2001-02-11 - 22:58:27
You know, all things considered, I'd have to say that the audition went fairly well. In spite of all the negative things about the whole deal, it was still a good experience for me.
What negatives? Well, aside from the usual nervousness, there was the added bonus that we didn't leave for Madison on Friday night, as planned, but instead made plans to leave at 5am on Saturday to avoid bad roads.
I say made plans, because the door locks froze on the car we intended to take, so at 6am we had to go and find a car to borrow (yes, borrow and not "borrow") and didn't wind up leaving until around 6:30. We still got to Madison by 8am, though, which was when John and Tiffany (the people I rode with) had to check in for their tech. interviews. Good for them.
I didn't have to be there until 1pm, though, as my audition was not until around 2:45. My only audition.
Why only? Well, it gets better. See, three of the other Ripon students who came down needed to get a ride back, and the only other guy who had a car decided that he didn't want to take anybody back with him when he left at 6:30. So we got to cram six of us into the car for the trip back.
That is, when we finally got to leave, because one of the Riponites got a number of singing callbacks from companies and was in interviews until around 10pm. Whereas I had my one audition at 3. Lots of time spent sitting around doing nothing.
Did I mention that I was extremely sick the whole time? Yep. Late Thursday night I started some heavy-duty coughing, which just kept getting worse. The nurse gave me some medicine, but by the time the cough started loosening up I had coughed my throat so raw that I could barely talk. Plus there was the fever and the achyness and the lack of energy and the chills and the...being extremely....phlegmatic the entire time. I was a wreck.
How am I now? Better, but still not great. I don't plan on doing anything but sleeping for the next day or two. At least I auditioned. Two others from Ripon didn't even go because they were too sick. At least I can be proud that I sucked it up and went on anyway. I hate to use the term, but I was a man about the situation, and I'm proud of myself. I'm tough, by God!!!
Did I get a callback?
No. (Rule #1 of auditioning- the auditors don't give a f--- if you're sick or not.)
I started warming up at around 1:30, telling myself, "Okay, Ken, I need 2 minutes. Can you give me that? Two minutes without a coughing fit, needing to clear my throat, blow my nose, two minutes where my voice sounds at least mostly like it usually does, without being too stuffy and nasal or scratchy and hoarse? Come on, I know you can give me that two minutes. If you do, I can make some magic happen."
Did I get my two minutes?
Yes. Yes, I did. I mustered the energy to go up there and act like I was completely healthy, and deliver my audition like there was nothing wrong for two minutes. I then returned to my seat, and collapsed in my chair, so weak that I would have been happier to burn to death in a fire than stand up again. And it was a good audition, too. I could have been better, had I rehearsed more, but considering that the 48 hours before my audition were spent deciding how badly I wanted to live, (and, to a lesser extent, studying for a Friday test in Theatre, because Bob Amsden is a bastard and doesn't care that half the class had auditions the very next day) I'd say I did pretty well. Had I been healthy, and as practiced as I should have been, I would have gotten a callback.
Am I disappointed that I didn't get one anyway? Yes. And I'm pissed and bitter that my white blood cells chose that all important weekend to stage a sit-down strike, but that's between me and my immune system. (It does this to me all the time, getting sick on important dates. I was severly ill over New Year's each year I was in high school. We're still having bitterness issues over that one.)
In retrospect, however, it's just as well that I didn't get a callback, because I was so drained after the audition that my callback would have sucked anyway and they wouldn't have offered me any jobs. I'll just settle for suprising the hell out of them next year. Assuming my body doesn't decide to play any more cruel jokes on me.
Anywho, back to bed now. It may be a couple days before I do anything else. Take care.
Ken
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