Auditioning

Dear Ferrisente,
Here is something I wrote about the experience of auditioning for a play. It's not very good, I just kind of wrote it as it came. And it is not based off a specific auditioning experience but rather a culmination of several different ones because the process often differs. (N.B. Call-backs are when the judges ask you to come back after you've made yourself sick auditioning the first time to make you audition a second time. It's a great process. NOT!)

Part I - Auditioning
Short breaths, beating heart.
Sweaty palms that leave a mark on whatever I touch.
Faces before me, ready to judge.
They wish for me to sing,
Someone starts the music.
I open my mouth and hope sound will come out.
The starting is rough but it gets better and better.
Until my song is done.
I go away but I'll come back later,
They'll want me then to read.
A cold read. Unfamiliar words
That sometimes trip me
But often they flow together
Into different emotions.
When that is done I wait for a while.
They give me a paper containing my fate.
I can't open it...
My friend does instead.
I'm called back,
They want to see me again!

Part II - Call Backs
It's no longer just me,
There are many
Also called-back
But I still feel honoured
to be among the chosen.
We are called up in groups
To read some more.
Different combinations,
But the same words.
I've got this scene memorized by now,
If I hear it again I might scream.
Different scenes over and over.
I carefully watch,
Casting the show myself.
It's all done now.
The cast list will come out
At an undetermined time.
I'll know my fate soon
Will I get the part
That I so desire?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no.
I try not to care.
But when it's all over,
Said and done,
I wouldn't miss this process,
Not for anything.
.......................
(That last part was a lie.)


Well, Ferrisente, that's auditions in a nutshell. Hope I've made you feel some of the pain I've had to go through!
But after the dark tunnel of auditions comes the joy of participating in a play. Maybe I'll write about that sometime! But now, I must go do laundry and other exciting things.

Ever and Ever,
Me