Cattle Call DC

{ via }

This week brings us to the yearly local Liaison auditions. What are you talking about, Brittany?


Every year, all the casting folks in DC get together in one place to view the local talent shuffle through in three minute appointments.

The actors register weeks in advance for these appointments, and are required to supply forty headshots and resumes. At the time of their audition, they have three minutes to do whatever they want to. That could be a song and a monologue, just a monologue, just a song, or any combination thereof.

When you are non-union, you only get ninety seconds. The horror! Three minutes feels luxurious, frankly. Can you imagine going on your next job interview and only having three minutes to prove your skill set?

After I checked in for my appointment, I took some time greeting all the people I knew. Some I hadn't seen since college, some in a few months, some I'd seen the day before. These auditions always feel like family reunions, in a sense, which can be distracting.

I learned from my audition last weekend not to get too carried away in the socializing aspect, so I made sure to take some private time to focus in a quiet area. Unfortunately there were many other actors doing the same thing. One girl was going over her monologue out loud over and over...including sitting and standing, compete with hand gestures. I knew she was practicing, but to a passerby, she probably looked like she had multiple personalities.

We are called back in groups of ten, every thirty minutes. We stand in a dark hallway behind the theater, where I am again, trying to focus. This is difficult, as you can very clearly overhear, and even watch, the person going before you. Every three minutes a new person cycles into the audition room.

Eventually it is my turn. Imagine you are in a brightly lit gymnasium, with a bleacher sparingly filled with thirty-some people. They are sitting in clumps, or scattered in random corners. These are all people that are looking for talent. You are on the floor level, and some seem to loom above you. Some casting directors I know; I'm trying not to recognize them because again, I don't want to loose focus.

I introduce myself (as confidently and warmly as possible), and blissfully the piano starts my introduction. I sing first - something that I am comfortable with. Thankfully in the minute and a half I get to a place I am proud of with my song. I deliver a good presentation and can tell that I've got the auditors' attention (good) and most of them are not doodling (bad).

I take a deep breath, pause, and start in on my monologue...They laugh! They don't laugh where I expect them to, but a handful give giggles at the very end. (Hopefully it wasn't awkward laughter.) Relief. My three minutes in front of the DC Casting Tribunal is over.

As I walk through the back hallway to the holding area, a volunteer gives me a thumbs up sign. I don't know if he saw my audition or not - but that made me feel really great. Thanks, volunteer guy.

So much more pressure goes into this audition because there are so many folks to impress in one room! A good audition can be potentially career boosting but a bad audition can just be embarrassing.

Tonight my lawyer friend told me he'd much rather take the Bar exam and go on interviews than audition. I totally disagree. To each their own.