Yesterday evening, I went to my cousin Greg's Police Academy Graduation, which finished at just before 8pm. The cold reading call backs for The Laramie Project were at 8:30pm. So I gave Greg a really tight hug and said, "Congratulations! I've gotta run." I was a little bit sad that I wasn't staying longer to celebrate with him.
I got to the theater just at 8:30, I think. I began to explain to the assistant what had happened Monday, to find out if the director still wanted me to read, but he cut me off and said, "I'll get the call back sign-in sheet for you." Alrighty then.
I was towards the bottom of the list again. The director was bringing people back in two's and three's to read together. After about 30 or 45 mins, one of the assistants came out and let about 8 people who had already done their cold readings go home, saying, "This doesn't mean you haven't been cast." But after that I noticed that some of the people coming out left right away, and some sat down again to wait.
Finally it was my turn. I was called in with a young man, and a middle-aged woman. As I walked in, I smiled briefly at the director, he seemed surprised to see me, and I felt sheepish, like I was crashing the audition, because I'm sure the assistant hadn't bothered to say anything to him.
The director first asked us to read a scene with two older women being interviewed by the guy. I was asked to read the role of the 70 year old. I wasn't sure what the director wanted, and I didn't think to act very much like an old woman. Then the director had us read another scene, two dead-beat teenage girls being interviewed by the guy. I put more character into that one, and the director even laughed at one of my lines.
After that, the director said the other woman and I could go back to the waiting area and "hang out." So I waited for another 30 - 45 minutes I'm guessing, listening to the people around me talk. Everyone in the theater seemed to know each other with the exception of 2 or 3 people, me included. There were maybe twenty of us left, and only 8 roles available: 4 men, 4 women. (67 parts to be split between the 8 actors.) I noticed that some of the people who had read previously were being called back in to read again alone. Then a big group of 8 people were taken back.
Finally, around 10:45pm (I'm guessing), one of the assistants came out, and announced who had been cast. He didn't call my name. He thanked us all for waiting so long, and said it had been a hard decision on who to cast. So that was it.
My mom called this morning to find out if I'd been cast, I told her "No." But she congratulated me on getting out the door and doing it. She reminded me of what Bob Fraser had written to me in an e-mail a while ago: Auditioning is my job. And I had done my job by finding a way to get to the call back. I'm also taking comfort in the fact that I wasn't sent home immediately after my cold reading, that it seemed they were considering casting me.
Haven't found any new auditions to go to yet, but I'm going to keep checking.
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