Callbacks

For as many shows as I have been in, I have auditioned for at least double that amount. While the nerves have never faded completely, they have become manageable as the fundamentals of every audition have become predictable:

1. Get to the audition location early to fill out the audition form detailing your experience, physical appearance and schedule for the next 3 months.
2. Inevitably wait for the directors to see you, typically at least 15 minutes after your scheduled audition slot. (During this time I desperately try not to sit and compare myself to the other auditionies but it always end up happening)
3. Walk into the audition room, try to say something memorable to the directors and then sing your cut or recite your monologue while they stare at their computer screens or notepads glancing up at you 1 – 2 times during your audition.
4. Receive a brief “Thank you, we’ll be in touch” as you walk to the door.

Auditions have become less traumatic because they are so common and predictable. However, as I prepare tonight’s callbacks I am far less calm.

Callbacks are an entirely different beast than auditions. Instead of a massive “cattle call”, at callbacks you come face to face with the one or two other people who stand between you and the role. In a theater community as small as Ann Arbor’s, often these people are friends and colleagues who you have performed with or at least seen perform, leaving no doubt in your mind of their many castable merits.

Tonight, I will have to bring in a piece of music which I heard for the first time hours ago when I Youtubed the cut which the directors sent along with the callbacks list. I will sing and be directly compared with one of my good friends who I have been fortunate enough to have shared the stage with numerous times. For the next 48 hours I will frantically check my email, hoping and praying that my name appears on the cast list, stomach lurching each time I reload my email. Then, excitement or disappointment. Whatever happens, I am better for it and perhaps one day callbacks will be just as mundane for me as a cattle call audition.