I guess I started to miss the stage sometime last year, but the real kick in the pants I needed probably came when I got sick this past February. I work out of my apartment so I'm already somewhat cut off from the rest of the world. I have friends I spend time with, and I have a wife who I get to live with as the tradition goes. And I'm introverted which means I like and even crave the alone time. But contagious and quarantined, I don't think I've ever been so stir crazy. And what drove me to look for acting work now, after all this time, is the community that I've known and loved within a theatre group.

I started monitoring and signing up for a bunch of local theatre and filmmaking lists, to see what the options were and when auditions would be held. I was (and still am) a little concerned about doing film. First because I don't know the technical skills exclusive to film acting and I don't know how my stage training will translate to the camera. But I guess my biggest concern with film is that I don't have the "look" that people seem to like in film. That is: I'm not an exceptionally beautiful person. This isn't a self esteem issue. Rightly or wrongly, I actually think I'm a good looking guy. I'm just not Hollywood material, as so few of us are.

The first real promising lead I found was in March, regarding a romantic comedy independent feature-length film to be shot in Raleigh this summer. They were searching for a lead and they wanted people excited about the project, so they said they would send the script so potentials could read it and decide before auditioning. I sent some photos (didn't have headshots yet) to the filmmakers and immediately heard back that they wanted to send me a script and give me an audition. So they saw my face and didn't run. Maybe I could do film...

The script was exceptional for a romantic comedy, so I quickly agreed to an audition. We set up an audition on a Sunday, but the day before my contact person (don't know if she was the producer or director) asked if we could reschedule to the following Wednesday due to a family emergency. I had already told her that I was unavailable that Wednesday, but I figured I could squeeze in a meeting if necessary. I emailed her asking her for a time and never heard from her. Wednesday came and went.

About twice a week for a few weeks I called to leave a message or emailed asking what the status of the project. Each time I expressed hope that the family emergency was nothing great. I never heard from them again though. To this day I have no idea what happened with the project. Maybe the family emergency was much bigger than anticipated and the film was scrapped. Or maybe they filled the role with someone else and people just forgot to get back to me. I can only wish them the best, I suppose, and hope everyone's all right.

I then found out about a short film being shot on weekends about five hours north of me. I sent a photo and resume over email and they said they liked my look (Yesss!) but that they weren't comfortable casting someone with such a long haul to make (Darnit!). So they didn't set up an audition for me. I guess they pictured me with a broken down car somewhere without any way to get to the shoot on time. Should've told them I drive a Honda now.

Aside from taking chances with these two opportunities, my plan was to audition locally starting in late May or June, but then a company called Playmakers announced their auditions for their entire year would be held on April 26, 2003, and Playmakers was one of my top choices when it came to local theatres--they've got a great reputation and they're within reasonable walking distance from my apartment. So that became my new date of reentry when I discovered their audition announcement about two weeks before the audition. And I had a lot of work to do.

Filed under Acting, Carrboro Area, Journal, Vanity Smurf

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