Another Year, Another Play
Less than 24 hours after the wild cast party for Julius Caesar, I walked into Person Theatre to present my audition for the next play I was to do at SSU. The auditions were for A Flea In Her Ear (which was done by TL in 2001 or 2002 incidentally) and The Decameron (or Ubu 2 as some may find it to be). I didn't work too hard to prepare I'll admit, but I have plenty of monologues under my belt that I really didn't have to prepare anyway. I did my monologue from The Altruists which I worked on in Danielle's audition class two years ago, and I did my Titus monologue which I auditioned with for Richard III nearly four years ago. I also told a funny joke about the last four Presidents asking the Wizard of Oz for their respective gifts (Carter wants courage, Reagan wants a brain, Bush needs a heart and Clinton asks where he can find Dorothy). I thought the audition was over until Hector Correo, the director of Flea In Her Ear and a well-respected community theater director who was responsible for the performance of A Streetcar Named Desire that I saw during my Freshman year, stopped me and asked for a funny story. I was taken off guard because I honestly thought that the joke would fulfill that requirement, but I quickly searched my memory and came up with...hehe, take a guess. What story do you think I told? It's a legend. It's brilliant. I told David Young's vomit warfare story. And they ate it up! They loved it! Thank you David.
Call-backs were sent to us through email late that night and sure enough I was called back for both shows. Or so I thought. Apparently Dave Seitz kinda screwed up the emails and sent a Decameron call-back notice to everyone no matter what. I was approached by Judy the next day and she apologized for not calling me back for The Decameron. This was confusing, as I thought I had been called back for The Decameron. Apparently it was a big screw-up, but the reason she didn't call me back was because she really wanted me to work with Hector. This was good, because I wanted to work with Hector too. The guy's a professional and it would be amazing exposure for me. Judy still wants me to come in and do a cameo for The Decameron. As long as its a reasonably small cameo, I suppose I'm willing. But I'm not wearing a thong, I'm not dressing as a woman, I'm not having an orgasm onstage, and I'm not raping anyone. Once was enough.
Call-backs finally came along that evening. I kicked myself for not having read A Flea In Her Ear beforehand, or seeing my high school's production of it for that matter. I hate having to read sides completely cold, but I've done it before, and I guess I'll be okay. I felt so sorry for the women at the callback though. They were being treated with great neglect. Some had been there for two hours and had only read one scene! Anyway, I was given by Clint, the stage manager, a scene to look at. It seemed relatively easy and straightforward. Approximately five minutes later, he called me in. I was shocked and frightened to find that Hector was now asking me to read a different scene that what I had been studying. He quickly gave me a synopsis of what was going on and threw me right onstage with two other actors.
Let me tell you something, cold reading is hard. For me at least. I really need to study a scene carefully before I jump up and perform it, and the last few years in college have even further taught me the importance of this. But reading for Victor Chandebeise felt so natural. I can't explain why, but when getting up there and reading that scene for the first time, something about the role just clicked for me. The physicality of the character became instantly clear, the words flowed like music. To read from the middle of a play for the first time, and have it make that much sense right away is almost unheard of. And it's a very special feeling when that happens. By the time the scene was over, and everyone else besides Clint, Hector and I were, for the moment, out of the room, Hector said to me very matter of factly, "Peter, I'll be honest with you. So far, for Victor Chandebeise, you are the one to beat. For that character. I'm an actor too, and I like it when directors are honest with me, so I'm being honest with you." This is going to sound pompous, but it's true, so I'll say it anyway. I know for a fact that there is no way a director will say something like that at an audition or a call-back if he didn't mean it. If he wasn't absolutely sure of what he wanted out of his auditioners, no director would say something like that so matter-of-factly. So to hear this, not from a professor who has worked with me for over three years, but a professional stage director who has been in the industry for decades and is just meeting me more or less for the first time, that's a wonderful compliment, and it's a beautiful thing to hear. The next group of people came in to read another scene with me in the same role. I was a bit dazed by what I had just heard and didn't read with as much energy and conviction as previously. At least, that's how it felt to me. But I didn't worry myself. I did my best.
I went back upstairs and waited to be assigned another scene that would probably change by the time I got in to perform it, and learned from Clint that I would now be reading for the part of Roche. This was a major blow for me, because I had assumed that perhaps Hector had changed his mind about my fitting the Chandebeise role. It was later explained to me that Roche was in fact the same role. Roche is Chandebeise's twin brother and who ever plays one will also play the other. Not only was it a relief to find that I was still being considered for this lead role, but it was thrilling to hear I would be playing not one role but two! Ever since working with Drew on Ring Round the Moon, I've always wanted to do something like that. Roche is apparently the lower end of the two twins. Victor is really successful, and Roche is a drunk who rides on everyone's coattails. It was hard playing drunk on the spot, but I pulled it off fairly well. After reading, Hector dismissed me. It felt a bit soon for him to dismiss me, as I had only been there for about 45 minutes or so.
