My First NYC Audition…

Originally posted on August 19, 2019

Alright, baby steps! I sent in a submission for an off-Broadway revival of a play that I am familiar with and I got asked to come to a scheduled group audition today. I submitted for this because it’s non-equity (I don’t have my equity card yet), the characters in the show are mostly high-schoolers (I’m young!), and the initial audition was a group “ensemble movement” audition… NOT A DANCE CALL… They were sure to specify that. So, since there was no need to have anything memorized, just movement work upon arrival and I was guaranteed to be seen since I was given a specific time… It was a perfect baby step for me towards going to other auditions!

In true Jessica fashion I showed up an hour early, so I had some time to kill. I also didn’t have any resumes printed so I planned to run to a Staples and make a few copies. I, of course, had a stapler and scissors among many other essentials and non-essentials in my audition bag. So, I picked up my resumes from Staples and headed to the nearest coffee shop to trim my resumes and staple them to my headshots and be completely prepared for my audition. After delicately trimming my resumes ever-so perfectly, I started to staple them to my headshot when I realized *click* I didn’t have any staples inside of my stapler… This is why I come an hour early to these things! I have to prepare for disasters such as this! I ran to a Duane Reade which was right across the street (God Bless NYC) and find a $5 box of staples. Annoying. But definitely a better option than the tiny stapler with 5 pre-loaded staples in it for $7. I saved $2 just for being slightly more prepared with an actual stapler! Woohoo! Luckily, this was the ONLY disaster even though I was truly anticipating a few more.

*For those reading this who don’t get the staple and cut thing, it’s industry standard when it comes to headshot/resumes. Yeah, yeah, I don’t know why either… Why not double-sided sticky tape? Or why don’t we just print headshots the same size as a sheet of paper?! There is “print the resume on the back of your headshot” technology out there… but it’s risky! It seems like there’s a better way to do it but, whatever!*

All my fears for that audition were surrounding thoughts of, “Have I learned enough? Do I know what I’m doing? Am I ready for this?” Which made things like, what I was wearing and whether or not I would fit in or embarrassingly stand out move to the forefront of my mind. Once I entered the room it all melted away. I could feel that everyone in the room was feeling the exact same way. Everyone was looking around for familiar faces, comfort and confidence… but there was no status quo or group of people who were obviously dressed correctly with the right bold lip and hairdo. We were just artists who showed up with what we did know. And it was enough. I could feel nothing but excitement and gratitude. It’s totally cheesy, but I really didn’t have a second to be nervous because I felt so incredibly sure that I knew what I was doing. I’ve learned enough. I am ready. I can do it. I am enough. I’m sure the fact that I didn’t have to be prepared to sing, do a monologue or cold read helped a lot too. I just got to be present and be joyful. It was my FIRST NYC AUDITION FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! And a plus, I didn’t get cut during the audition! Which, when I had my name called to stay and work for longer I inaudibly whispered to myself, “uhh…what?” Not because I didn’t think I did a good job in the call, but because I was doing it!

I was excited!! Now, I still have to wait a few days to hear about a callback… but, nonetheless, a great first audition experience!

P.S. Shout-out to Jean Kerr for teaching me the effort drives!! I remember being a freshman learning about “weightiness” and burning my quads and my biscuits off trying to get low enough for you to approve of and thinking to myself…”What on earth am I doing? When will I use this?” Lo and behold… My first audition off-Broadway in New York City… I used it and it was magic!

*insert my formal bow to the queen here*

XOXO,

Texas Jess