I am not a hooker!

I was truly hoping that the title of this post would be "I AM a hooker" but alas I was not cast as a "red rat girl" in Jekyll & Hyde as expected.  But I am getting ahead of myself.  Let me explain....

The time has finally come to do the "thing" that has inspired this blog!  Last week, with the help and support of my friends Kim and Allison who are the people behind the "thing" behind the inspiration of this blog,  I auditioned for two community theater plays; "Little Women" and "Jekyll and Hyde."  I am happy to announce that after several hours singing, dancing, waiting and sweating, I have accepted a role as an aristocrat in the ensemble of Jekyll!  Rehearsals have already begun and are Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday nights.  The play is set to open in March at Merrimack College!

What can I say so far about all this? It has been quite a time-consuming process!  First, auditions.  They start by filling out an application, writing down what part you are auditioning for, and listing your past experience (mine is high school chorus, singing in the shower and to my kids) and attaching your theater resume if you have one (um.. yeah. okay, I don't).  You turn your application in, get a number, take a mug shot (I think in the theater world it's called a head shot) then you wait to be called.  The Little Women (LW) audition was a "you in front of the directors alone thing", meaning no one was watching.  Waiting for this sucked and despite the fact that I looked cool as a cuke while waiting (that was the feedback people, I don't make this up) my nerves were shot.  Let's face it, I haven't sang in 15 years and even then I would say I could carry a tune but I don't hold a candle to talent! (If you think I am being humble just ask my loving and supportive husband :)   With that in mind, I made my application as funny and convincing as possible and auditioned for parts that I thought were reachable (ensemble for Jekyll and the part of a "troll" for LW). 

Anyway... to audition, you are required to sing a song or two in the spirit of the show (whatever.... my choices for both plays were "Part of Your World" from the Little Mermaid and "My Favorite Things" from Sound of Music). The director for LW actually asked me to pretend to pick flowers and sing to them while performing My Favorite Things.  hee hee.  I must have kicked ass on that because despite my efforts to get the part of a "troll" I was called back to read for the part of "Amy", one of the four sisters! Let's just say after I competed for that role I got NO part in LW, not even TROLL! Yeah, they were finally on to me and my lack of singing and theater experience.  Whatever though, their loss, because I WAS cast for Jekyll and I am excited to do that..  So, on to that audition....

For Jekyll & Hyde (JH) you have to audition in front of a room full of people! Let me tell you, these people were so great and supportive (most of them just showed up to watch, not even audition!!), and they brought cookies, I can't forget that part.  But despite this "support" I was so nervous, especially since I had to follow a phenomenal singer who was later cast as the female lead in this play!  Same process as for LW but just one song here.  After cursing out my preceding competitor, I made my way to the front of the room, introduced myself and sang 16 glorious bars of "Part of Your World" and got a raging round of applause (really!!).  JH is a dance-intense musical, so after vocals, they asked us to hang around for auditions part two, which was to learn choreographed dance moves and perform them in front of the directors.  I had to learn both ensemble and "red rat girl" dances.  The red rat girls are the whores in JH and they have a really fun dance scene in the play so you understand why I wanted to be a red rat SO BAD!   The dance for the red rat girls was so much fun and super hard! It was raunchy and racy and left me with bruised knees and in need of a shower afterwards (seriously, I am not making this up).

I left auditions three hours later covered in sweat, dirt and bruises, but because I really can't dance I wasn't cast as a hooker.  (I am sure that's the reason as I am confident I was skanky enough for the part.)  Kim WAS cast as a red rat girl though-- she did great! (As one male watching said to her, "Kim, you are naughty!")

So, on to rehearsals! I plan on posting a separate entry for rehearsals, and maybe a few as I go with progress updates, even though I am pretty sure that no one is reading this!! Anyway, all I can say is that this has been a blast.  It has pushed me beyond my comfort levels and made me feel really crappy about myself at times, but I would not trade this experience for anything.  It has also brought out my competitive spirit and made me want to try harder and do better, which I will!  Just wait until you see the play (which I am making my entire family see- hee hee).    Stay tuned!