I've learned to not get my hopes up for roles in plays, no matter how good the situation may look. Even when Ann said point blank to me at the Damn Yankees callbacks, "I think I'm going to use you for Van Buren. I think you're who I want. Don't tell anybody," I still didn't get my hopes up and prepared myself for disappointment. I did the same thing here. There are so many other guys who he had left to see. And I must say, I seriously believed that my roommate, Justin, had a damn good chance at taking that role from me. Especially after the relatively weak second and third readings of mine. But sure enough, I got to school the next morning, dashed right up to the callboard and relived that indescribably phenomenal feeling I experienced when I saw my name next to Schmendiman at the beginning of my freshman year. Yes, I got the part as Victor Chandebeise/Roche. The lead role in the play. And by "lead" I don't mean the Dracula lead, or the Julius Caesar lead, where despite being the focus of the play, I maybe have a total of less than 15 minutes of stagetime. This is a true, honest to goodness lead. The first one I've ever had. Something I've been wishing for for years. And it wasn't a professor who had seen me in class numerous times, and already had a lot of respect for me. It wasn't a best friend who had known months ahead of time that I wanted the role, it was a professional stage director who had never met me before in my life. This is so unbelievably cool in so many ways. I cannot wait to see what wonderful experiences lie ahead with this show. SSU Theatre Rules.
Since I still haven't been able to read the script cover to cover, all I can tell you about the play is that my character is a successful banker. He has a wife who he is very faithful to, but unfortunately he has problems downstairs. His wife is unaware of these problems and assumes this lack of sex is due to infidelity, so she devises several schemes to catch him in the act. It sounds absolutely hilarious. It also sounded quite familiar. I can't help but feel like this is a younger version of my Messerschmann character from Ring. Anyway, the rest of the cast is going to be awesome (mostly). Rebekah plays my wife, Adam plays my friend Tournel, Nick is Dr. Finache, there are several freshman girls who were surprisingly cast, Ted managed to get a role in it, and other parts are played by Justin, Michael E., Nickson, Arturo and Ryder (why?). Didn't Hector get the memo about Ryder? How he's basically a moron with no idea of what kind of responsibility is required when doing a play? Apparently not. Whatever, I'll keep an open mind. Maybe he's learned a lesson. Maybe.
In other news, Judy does want me as a cameo in The Decameron, so there's that. Dara and my senior project of Beyond Therapy was approved, so there's that too. ACTF, for which I still have to choose a partner is on the way in a couple of months. Auditions for Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story are coming up in less than two weeks, so there's that too. I'm still working when I can at the theatre, and I'm currently enrolled in 21 units. What an unbelievable year this is going to be for me. Why dwell on the shit that's going on. My life is so much bigger than the shit. The shit will never have the power to hurt me. It may not even have the power to touch me. We'll soon know.
Call-backs were sent to us through email late that night and sure enough I was called back for both shows. Or so I thought. Apparently Dave Seitz kinda screwed up the emails and sent a Decameron call-back notice to everyone no matter what. I was approached by Judy the next day and she apologized for not calling me back for The Decameron. This was confusing, as I thought I had been called back for The Decameron. Apparently it was a big screw-up, but the reason she didn't call me back was because she really wanted me to work with Hector. This was good, because I wanted to work with Hector too. The guy's a professional and it would be amazing exposure for me. Judy still wants me to come in and do a cameo for The Decameron. As long as its a reasonably small cameo, I suppose I'm willing. But I'm not wearing a thong, I'm not dressing as a woman, I'm not having an orgasm onstage, and I'm not raping anyone. Once was enough.
Call-backs finally came along that evening. I kicked myself for not having read A Flea In Her Ear beforehand, or seeing my high school's production of it for that matter. I hate having to read sides completely cold, but I've done it before, and I guess I'll be okay. I felt so sorry for the women at the callback though. They were being treated with great neglect. Some had been there for two hours and had only read one scene! Anyway, I was given by Clint, the stage manager, a scene to look at. It seemed relatively easy and straightforward. Approximately five minutes later, he called me in. I was shocked and frightened to find that Hector was now asking me to read a different scene that what I had been studying. He quickly gave me a synopsis of what was going on and threw me right onstage with two other actors.
