Theatre Company F

Normally, I give a theatre company two tries.  With Theatre Company D, my experience was so bad that I haven't gone back, but I saw with their casting for "Beaux Stratagem" that I really should.  With Theatre Company C, it was two strikes and I will no longer consider them.  With Theatre Company F, I gave them three tries just to be fair: my heart really wasn't in one of the auditions, so I didn't feel I deserved the part.

One good thing about Theatre Company F is that they tend to send out sides ahead of time.  I really like this approach.  Overwhelmingly, auditions are with cold readings, which I don't like.  How much can an audition committee really tell when a person is reading parts cold?  The person hasn't rehearsed and hasn't received any direction, so what does this say?  I prefer monologues: isn't it more useful to see what I can do when I have prepared for a part?  Theatre Company F's approach of sending out sides is the best of both worlds.  It gives me a chance to prepare and they get to see me performing parts in the actual play.

Unfortunately, they have a habit of thinking I'm female.  Hey, this might have given me the chance to audition for Blanche in "Streetcar Named Desire"!

The first time I auditioned, it was a call-back.  They needed to fill one more male role.  At this point, I had been working with the professionals at Theatre Company E for so long that coming out to Theatre Company F was a major culture shock.  As I performed the scene with one of the actresses (that had been cast for the show), I marveled at how bad they were.  In truth, they weren't bad at all: they didn't have a chance to rehearse, and this wasn't Theatre Company F!

Several of us tried for a part.  I think I did well, but the director didn't.  After we all read the part, the director cast the part.  He stated his reasons for his casting decision: the person looked the part.  Oh well.  This person dropped out of the show later, but I guess I wasn't next on the list either.  Oh well.

Later, I heard that they were auditioning for "Streetcar Named Desire".  "Streetcar" is one of my favorite plays. By this point, the constant rejections were really getting to me: I stated upfront that I wasn't going to get a part in this play because there just wasn't any part for me.  I had started to go in to auditions knowing I wouldn't be cast.

After clarifying my gender, I went in to perform either as Mitch or as Steve.  I wanted the part of Mitch, as he was really the only other interesting male character (Stan had already been cast).  Steve was, in my eyes, a bit part -- comedy relief popping up occasionally against the intense drama that was taking place.  A few weeks later, Theatre Company B was going to have auditions for "42nd Street", and I decided that if I was going to get a bit part, I would rather it be in "42nd Street", where I would be performing with my kids and with friends. The director was a lot more interested in me reading for Steve, but I didn't really prepare for that part because I didn't want it.

So, I didn't get the part.  The director of the show has, since, become a friend of mine.  He's very talented!  My friend Tom got the part of Mitch.  My feeling?  If they had cast me over Tom, I would question their sanity.  My friend Cathy got the part of Blanche.

And this was, by far, the absolute best show I have ever seen on stage.  I actually was brought to tears.  My heart raced by the end, I cringed at the thought of the nurse wrestling Blanche to the ground.  I long to some day be a part of a show of this quality, but I think I was glad to be in the audience, to be able to watch it.

By the way, the guy that got the part of Steve was decent.  Sure, he was completely overshadowed by the leads, but he did his part -- be an occasional distraction so the audience has time to breathe.  I saw him later in the summer in a farce for Gayfest, and in that role he was terrible.  Oh well.  I did encounter him recently at an audition for "Macbeth".  I think everyone that auditioned was offered a part, so I wonder what he will be doing.

A friend of mine had a small part in this play -- he was a mover at one point and at the end he played the man from the mental hospital that took Blanche away.  There was one african american woman in the show: she played the woman selling flowers.  He told me that she had remarked that theatre needs to just cut the crap and say "I'm going to cast a black person for this part".  Oh yes, I do agree.

That said, I don't think I didn't get a part in "Streetcar" because of my race.  I do not believe I put in 100% at the audition.  So, given that, I decided to give them a third chance.

The third play, whose name escapes me, was a comedy set in a Scottish castle, or something like that.  I tried to not think "I can't pull off 'Scottsman', I can't pull off 'Scottsman'."  I got the sides ahead of time and I prepared.  I blew away the audition.  I could see that the audition committee was very impressed.  And they even said so in my "sorry" e-mail.  What really got me this time was that the "sorry" e-mail was sent three hours after the audition.  For however good I might have been, it took them just three hours to decide they didn't want me.  I was at the top of the first page of the "no" list.  If I'm not going to be offered a part anyway, I would like the decision to, at least, be difficult . . . but it clearly wasn't.

So much for that theatre company.  I do hope to some day work with the director of "Streetcar", but that's about all I can say.