My First Agent Auditions

Today I signed up for my first audition in the city.  I "bit the bullet" as they say.  And let me tell you, everything they say about getting there an hour and a half before your call time and waiting around in a line of masses of squirmy people?  It's all true.  I mean I'd heard it, and I kind of believed it.  But I couldn't quite get my head around the thought that so many people would turn up at eight in the morning to audition for one to two minutes before two agents.  Stupid, right?  Oh yes.

I arrived at the Equity offices for an 8:30 sign up at 8:10, and had quite a bit of difficulty finding the back of the line as it wound around every wall of the Equity lobby.  Most of these people were quiet and in themselves, but there were enough of them carrying on loud conversations for (what seemed to be) the benefit of everyone else in the room, and one person in particular was performing a very loud performance piece about casting directors and how he never gets cast as Jewish because he doesn't have curly hair and a big nose and how racist that is.

I've always been really sensitive to my environment, so I buried my head in a book in order to keep other people's manic energies away.  I have enough neuroses of my own, thank you very much, and I don't need anyone else's.   Eventually the line started to move, and I worried I wasn't going to get a spot.  There were only fifty audition slots available, and after those were gone there were alternate spots up for grabs, but there's no guarantee that an alternate will get to perform.

I cursed myself for not realizing that the auditions weren't until 7PM, so for the early morning sign up I didn't have to print up and staple my resumes, didn't have to iron my clothes, didn't even have to shower.  I could have leapt out of bed humped it to the 2 Train and been pretty much guaranteed.  But, it's all part of the learning curve, and everybody has to start somewhere.  Right?

By the time I got to the front all the slots were gone.  So I signed up as the fifth alternate.  The monitor explained that it just meant I had to be there at the beginning of the audition and wait for someone to be late, or not show for their appointment, or slip in if the auditioners are running early.  She confided that the first alternates almost always get in as she works very hard to make it so, and so I will be there tonight, with my history of the creation of Wonder Woman, and hopefully I will get this experience under my belt.  On the 23rd I go in for my first musical audition, so I'll be able to check another box, and can be happy that I'm doing what I came out here to do.  Trying my damnedest.  I feel pretty good about my prospects, and though the odds of actually getting representation from this are low, it has caused me to find a new comedic monologue that I'm really pleased with, so the next time I have to go up with a monologue, I'll be that much more secure.

More later...