Current mood:	relieved
Current music:	Boogie Wonderland-Happy Feet Soundtrack

Theatre odyssey
*Deep Breath*

Alright, so here we go. Now begins the tale of my audition and subsequent pseudo-drama of Shady Shakespeare.

Let's start with March 26th, the day of my audition. I already had had my monologues memorized for about a week. Unfortunately, I had next to no time to actually rehearse them...you know, fully acted, not just spoken at warp speed inside my head. So, just a few hours before leaving for my audition, I honed said monologues with the help of Chrysa. Also, thank god for her, she took pictures of me and made me a headshot with the help of Photoshop. Chrysa gave me some great tips and helped me immensely and told me to break a leg as I headed out the door.

On the way, all the while whispering my lines to myself, I run into traffic. Luckily enough, I know many of the people who were watching the auditions, so I was able to text one of them to let them know I would be a few minutes late. I arrive and quickly fill out my audition sheet as I am next to go on. *Important point* On said audition sheet, in the section marked, "Will you take any roles offered?" I wrote "Most Likely." Not yes, most likely. We'll come back to this later.

My audition went well, very well in fact. Best audition I have ever had. I felt prepared, strangely enough. I didn't forget my lines, I had good intention, I embodied my characters, I mean I really nailed it. So I felt great when I left, and I went to work.

The next day, I received complimentary phone calls from the two assistant directors, and was told by another viewer of the auditions that I did very well. On a personal note, all three of these people are close friends, basically family, so take that with a grain of salt. By the way, nothing is more nerve-wracking than auditioning in front of friends of family.

Later on that day, I received an e-mail, asking me to attend callbacks on Wednesday, and to take a look at the role of Ferdinand in "The Tempest." Not exactly a dream role, but a meaty one that I could at least get into. That day and the next, I took a look at the role and reviewed his lines.

On Wednesday, I show up at callbacks, ready. I quickly am paired up with two different actresses who are reading for Miranda. (Ferdinand and Miranda are essentially the romantic leads, though not leads in particular for this show) I'm trying to be nice here...they didn't give me much to work with. But I did give it my absolute best shot. I thought I did well, not as well as my audition, but hey, these are cold reads. Again, happy with my work, I leave and go to work.

A few days later, I get a call, a message from the casting director. They are offering me two roles. One, Francisco, a very minor court member in "The Tempest, and two, Macbeth's servant, in "Macbeth." I hang up my phone very disappointed.

Next came me hemming and hawing back and forth with my wife about whether this was worth it for me. I had almost not auditioned in the first place because of scheduling conflicts. You see, the first month of rehearsal coincided with the last month of my last class at De Anza before I receive my AA. This just also happens to be the only Math class I have taken in which the grade is college transferable. I really want to finish strong, and this may be the hardest math quarter yet, not to mention maybe my last math class ever.

Finally, after much deliberation I decided to decline my roles. One of the main selling points was that when I thought about taking the roles, I felt sad and angry and unappreciated, and when I thought of declining the roles I felt a sense of relief.

So, I called the casting director and told her that due to scheduling conflicts, I would be unable to perform the roles. She said OK and sounded a bit upset (as is natural) but I figured that was that.

Fast forward to April 3rd. I receive an e-mail from the director, who granted, I have worked with before and am quite friendly with. She wants to know why I declined the roles. I could not believe it. My first response was to throw a mini-fit about how unprofessional this was. After talking to Chrysalis though, she made me see that I could view this as an opportunity to explain myself and speak my piece. This was, the director and the theatre company at large won't think..."Dave thinks he's too good for us" and hold that against me.

I sent the email and felt solid about it. The next day I received a reply which was good natured and basically understanding. I still kind of can't believe she confronted me but I am glad that it has seemed to have ended well. Hopefully I can bring some friends and just be good old audience members up in beautiful Sanborn Park this year and watch two great shows.

*Exhale*