Referendum
Posted on | January 26, 2009 | 3 Comments
Those of you following my newly inaugurated Twitter feed will know that this past Thursday, I got an unexpected call from Chicago Shakespeare to fill a slot in their general musical auditions today. This wasn’t wholly unexpected – I had sent in my materials to CST when they had an open call for submissions a few months ago, and I sent a couple of “come out and see Touch emails to the casting authorities there. But the short notice, and the fact that this was a musical audition (and I haven’t really kept the showtune fires burning since 1776 closed almost a year ago), I was more than a little anxious about how to proceed.
One of the big mental shifts that must accompany a person’s transition from Theatrical Hobbyist to Theatrical Professional is to stop seeing auditions – no matter how big the company or project – as referenda on one’s Talent, Skill, or (you know who you are) Worth as a Human Being, and to start seeing them as opportunities to meet new people, make new connections and to demonstrate what it is you’ve learned and built so far about the practice of your craft. To put it simply, I’ve been on enough auditions to know that you will fail if you try to show them What They Want To See – because you really, truly have no idea. You’re best (and probably only) bet is to give yourself every chance to reveal yourself at the top of your game, as it stands on that particular day.
I feel good about how my audition went – but the fact is, I felt good about it before I even walked in there. If an audition is a chance to reflect and call upon what one has learned and built, I am immensely pround and humbled and grateful by the assistance and support that was immediately at my disposal when I asked for it: from Jess Hutchinson coming down to Touch early to help me run over a backup monologue, to Andra Velis Simon’s patient advice and willingness to give up part of her jealously guarded Sunday morning (not to mention that or her husband) to do an emergency vocal coaching session and help me look like less of a musical theatre rube. And from my sometimes-stern-but-always-supportive supervisors at work who let me cut out of work to prepare to my sister, jetlagged, using some of the mere 48 hours she had back in LA between her honeymoon and another out-of-town engagement to call and give me some much-needed counsel. And all my friends from as near as up the block to as far away as Wales sending me encouragement, positive vibes and well-wishes, and waiting to hear how it went afterward.
Way to often we walk out of auditions thinking, “How can I live like this?” We build them up so much and get so little satisfaction from them that it’s hard not to do the math and say, “This ain’t worth it.”
But if auditions are a referendum – a brash “What Have You Got?” – well, this time around I saw what I got. And as I’ve found in so many ways over the past few years, it’s way more than I expected, or possibly even deserve.
And I can certainly live with that.
And if that wasn’t enough, as I made my way through the mall-like interior of Navy Pier, I passed this sign on a platform in the center pavilion, reserved for the children’s entertainment that the Pier offers during the day:
I didn’t come here to be safe, after all. I came here to be an actor.
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3 Responses to “Referendum”
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January 27th, 2009 @ 2:27 pm
Screw the sign. Please do NOT stay off the stage, Dan Granata.
Cool blog.
January 29th, 2009 @ 10:43 am
Dan, after TOUCH, you should be teaching monologue classes. As far as auditioning is concerned, you’re pretty much set for quite some time. Just my opinion, though. =)
February 4th, 2009 @ 2:35 pm
Dear Mr. Dan Granata,
The House Theatre of Chicago
invites you and a guest to attend
the Opening Night performance of
ROSE AND THE RIME
Sunday, February 22
7:00pm
Chopin Theatre
Division & Milwaukee
Please RSVP to 312-751-5513 or
akletzker@korshak.com
by Wednesday, February 18.
This invitation is nontransferable.
If you wish to receive future invitations via email, let us know when you RSVP.