Tame that Shrew!

Tonight was my audition for Lucentio in "The Taming of the Shrew" with Commonwealth Classic Theatre Company. They had sent out a monologue and a scene for me to prepare, and I've been looking over them. The scene was very funny between Lucentio and Tranio, and I had lots of great ideas for actions, moments, transitions, etc. The monologue, however, was another story. It was denser and harder to figure out. I had a few ideas on how to make it at least reasonably brilliant, but I knew it was a long shot.

Standing outside the audition room getting ready and warming up, I decided to play a little mental mind games with the director. So instead of holding the monologue on the top of the stack of pages, I flipped over to the scene. So I entered the room, greeted all my friends, and I saw the director take a look at my pages and then ask for the scene. (Go me!) So I had the chance to read the scene, and I had them rolling from the humor that I managed to find and bring to the reading. Then they thanked me, and I got to come home in time for TNT's mini-marathon of "Law & Order." But ultimately, I got to read the scene I felt good with, proving Louis Pasteur's maxim that "chance favors the prepared mind."

The audition itself was great; it was certainly in that top 2 percent I mentioned before. I felt very present, I felt very "in the moment," and I felt very connected to the scene and the text. I need to make sure I carry this momentum into the rest of the auditions I have this week.