See, if you aren't a theatre person, you might not know that friends of the director will often attend auditions to act as readers, in case of poor turnout, even though they have no intention of actually being cast. I was only attending last night's auditions for On Golden Pond because Matt is directing, and I was concerned that summer turnouts are usually low.
So then I picked up the script. I really expected it to be something like the movie, but usually when you have a screen play and a stage play, one or the other will be terribly done. The movie is excellent, so I figured the play would bite.
Well it doesn't. The roles are beautifully and sensitively written. Each character is lovingly described and fleshed out (you would be suprised how rare this is in theatre) and has a full personality. The lines are smooth and have a lot of subtlety and variety. They can be read in any number of ways, offering the actor a wide variety of choices. All in all, it'a an amazing script. Fantastic. The play could be acted out by wooden puppets and it would still be sincere, touching, funny, and completely great.
So now I fell in love with a script. There's one more night of auditions. Do I express to the director that I would like to be considered and risk horribly overcommiting myself? Do I pass it up and suffer the pain of watching someone else play the role, and not as well as I know I could? (I'm not being conceited. I saw the auditions. That's where I got the wooden puppet analogy.)
What a canundrum. (sp?) I know that I am prone to overcommitment, and this would be an extreme case of it. In the worst case scenario, I would be in rehearsal for 14 solid weeks, from July 12 when Midsummer Night's Dream starts to the last of October when Angel Street closes. Hopefully each director would be kind enough to excuse me from rehearsal on nights when I'm not needed. The Shakespeare peice requires heavy memorization and a lot of work, but the other two roles are smaller and more simple. I know I could do it.
The problem is I DON'T know whether I could keep the rest of my life on track in the meantime. There are a lot of important things going on, a lot of juggling balls in the air, and I want to be sure none of them get dropped. I have a wedding to attend in Milwaukee in the middle of all of that, Kirstin is starting a new school, I am moving - possibly buying a house.
But it would be a lot of fun. I'd be working with a very gifted actress whom I adore but haven't got to perform with yet. Then in Angel Street I would be the comic relief chambermaid in a short skirt and get to be altogether silly.
Damn it! Now what am I supposed to do? Be responsible?
Sometimes I think I'm a lucky person, because I'm addiction free. No drugs. No cigarettes. Then I remember my theatre habit, which sucks up all my time and money and spare energy. What am I thinking?
