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rmI wish I could do castings at the airport.
No, really. It would solve multiple problems, and I don't just mean the problem I have, right now of being bored at the Zurich airport (which is my least favorite airport EVER; I hate it even more than I hate LAX).
If castings were held in airports people would show up on time. They would be dressed like their everyday selves, they'd be there to get the job done, and, presumably they'd leave their weapons at home. Yeah, I once had a guy show up to an audience with a gun under his jacket; he was a lawyer by day, so in New York it's conceivable he had a concealed carry permit, but dude. I'm chill with guns, but there's a time and a place -- for me, this wasn't so much it.
Look, auditions are hard. And weird. And decided on a range of often random criteria. I get that. After all, I do have more experience on that side of the table than the casting side, and wow, have I learned valuable lessons from flipping back and forth on those roles.
At bottom though, the audition process isn't just a job interview; it's also speed-dating, and a dinner party. If I'm sitting behind the table auditioning you, I feel obligated to be a good host. I want you to be comfortable, I want to focus on you, and I want to make sure you have a glass of water if you need it. I want you to know that I want you to be there. After all, I asked you to be there.
A lot of what I'm looking at isn't just if you have the skills, or if you're going to have chemistry with the other people I'm interested in casting. It's not just if you can be on time and be moderately professional. It's also about whether I'm going to enjoy being stuck in a small room with you, a stranger, dealing with emotional intimacies for the next however many weeks. If I enjoy your audition, I need to be able to figure out fast how I think you'll slot into the group and what type of authority and support you will and won't need from me.
As an auditioner, this means I try to respect the people behind the table, be genuine and keep them from being bored. I want them to know that I appreciate their efforts, know that their side of the table is awkward too, and thank them for seeing me. And a lot of this, I have to show, don't tell. It's hard. Especially when you've also got to show up with the skills (also, seriously, it's weird do be affable and connected and then be Lady Anne, because she's a lot of things, but affable not so much).
If you're auditioning for something, and especially if you're new to auditioning, often, if you're like me, you'll consider your odds of getting cast, and your computations will be quite grim. Well let me tell you something, stop that right now.
Because if you can come into the room, say hello to me, make chit-chat for 30 seconds and do your monologue actually facing the table -- you are so ahead of the game. If you haven't sat behind the table, you think I'm joking, but I'm not. I've had people do monologues with their back to me because, they explained, they were nervous. I've had people build a jury box out of chairs (while my mouth hung open) and then proceed to do a spot-on imitation of Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. There was the guy with the gun. The people who brought their boyfriends (fine as a safety precaution if I'm auditioning you in a non-standard space; a complete distraction if I'm auditioning you at a rehearsal studio and they want in the room with you).
As a student of persona, I say to you, you have to come in that room performing the best you, you can. But don't come off like Jack Harkness trying to con someone. Because one of the most frustrating things is when people come in who seem interesting, but it's hard to get to who they are because they're spending ridiculous amounts of energy being someone about ten feet to the left. It's maddening. Look, I pretty much often wish I was someone else too -- I often think I'm someone else, but I'm not 5'9", I don't have a perfect smile, my eyes will always look sad, I don't have a deep, sonorous speaking voice, or a calm grace in day-to-day interactions, and I hate my hair. I can fake a lot of that shit, and I can fake it well, BUT WHY?
What does all of this have to do with Dogboy & Justine other than soon it will be magic casting time? The women of Mistress Maybe's House of Sin are always auditioning: for the job, for respect from the other girls, for the men that would hire them. And the struggle for confidence you don't feel, the uncertainty about who is the host of an interaction, the debatable wisdom of being someone other than who you are despite the fact it's -- like in acting -- a basic rule of the game, are all central to their experiences and the story we're telling.
Do I think acting is like prostitution? The short answer is no, but if you've done both, they sure can feel remarkably like the same job -- the current disunion of acting and sex work is actually a lot like the modern disunion of classical dance and social dance; once they weren't cousins, siblings or frenemies, but simply one. Really, it's the sort of complicated issue I should tackle so I can ramble about a lot of media I love and share random historical trivias about stuff I do.
But one thing I think acting and sex-work do absolutely have in common in our modern world is the anxiety that surrounds the desperation on both sides of the equation when all you really want is for someone to play a game with you.
[ Will you play a game with us? Dogboy & Justine is about learning how to ask for what you want and discovering what you've got to give, please consider supporting our projection by commenting here, boosting the signal or contributing to our Kickstarter fundraising drive. 72 fabulous donors have thus far pledged $3,450 towards our workshop production, but we need to raise another $2,550 in the next 34 days to actually secure our funding to make this happen. ]
No, really. It would solve multiple problems, and I don't just mean the problem I have, right now of being bored at the Zurich airport (which is my least favorite airport EVER; I hate it even more than I hate LAX).
