pleasure for the first time since moving to Seattle to act with another Stephens College alum on stage. We were delighted to be working together after our time in college and it really brought us back to our roots in creating plays by, for, and about women.

The rehearsal process was challenging and exciting. We were working with a new script, a young director, and a great team. It was an incredibly physical show, not only in the sense of stage combat, but also the idea of putting yourself back into your preteen body and working so hard to be 'grown up'. We sang, we danced, we yelled, we cried, and we told our story.

In the end the New York based writer flew into Seattle to help us tech the show, and we opened to sold out audiences. The run of Horse Girls sold better than any other off-night show in Annex history. With an all women cast! I've attached the reviews below if you'd like to peruse them.


Seattle Times

Drama in the Hood

The Stranger

I had the thought during the run of the show that not often does it happen that I'll get to spend two contracts in a row working with mostly female casts! It was a joy, a gift, and a reminder of how I started and where I came from at Stephens College. I was inspired in those weeks to continue to do all I could to work with as many women in this field as I possible.

Shortly after we opened, a New York premiere of the show was announced, with another Stephens Woman in the cast!  The end of our run at Annex was sad, but we were all moving onto different shows and knew that we'd work together again.

I can say this show was one of the most rewarding experiences I've had in my professional career.

Can you do your special skills on command?

I've had the most terrifying, exhilarating, and liberating weekend in quite some time.

I did my callbacks for two upcoming fall shows at a local theatre company (both classics), and a Fringe Festival piece I'm hoping to have the opportunity to join.

Each callback was challenging in a different way. Some things I learned this weekend:

1. It's okay to be scared. It's not okay to let that fear make a decision for you. A wise friend reminded me that we don't know what we're capable of until we try it.

2. Some directors will not have a vision you agree with. It is up to you to decide if you can work around that, or if it will cause a problem. Choose wisely, because if you can't be professional you could gain a bad reputation.

3. Reputation is very important. However, don't let someone's 'reputation' stand in the way of you giving them a chance professionally. Sometimes people don't get along, but you never know who you'll click with that someone else didn't.

4. Always be prepared. And when you aren't, be prepared to look as prepared as possible.

5. Never put a special skill on your resume you can't do. This weekend a director decided to test my skill to mimic animal calls by calling in his friend who works at the zoo to guess each of my calls. It was fun, but imagine if I hadn't been able to do them on command...

6. Always take the time you're given to learn something about the people you're working with. You never know when you'll see them again, and it's wonderful to be able to remember a name with a face. It's all about the networking, but more importantly it's about connecting with people in a way that makes them want to work with you.

7.  Scheduling is very important. Give yourself time to breathe between the things you have to do in your day (like 3 callbacks). I forgot how important breathing was until, as I was walking down the sidewalk to my latest callback today, I passed a sign in a window with elegant script that simply said, 'Pause'. I did. And I was better because of it.

8. Remember that there is a time and a place to speak in detail about an audition experience. Some experiences don't need to be shared. You don't want to be a downer, have an attitude, or give someone the impression that you don't want to work on something. Control yourself.

9. The difference between paying theatre and non-paying theatre is not necessarily the money. Don't forget to wager in the connections that can be made, and the overall experience you could obtain. If you're always in it for the money, you could miss a wonderful opportunity.

10. Be A Team Player. Theatre is a community. It's about helping each other, loving each other, and never letting down your tribe when you can help it. Always give your best, and expect the best in return--because that's what everyone expects of you.

I had some positive and negative experiences this weekend. I also learned how to turn those negative experiences into positive ones. I think, in this business, that's an important trait to foster. You have to learn something from every experience you have--know what to take away and what to leave behind.

I don't know what I'll find out this week, but I do know that I'm a better artist for pushing myself the way I did this weekend. I never thought I'd be auditioning for improv shows. I never thought I'd have a chance to read for Hamlet. I never thought anyone would actually ask me to wiggle my eyes in an audition because it was on my resume (I mean, you hear about that stuff, but come on.).

I had many loved ones come see my shows this weekend, and am lucky enough to have more coming to see them in this next week! I also have another callback coming up, as well as a movie audition that I'm really excited for. I'm happiest when I'm busy working towards a goal, or...working at all really. But needless to say, this is going to be a wonderful week!