Sunday I dragged myself out

I dragged myself out of bed an hour late and took off or my audition for “Burt (or When I Was Five I Killed Myself)” at Theatre Babylon. Who was the first person I saw? William Cole, my director from both days of 14/48, whom otherwise I would never have laid eyes on. He looked just as happy to be awake as I was, and the whole experience was like 14/48 redux: meeting people, making connections, “That’s why we do this”… and there I was, handing in my forms. Very surreal. Pamala had just gone, and Nate was also there, so it was a fun audition. I did the piece from “Mass Murder” that Jeff had helped me cut for the TPS Generals (which I didn’t end up doing), and despite the fact that I hadn’t spoken those words since we closed on June 16, the monologue went well. Then, I got the Burt’s Mom monologue… which I thought went so-so-kinda-okay. After I was done, Teddi (Yaeger, the author) said that it was really nice, and that I had a lot of layers. She said “So, you’ve seen the show, right?” and I said “Sadly, no, we haven’t lived here very long and I wasn’t aware it was happening at the time” and she said “Oh, so then Susanna (the director) gave you the spiel, right?” and I said “No, did I miss something?” and they both looked at each other like they were puzzled. I thought I’d done something wrong, but then Teddi said “It’s really impressive that you caught all the important parts without knowing the play.” Score! I totally live for moments like that. Thank you, Dona, your cold reading workshops saved my life. The scene reading went okay - I read with a girl named Kathy (I don’t know her last name), and she was super-fun. I got to play the Cruella DeVille teacher and yell a lot and act nasty. Then, I was supposed to be finished, but there were some guys outside who needed a woman to read with. This was where things became unpleasant. I was the nurse, and we practiced it a couple of times… but when we got in, Susanna said “Now, this nurse needs to be at least 60.” shit. I didn’t make NEARLY enough of a choice, which may have totally invalidated anything I might have done right earlier. Plus, our printer wasn’t working, so I had written out my resume by hand on the back of my headshot. In one sense, the experience was a prime example of me not being prepared, and how much better it might have been if I had really been ready. At the same time, it was a good example of how well an audition can go when you go in there with the attitude that you don’t really have anything to lose. I didn’t go in expecting that I was going to be the perfect replacement for Susanna Burney (of course), and because of that I think I did much better than I might have otherwise, if I had been wanting it too much. So, who knows. Auditioning is such a crapshoot - so now I get to wait until Friday to find out. (?????) I guess we’ll see.

After the audition, Nate and I went out for brunch at The High Spot in Leschi. The food was SO good, and it’s always so great to get to spend time with him. If anyone out there DOESN’T know Nate Emmons, go to his house and meet him. (I’m kidding.) He’s such a trip. He performed his monologue for me in the restaurant: He was someone from The Good Woman of Szechuan, and he was using shakers as props and smirking out at me from behind his glasses. Impromptu restaurant theatre is so great.

After brunch, it was time to go to the BBQ/Company meeting at AJ’s, in Magnolia. His house is so cute!! We cooked out, and got rained on, and cuddled, and played Celebrity, my new favorite game. Gilly gave me an accidental Tim Sanders with her fingernails (woo hoo!), and reminded me, as I sat there laughing my ass off, that I do, in fact, have girlfriends here. (She’s right.) I spent the entire second half of the night cuddled up on the couch with Gilly and Chris Dietz and Pamala and Tom Milewski and Tim Sanders and Benlau and a whole slew of people, and I couldn’t have been happier. I seriously love these people more and more every day. By the time we got home, Bill and I were so exhausted. It was a fantastic, fantastic weekend.