An Actor's Life

I haven't mentioned this here, but there's a play I would very much love to do that's being produced here in town. Auditions finally came around last week just before Hurricane Ophelia hit, and in dedicated-actor fashion, I braved the winds and rain to exhibit my skills in the hope of getting cast. ...that even sounds dramatic, dunnit?
Anyway the play is Shakespeare's Henry V, or, HankCinq, as I lovingly call it. I played the part of Katherine, the French princess, about six years ago, but the last week of rehearsal and the first weekend of performances had to be cancelled because Hurricane Floyd hit. The director, me, and all of the costumes ended up at the director's mother's house in Charlotte, where floods prevented us from returning until after the first weekend. Only one weekend of the production remained, there still was no set, and a couple of the actors had to drop out and be replaced. It was a testiment to those involved that the show happened at all. But I have always felt that it was unfinished. I never got to do all that I'd wanted with it. That's not a very good explanation of how I feel, but I don't know any other way to put it.
So when the opportunity fo audition for the play again came up, I got very excited, and very nervous. I got a new outfit - okay, two and a half new outfits, if you must know - because everybody knows, if I have the right outfit, then the job is as good as mine. I'm not sure how this works, but the retail therapy definitely helped. I went to the audition on the Monday before Ophelia (another Shakespearean female character. she's silent, she's silent, then the goes crazy and drowns. Not a good name omen for a hurricane.) with my stomach in my mouth. There were only three of us auditioning, as everybody else either hadn't heard about the auditions, or were intimidated by Shakespeare or by Ophelia's gale force winds. ...wimps. They read me for the Princess, and I sensed that the director was not impressed. She had me read for Chorus (only 6 lines in the show, but they're about 50 lines each, begin every act, and are comprised of some of the most beautiful phrases Shakespeare ever wrote) and for Mistress Quickly ( a lovely part - a simple, honest woman who's being left by all the men she loves, either by death or by war - but usually played by a woman in her 50s or older and I'mjustnotreadyforthatyet.). We played a bit with some of the readings as the director got an impression of how directable I can be, and I think by the end of the audition, I had made a decent impression. I think she liked the way I understood and handled the language, and that I was brave enough to attempt some of the things she asked. But I left the audition with mixed feelings - I had wanted to try to play the princess again after all these years, to see how my imterpretation would have changed, but if she was interested in me for Chorus, it's something new for me, and a much bigger role, etc. I still felt uneasy though, that I'd not given my best reading of the princess scene. I wanted another shot.
And I got it.
A friend called me on Saturday, and mentioned that the company was giving another round of auditions.
In about 10 minutes.
And I hadn't showered yet.
Technically, this wasn't callbacks, so if she'd already seen me, she probably didn't need to see me again. But I wanted another chance to suckup - I mean,...to try again. I decided to casually make my way downtown and get a smoothie, just two doors down from the audition venue, so I could say I just "stumbled onto the audition notice and decided to see if there was anything else I could do" to impress them or whatever. As it turns out, my not-so-subtle ruse paid off. As I got upstairs to where the auditions were being held, I met Jemila, a very lovely, very dear friend of mine who was there to read for the parts of Chorus and Nurse (opposite the princess!). I sat in the hallway and read the scene through with her to help her prepare for when she was called in. They came and got her, and after a minute or two they called me in to ask if I could read with her. OHYESPLEASE!!!
We read through it, I felt it went MUCH better than the first time - she's So Easy to play off of.
They thanked me, and asked me Could I stick around for a bit while they finished her audition? OHYESPLEASE!!!
After she came out, and gave me one of her world class hugs, they called me in and asked if I could read the other Princess scene with someone else reading Henry. OHYESPLEASE!!
It went well, and, I guess I've written this whole crazy long entry just to say that I Feel So Much Better. I did my best, there's nothing else I'd change. I've done my bit, and now it's out of my hands. Such relief.

Now if they'd hurry up and call me already!