They Like Me! They Really Like Me!

Finally, the day I've been waiting for has arrived. I've booked a tour that will allow me to join Actors Equity, the actors union. Yeah! Ironically, I will get my Equity card playing a Grandma. Most of you will know that I have a lot of experience playing older women. Typical for a gal like me, a character actress who is too young to play any of the parts I'm really right for.

The show is called Max and Ruby and it is produced by TheatreworksUSA. http://www.theatreworksusa.org Max and Ruby is based on a children's book by Rosemary Wells and is also a popular tv show on the Noggin Channel. I've never seen it but I did stop in Barnes and Noble before my audition to do a little research on old Grandma. I have been offered the role of Grandma/Lobster/Neighbor. Yes, you read that correctly...I will be playing a lobster. A first for me. I've never played a shellfish. Or any fish for that matter. I also didn't note before that Grandma (along with Max and Ruby and the other residents of the town) is a bunny. As my mother pointed out, it's real acting work since I'm not really a grandma bunny. Very true, mother. I'm not a grandma bunny. Or a lobster. I am a neighbor though, so I should have that part nailed. The show is a musical for kids pre-school age up to third grade with music and lyrics by Carol Hall who wrote the Broadway musical The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, which is not a musical for children since it's about whores.

I should rewind a bit and regale you with the tale of how I came to get this job. It all started with me submitting my picture and resume over a service I subscribe to called Actors Access. It emails me when there are roles that might fit me so that I can choose whether or not to submit myself for it. When I saw they were looking for someone in their 20's-30's to play a grandma, I naturally submitted myself right away. About a week or so later, I got a call from the casting office telling me they would like to call me in to audition for the role of Grandma. I always get excited about an audition particularly when they have called me (meaning I've passed the first test) and when I have an actual appointment time (meaning I don't have to sit around for hours waiting for the priviledge of being seen). My appointment was on a Tuesday so I set up an appointment with a piano man I know for a half hour session to run through my material and make sure I was ready for the audition. He confirmed my decision to sing "I Can Cook Too" which is an uptempo song that I always nail. He also was able to give me some notes to help tailor the song to this particular audition.

The audition went well. I sang my song and then they asked me to read from the script. They gave some direction and had me read again. Then they told me they wanted to call me back on Thursday for another audition. I felt great! I get callbacks for other things, but I had a good feeling about this one since I felt I was so right for the role. The callback went fine, but I couldn't read their faces to tell if they liked me or not. I figured if I got it I'd hear by Friday or Monday at the latest. Days went by with no word. I began to think they hadn't liked me afterall, that I wasn't as right for it as I thought...all the things an actor thinks that totally make you wonder if you're in the right business in the first place. Then Thursday, a whole week after the call back, I got a message on my voicemail asking me to call them about the Max and Ruby tour. I called them right back only to get their voicemail. I left a message and proceeded to obssess about why they were calling. Was it for another call back? Or was it an offer for the job? I called Charles but he wasn't picking up so I had to call my sister Jordan at work to obssess. Friday, I was taking the day off from work to go to a wedding in Connecticutt. Just before we got to the wedding they called me back with an offer for the spring tour. I was ecstatic!

It's perfect timing. I don't have kids yet and once I do it would be harder for me to pursue a job that would get me my Equity card. It will make my life a lot easier to be Equity because I will be able to attend Equity auditions in NYC. Before, when I'd go to an Equity audition, I'd have to sit around for hours hoping to be seen, most of the time only to be told that it turns out they weren't going to have any time to see non-Equity actors.

Rehearsals begin December 29th and the tour kicks off on January 13th. I've got some time to prepare myself for a greuling tour schedule where I won't get to see my husband everyday. I'm going to have things to look forward to though: the tour goes to NC where my family lives, VT where one of my best friends lives, and Orlando where Mickey Mouse lives.

I will post on tour related things until we leave at which point I'll start to post more regularly.

Best wishes,
Virginia