Let me tell you something, cold reading is hard. For me at least. I really need to study a scene carefully before I jump up and perform it, and the last few years in college have even further taught me the importance of this. But reading for Victor Chandebeise felt so natural. I can't explain why, but when getting up there and reading that scene for the first time, something about the role just clicked for me. The physicality of the character became instantly clear, the words flowed like music. To read from the middle of a play for the first time, and have it make that much sense right away is almost unheard of. And it's a very special feeling when that happens. By the time the scene was over, and everyone else besides Clint, Hector and I were, for the moment, out of the room, Hector said to me very matter of factly, "Peter, I'll be honest with you. So far, for Victor Chandebeise, you are the one to beat. For that character. I'm an actor too, and I like it when directors are honest with me, so I'm being honest with you." This is going to sound pompous, but it's true, so I'll say it anyway. I know for a fact that there is no way a director will say something like that at an audition or a call-back if he didn't mean it. If he wasn't absolutely sure of what he wanted out of his auditioners, no director would say something like that so matter-of-factly. So to hear this, not from a professor who has worked with me for over three years, but a professional stage director who has been in the industry for decades and is just meeting me more or less for the first time, that's a wonderful compliment, and it's a beautiful thing to hear. The next group of people came in to read another scene with me in the same role. I was a bit dazed by what I had just heard and didn't read with as much energy and conviction as previously. At least, that's how it felt to me. But I didn't worry myself. I did my best.
I went back upstairs and waited to be assigned another scene that would probably change by the time I got in to perform it, and learned from Clint that I would now be reading for the part of Roche. This was a major blow for me, because I had assumed that perhaps Hector had changed his mind about my fitting the Chandebeise role. It was later explained to me that Roche was in fact the same role. Roche is Chandebeise's twin brother and who ever plays one will also play the other. Not only was it a relief to find that I was still being considered for this lead role, but it was thrilling to hear I would be playing not one role but two! Ever since working with Drew on Ring Round the Moon, I've always wanted to do something like that. Roche is apparently the lower end of the two twins. Victor is really successful, and Roche is a drunk who rides on everyone's coattails. It was hard playing drunk on the spot, but I pulled it off fairly well. After reading, Hector dismissed me. It felt a bit soon for him to dismiss me, as I had only been there for about 45 minutes or so.
I've learned to not get my hopes up for roles in plays, no matter how good the situation may look. Even when Ann said point blank to me at the Damn Yankees callbacks, "I think I'm going to use you for Van Buren. I think you're who I want. Don't tell anybody," I still didn't get my hopes up and prepared myself for disappointment. I did the same thing here. There are so many other guys who he had left to see. And I must say, I seriously believed that my roommate, Justin, had a damn good chance at taking that role from me. Especially after the relatively weak second and third readings of mine. But sure enough, I got to school the next morning, dashed right up to the callboard and relived that indescribably phenomenal feeling I experienced when I saw my name next to Schmendiman at the beginning of my freshman year. Yes, I got the part as Victor Chandebeise/Roche. The lead role in the play. And by "lead" I don't mean the Dracula lead, or the Julius Caesar lead, where despite being the focus of the play, I maybe have a total of less than 15 minutes of stagetime. This is a true, honest to goodness lead. The first one I've ever had. Something I've been wishing for for years. And it wasn't a professor who had seen me in class numerous times, and already had a lot of respect for me. It wasn't a best friend who had known months ahead of time that I wanted the role, it was a professional stage director who had never met me before in my life. This is so unbelievably cool in so many ways. I cannot wait to see what wonderful experiences lie ahead with this show. SSU Theatre Rules.
Since I still haven't been able to read the script cover to cover, all I can tell you about the play is that my character is a successful banker. He has a wife who he is very faithful to, but unfortunately he has problems downstairs. His wife is unaware of these problems and assumes this lack of sex is due to infidelity, so she devises several schemes to catch him in the act. It sounds absolutely hilarious. It also sounded quite familiar. I can't help but feel like this is a younger version of my Messerschmann character from Ring. Anyway, the rest of the cast is going to be awesome (mostly). Rebekah plays my wife, Adam plays my friend Tournel, Nick is Dr. Finache, there are several freshman girls who were surprisingly cast, Ted managed to get a role in it, and other parts are played by Justin, Michael E., Nickson, Arturo and Ryder (why?). Didn't Hector get the memo about Ryder? How he's basically a moron with no idea of what kind of responsibility is required when doing a play? Apparently not. Whatever, I'll keep an open mind. Maybe he's learned a lesson. Maybe.
In other news, Judy does want me as a cameo in The Decameron, so there's that. Dara and my senior project of Beyond Therapy was approved, so there's that too. ACTF, for which I still have to choose a partner is on the way in a couple of months. Auditions for Romeo and Juliet and West Side Story are coming up in less than two weeks, so there's that too. I'm still working when I can at the theatre, and I'm currently enrolled in 21 units. What an unbelievable year this is going to be for me. Why dwell on the shit that's going on. My life is so much bigger than the shit. The shit will never have the power to hurt me. It may not even have the power to touch me. We'll soon know.