I'm climbing uphill, daddy. climbing uphill.

As I started this blog with the intention of chronicling my pursuit of an acting career (however small the steps I'm taking at the moment) (hey, at least I'm taking some steps?), I knew at some point I would have to talk about auditioning. I had my first audition since I started this blog tonight, so I figure now is a good time to talk about it as any!

I started off this paragraph with "I hate auditioning," but frankly, that's not true. I actually like auditioning - for straight plays. Auditioning for musicals is tougher for me, considering my singing anxiety. My intention at this point in life is to go on as many auditions as I can - for things that I might not even really want to do - just to get the experience of standing up in front of people I've never seen before and acting and singing for them. It's all very well and good to get established within a group of people, but I've done that before and I always end up staying there longer than I ought to, safe and comfortable, knowing that they know what I can do and not having to really prove it anymore. But that's no way to improve.

For me, predictably, singing is the hardest part. Tonight's audition was for a musical, and they had us come in and learn some of the music and sing it for them. I love - love! - cold readings (which we also did). But cold singing? Is more difficult for me. Way more difficult. I don't think I've ever gone to an audition where I had to cold-sing before.

Tonight's audition was interesting. I was a little nervous, as I believe it's a college group, and I definitely felt...old? Older than everyone else, anyway. They taught the girls a couple of songs, one in the higher range and another in the lower range, from the show. They gave us an aside to read and paired us up with one other girl and a guy to practice reading. And then they had us sing whichever song we wanted to sing and read the aside.

The two people I was paired up with were funny and laid-back, which was nice. My singing wasn't terrible - I sang the higher song - and my reading went well, considering it wasn't an aside for a character I wanted to audition for. (We all got the same aside.) The director was very considerate and chatted with me how to get to the space from the T and about the fact that I wouldn't be the oldest person in the show (haha) if I got in.

And tonight when I got home I had an email from them saying they wanted me to come to callbacks! :D So that's exciting. I have to decide if I really want to go into Boston for an unpaid show, if I do get in - though I guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. :D