It is also possible that I am being totally insane, because we still haven't really met for acting class yet. We sort of had our first class today but we spent the whole class time auditioning for La Ronde, which is gonna be awesome. It was one of the stranger auditions I've ever had. We all knew we were getting a good part, regardless of how we did, it was just a matter of where Kirsten thought we fit in the play, so that relieved a lot of the normal pre-audition jitters. For me, at least.
For the other audition we needed two monologues: a contemporary and a classical. They're using live music in Labor's, so we also could sing and/or play an instrument if we wanted to. I did my Emilia monologue for Shakespeare, and Phoebe from The Eastern Standard by Richard Greenberg for my contemporary. They went well, I think. The collection of directors in the house was probably one of the most deadpan group of auditioners I've ever had the good fortune to perform for. It did help that I noticed somewhere in the middle that Gerry was sitting smack dab in the middle and just grinning throughout the whole thing. That gave me a little boost before my song (I sang I Want You by Rachel Yamagata).
I don't know why, but all of us just assumed our La Ronde auditions would be the same format, since Kirstin was supposed to sit in on the first ones to cast us in that show as well. But after we'd all gathered and warmed up a bit, our lovely stage manager Sophie came in and told us all we only needed one contemporary monologue and we'd better keep it under five minutes or she'd cut us off. So, since my Phoebe monologue isn't really as good when it's not being used to contrast Emilia, I switched it up a bit and did a monologue from Howard Barker's 13 Objects that I've been working on. I'm glad I did. It was the best I've ever done it, and everyone in the room was pretty obvious about enjoying the hell out of it. Of course, I was so busy congratulating myself on taking a chance and enjoying myself that the playwrights name flew right out of my head when Kirsten stopped me to ask just who had written that wonderful text. Head, meet desk.
Well. Live and learn, I guess. And don't get cocky. After we'd all done our monologues we got together and did some Viewpoints work (which I've never really done, so that was interesting) and split up for cold reads. If you've never read La Ronde...well, read it. But apart from that, it's just. There's so much sex. So much. There are 10 scenes, and in every scene a couple has sex. Onstage. In the middle of the scene. Sssssomehow. Apparently there's sort of a trend of doing some kind of abstract modern dance thing to convey the sexytimes, or a blackout, but Kirsten already shared her views on the dancing (unfavorable) and we'll be doing this out in the Glen--in broad daylight--so blackouts are out as well.
What I'm saying is, we're all about to get very comfortable with each other, in a very short space of time. Brendan and I put on our big brass balls and went all out at callbacks (he was playing the Poet, and I was the Actress who was seducing him) but you have to be careful not to make your scene partner uncomfortable, and even when we're both giving each other permission to do whatever we want, it can get a bit awkward when the sheer unfamiliarity with the other person comes into play. We'll all get over it, I know, but for now we're going in reverse just a bit.
Perhaps I shouldn't worry about getting to know the rest of my class, after all.
Aaaand here's a song that's been stuck in my head all day:
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