January 2006 Archives

Audition: The Dark Lords of the Trailer Park (original work)
Location: East Village, The Kraine Theatre, the Red Room, just above KGB Bar, 85 East. 4th Street, New York City.
Director: Chris ...
Playwright: Lee ...

I participated in a reading for this play in fall, and I was invited to audition tonight for the same character, Kevin.

Positives

From my showcase experience at Weise-Barron, I threw out all "images/ideas" of Kevin and instead try to find him viscerally, in my body. I also made a conscious choice to try play against the "mood" of the scene, which is 'Kevin is angry and pissed off.' I was shooting for variety and contrast . . . and, as always, surprising spontaneity.

To a large extent, this worked, and I was pleased with the audition -- it was one of the more connected I've had, which is always great.

Negatives

Interesting . . . I really need to take a cold reading class. The foundation of what I always do is Guskin's "taking-it-off-the-page" for spontaneity, and my sense is I'm very moment to moment, responding & reacting. The "overall objective," however, feels in the back seat, and what Kevin really wants is missing -- or rather, the high stakes are missing, and so the reading seems to lack a bit of focus and, overall, it's restrained . . . I have so much to learn.

On the bright side though, I can sense (almost) how it should be out there, and I can feel myself inching closer to it: something that's focused, simple, connected . . . there. My readings are 'correct,' interesting' (I think), but . . . not as exciting as they could be, and that's because I'm missing too much of what's at stake for the character. In short, I think I'm bringing in more and more elements of a good cold reading, and I'm handing those elements better than I have before . . . but much is still missing.

All I can think to do, outside of an explicit class, is keep auditioning, keep noticing, keep groping for these critical elements, learning what they are, identifying them, mastering them . . . so help me god! If I ever have the type of cold reading that I want, that I imagine . . . I think I will have died and gone to heaven . . . and the best part will be: I'll experience heaven right here, right now (where I've always suspected it is ...)