If castings were held in airports people would show up on time. They would be dressed like their everyday selves, they'd be there to get the job done, and, presumably they'd leave their weapons at home. Yeah, I once had a guy show up to an audience with a gun under his jacket; he was a lawyer by day, so in New York it's conceivable he had a concealed carry permit, but dude. I'm chill with guns, but there's a time and a place -- for me, this wasn't so much it.
Look, auditions are hard. And weird. And decided on a range of often random criteria. I get that. After all, I do have more experience on that side of the table than the casting side, and wow, have I learned valuable lessons from flipping back and forth on those roles.
At bottom though, the audition process isn't just a job interview; it's also speed-dating, and a dinner party. If I'm sitting behind the table auditioning you, I feel obligated to be a good host. I want you to be comfortable, I want to focus on you, and I want to make sure you have a glass of water if you need it. I want you to know that I want you to be there. After all, I asked you to be there.
A lot of what I'm looking at isn't just if you have the skills, or if you're going to have chemistry with the other people I'm interested in casting. It's not just if you can be on time and be moderately professional. It's also about whether I'm going to enjoy being stuck in a small room with you, a stranger, dealing with emotional intimacies for the next however many weeks. If I enjoy your audition, I need to be able to figure out fast how I think you'll slot into the group and what type of authority and support you will and won't need from me.
As an auditioner, this means I try to respect the people behind the table, be genuine and keep them from being bored. I want them to know that I appreciate their efforts, know that their side of the table is awkward too, and thank them for seeing me. And a lot of this, I have to show, don't tell. It's hard. Especially when you've also got to show up with the skills (also, seriously, it's weird do be affable and connected and then be Lady Anne, because she's a lot of things, but affable not so much).
If you're auditioning for something, and especially if you're new to auditioning, often, if you're like me, you'll consider your odds of getting cast, and your computations will be quite grim. Well let me tell you something, stop that right now.
Because if you can come into the room, say hello to me, make chit-chat for 30 seconds and do your monologue actually facing the table -- you are so ahead of the game. If you haven't sat behind the table, you think I'm joking, but I'm not. I've had people do monologues with their back to me because, they explained, they were nervous. I've had people build a jury box out of chairs (while my mouth hung open) and then proceed to do a spot-on imitation of Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. There was the guy with the gun. The people who brought their boyfriends (fine as a safety precaution if I'm auditioning you in a non-standard space; a complete distraction if I'm auditioning you at a rehearsal studio and they want in the room with you).
As a student of persona, I say to you, you have to come in that room performing the best you, you can. But don't come off like Jack Harkness trying to con someone. Because one of the most frustrating things is when people come in who seem interesting, but it's hard to get to who they are because they're spending ridiculous amounts of energy being someone about ten feet to the left. It's maddening. Look, I pretty much often wish I was someone else too -- I often think I'm someone else, but I'm not 5'9", I don't have a perfect smile, my eyes will always look sad, I don't have a deep, sonorous speaking voice, or a calm grace in day-to-day interactions, and I hate my hair. I can fake a lot of that shit, and I can fake it well, BUT WHY?
What does all of this have to do with Dogboy & Justine other than soon it will be magic casting time? The women of Mistress Maybe's House of Sin are always auditioning: for the job, for respect from the other girls, for the men that would hire them. And the struggle for confidence you don't feel, the uncertainty about who is the host of an interaction, the debatable wisdom of being someone other than who you are despite the fact it's -- like in acting -- a basic rule of the game, are all central to their experiences and the story we're telling.
Do I think acting is like prostitution? The short answer is no, but if you've done both, they sure can feel remarkably like the same job -- the current disunion of acting and sex work is actually a lot like the modern disunion of classical dance and social dance; once they weren't cousins, siblings or frenemies, but simply one. Really, it's the sort of complicated issue I should tackle so I can ramble about a lot of media I love and share random historical trivias about stuff I do.
But one thing I think acting and sex-work do absolutely have in common in our modern world is the anxiety that surrounds the desperation on both sides of the equation when all you really want is for someone to play a game with you.
[ Will you play a game with us? Dogboy & Justine is about learning how to ask for what you want and discovering what you've got to give, please consider supporting our projection by commenting here, boosting the signal or contributing to our Kickstarter fundraising drive. 72 fabulous donors have thus far pledged $3,450 towards our workshop production, but we need to raise another $2,550 in the next 34 days to actually secure our funding to make this happen. ]
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no subject
Date: 2010-11-19 02:19 pm (UTC)And yet, still so very cool to hear the words out loud, to hear actors injecting personality and sometimes going places I never dreamed of!
Wow.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-19 04:24 pm (UTC)I AM THE LONG ARM OF THE LAW. *dies laughing* It was so hard to not explode while that happened. I cannot believe we made it through with straight faces.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-19 09:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-11-19 11:51 pm (UTC)