I <3 Reading

There are some exciting developments in the works, but for now, I am just going to talk about last week’s class, and how I spent last Wednesday.
I got two scenes, both between ex-lovers, but very different outcomes and emotions. The first is from LOVE, a Judd Apatow series on Netflix. It starts with my ex-boyfriend showing up at the house we used to share while he is high and with another woman. It is really fun and hard to play, because she is very manipulative, in the sense that she doesn’t want him back, but she doesn’t want him to be over her either. It’s trying to figure out where I am being honest and where I am just saying things to get my way…it’s also nice to be a horrible human being every once in a while.
The second scene is from High Fidelity, and it is really cute. It has a marriage proposal, some reminiscing and a lot of heart. I am a lot more helpful and less manipulative in this scene, but I have to remember to forget that I know it’s coming and let myself be surprised.
After a great class on Tuesday, I was back Wednesday morning, but this time as a reader for actual auditions. I have frequently mentioned how much I enjoy being a reader in class, but doing it for real was so much fun! I got to play a bunch of different characters, got to see how all kinds of different actors brought life to them, and I got to act with all kinds of really talented people. It was especially nice for me when I knew the person auditioning, and I hope they enjoyed it too. I also got to have lunch with the guy in charge of the casting sessions, and we talked about how the day was going, but also a lot about my career, and my search for agents and union membership. Definitely made some progress from talking to him 😉
At the end of the scheduled auditions, I got to audition for one of the parts. Something I really thought was great about the way he runs his auditions is that if you weren’t as experienced with auditioning, he would have us run through the scene a couple of times without filming it, so the actor could get comfortable with the scene and get to where they needed to get. He did this for me as well, and although my first take would have been fine if he had decided to film it, the ones we actually put on camera were a whole lot better. At this point, I think it is more about getting seen and winning the ‘room’ rather than winning the part, but I think it would be a lot of fun to work on this kind of a project. And no matter what happens with the audition, I would definitely love to be a reader again.
Other than a very early and long day of background work on Friday, I have mostly been working on that development I will share soon, and learning a whole bunch of lines 🙂

“If you fall behind, run faster. Never give up, never surrender, and rise up against the odds.”

-Jesse Jackson