Yippee Skipee Doodles!

  On Monday, I tried out for a local community theater play, The 39 Steps. Which, if you've never heard of it, is a hilarious spoof of the Hitchcock movie where all the parts are played by four people (the part I really wanted is "the woman", who plays all the love interests). I'd gone to the play reading about a month ago (where you sit around and read the play aloud so you can get familiar with it), and I've been practicing accents since, especially German. WHY YOUR ACCENT SO HARD, GERMANS??

  Anyway, the audition went well, and I got to meet some really nice people (I'm STILL surprised by how nice Oregonians are). Besides feeling like I was going to vomit/pee the whole time due to nerves, it was quite lovely. The next day was the second day of try-outs, which the director asked us all to attend as well. Again, it was a fabulous time, and I was awed by the many talented people there.

  Towards the end of the audition, they called out the names of some people they wanted to stay. I WAS ONE OF THOSE NAMES. (By the way, I think it's funny when directors say that something "doesn't mean anything" in auditions. Like, if your name didn't get called, it doesn't mean anything. We ALL KNOW it means something. Just about everything means something in an audition).

  So I was one of three girls left in the theater who read for "the woman". I thought I did well, but I was worried. Thoughts like, we were standing off-center, and I could have paced that one line better, and was my accent going Scottish? were nagging at me. When it was over, they told us some people would get phone calls that night. But, again, if we didn't get a phone call, IT DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING.

  Right.

  I was tired, and probably would have gone straight to bed (Lincoln wakes up between four and five most days now--thanks, daylight savings), but I wanted to stay up in case I got that magical phone call.

  About a half-hour later, as I was in the midst of describing the audition to McKay, I heard my phone go off. We both started screaming and I leaped for the phone. I took a deep breath and answered.

DIRECTOR: Julia?

ME: Yes?

DIRECTOR: Great audition tonight.

  (Unfortunately for me, adrenaline put my brain into auto-correct, and I thought she asked, "You auditioned tonight?", as if to clarify I was the right Julia.)

ME: Yes!

  (Ugh. Two seconds later I realized what she'd actually said, and that I'm an idiot. Luckily the director didn't seem phased by my seeming-snobbishness)

DIRECTOR: Well, I wanted to see if you would accept the role of "the woman".

ME: (trying not to shriek) Yes!

  After I hung up the phone, I was FAR too excited to sleep. So I played some video games. But in the midst of slaughtering slavers on a Wookie planet, I started to fret. I knew I'd misheard one thing already . . . maybe she'd asked me to be an understudy for the woman. Or maybe she'd change her mind completely based on my acting like a prick. Or maybe THIS WAS ALL IN MY HEAD AND THERE NEVER WAS AN AUDITION.

  After a half hour, I checked the website again. And there was my name, next to "the woman".

  EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!


  Does it make sense to say that I feel more like myself again now that I'm pretending to be someone else on a regular basis? Anyway, I'm so grateful for the opportunity (and not to mention for having an incredibly supportive husband!), and I've been grinning at nothing like an weirdo for the last two days. If you live in the Oregon area, you should definitely check us out come Jan/Feb. I think I'm the LEAST talented of the cast, because they are all remarkable actors. It's going to be an amazing show, I can already tell!