I am dripping with sweat and I don't sweat. Really. It's rare for me to sweat at the gym, you know really drip with sweat, so something is clearly wrong with me. But what is wrong with me has nothing to do with my sweat glands. I have literally just ran around NYC in dark jeans, flip flops and a t-shirt in 82 degree weather, all in the hopes that I am MAYBE seen for an audition. I've been up since 6:00 AM so I could come stand in line at an open Equity call (EPA) for some off-Broadway theatres. I got to the line at 7:00 AM, that was stretched out on the sidewalk because they don't actually open the doors until 8:00, and I was still number TWENTY on the non-Equity list. Since I am not a union member, I have to wait to see if the casting director gods deem it worthy to see non-Equity members. Once they have seen all the Equity members, they MAY see non-Equity. Equity members are also standing in this 7:00 AM line with me - they are just guaranteed an audition time slot once inside. Non-Equity members have to sit in a long narrow hallway, on shallow hard benches, and wait patiently to see if maybe, just maybe we'll be seen. When I got to the line I learned that the audition that I had come for was not the only audition being held today. There were two other shows with roles that could possibly be suited for me. So I signed up on all three sheets. At 10:30 we learned that the "combined audition" - the one that I had come for - "...would NOT be seeing non-Equity members today. Thank you, you may drop off your headshot." I did leave a headshot, even though it felt a little like I was throwing it away, but that is neither here nor there. The other two shows were seeing non-Equity though, so I sat and waited. One show would see people, maybe, after lunch. The other show was calling in non-Equity throughout the late morning and when we broke for lunch at 1:00, I was next on the list! So chances of me being seen looked very promising. I rushed home for a quick lunch and checked my email. I saw the breakdowns and there was a role I was right for! It was at CBS for CSI and I was just a reader last week for Jodi Angstreitch, one of the casting associates there. So I threw together a quick submission and ran out of my apartment at 1:45. Luckily, everything was in a 6 block/3 avenue radius but when you're on foot, that can take a little longer than expected. I get to the CBS building, which has a doorman, at 1:50 and I tell the doorman I have an envelope to leave. He tells me I have to leave it with the messenger center, which is outside, around the corner, down six very steep (and for some reason, wet) steps to a black, barely marked door, where I then have to go down more stairs into a badly lit hallway to a mail room where a bunch of guys are apparently hanging out. I look into some bins that are sitting on the counter and the hanging out guys say, "Go ahead," as in leave my envelope in the bins. I ask, "For CBS?" because they don't seem the most trustworthy of men and they are like, "Oh no, you have to leave it with that guy." They point to the other side of the counter and this gentlemen, in a nice doorman-like suit has gotten up to accept my envelope. For some reason this makes me feel a little better. So I drop it off and then run because now it is 1:59, I am on 52nd and 5th and I have to be back at 46th and Broadway in exactly 1 minute. I've resigned myself to being slightly late, but not too late, because I don't want to miss my call. I'm actually hoping Equity members are there and auditioning, to buy me some time. If I'm not there when they call my name, then I get crossed off the list and have to sign up again at the bottom. I'm making good time, I'm weaving in and out of tourists, I'm feeling optimistic as I start up the stairs at the Equity building and then I see a guy who was sitting near me in the morning and he is coming down the stairs. Oh no. I probably missed my time slot! And he points at me and says, "1001?" (which is the name of the play) and I reply, "Yes, " still optimistic. He says, "They just announced they aren't going to see anymore non-Equity today." Of course they aren't, since I was next on the list!, I'm thinking, but I just say, "Thanks," and continue up the stairs. And now I'm sitting in the narrow hallway, which is still lined with nearly 50 other hopefuls just like me. Because they are still casting for one more show. And maybe, just maybe, they'll see me.
**Side note: I left the audition hallway about 45 minutes later. It wasn't looking good for us non-Equity types. So basically, I didn't audition at all today. But I sure put forth one hell of an effort. Hopefully that will count for something someday...
