Auditions and Chirrens

I can't believe, frankly, that it's been more than a week since I've written here. I've been so good, lately! Ah well, everyone fails, sooner or later. It's part of life, right?

There really hasn't been much of anything going on in my life, so you really haven't missed much. Life has seemed to be pretty much in a holding pattern lately. Well, it seems that way much of the time, but other times it suddenly seems crazy.

I did two Equity Principal Calls last week, which means I dragged ass out of bed around 4:30 a.m. on Monday and Friday and ponied up on line for an audition spot at open calls for Actors' Theatre of Louisville & Hartford Stage Company, and Seattle Rep.

The auditions themselves went pretty well, I thought, but I've never, ever been, nor will I ever be, a fan of doing EPAs. I think we've discussed in detail before that I am so not a morning person.

After the Louisville audition, I sent a note to Marc Masterson, who many of you will remember as the director of The Mystery of Irma Vep when he was still artistic director at the City Theatre in Pittsburgh. He's now the artistic director at ATL. Marc sent me a very nice note back saying that the casting folk who'd been at the audition were pleased with mine, so I guess that's about the extent of what I can expect. Every actor wants to know what's going through the auditor's mind, and we so rarely get any feedback from these things, I think I was pretty lucky. Of course, there's no knowing if anything will come of it, and if I have an ounce of brains in my head, I'll just let it go and forget that it ever happened. As a general rule, doing your best and then looking immediately the next audition is a policy that makes for the most actor sanity.

Meanwhile, not long ago, the Big Apple was graced by a visit from the Schaller Family! You may remember the Schallers from the times I've written about their association with Gavan and Pittsburgh Musical Theater. Tom, Sharon, Kelsey and the brand new baby, Elise all came into town so that Tom could audition for Louisville's production of Red Herring. So we're all keeping our fingers crossed for him on that account. During our brief visit, Kelsey and I played with my digital camera. Kelsey is a beautiful little girl, and these pictures don't do her justice, owing principally to the fact that I'm a jackass and still really haven't figured out how to use my camera in low light with now flash. So here are a couple of shots that are, ultimately, the best of a bed lot...

I actually over-reached my budget and bought some new lens attachments for my digital camera... a 2x telephoto zoom, and two close-up adaptors (a 10x and a 7x - which means absolutely nothing to me... I'm such a rube). I've been messing around with them, but haven't yet produced anything worth sharing.

Actually, as it turns out there are a couple of shots with the new zoom that might be work sharing. The first one is of a rather famous New York City landmark which, to my eternal shame, I don't think I'd visited yet. I stumbled across it on my way to meet Janet for cocktails last week - we were going to have dinner and then hook up afterward with Neil Casey. Neil is a friend of Janet's from Mountain Playhouse - they'd both worked together there - and I'd met Neil when Patti Kelly and I had gone up one of Janet's picnics.

Anway, as I was walking across town to meet Janet on the west side (I just couldn't justify walking all the way down to Grand Central and catching the shuttle across town when it's really only four or five blocks aross town... four or five really long blocks), and I stumbled across the sight to the left.

I got closer to where I was supposed meet Janet, but was still waaay early, so I hung out on Seventh Avenue and watched the passersby as they were rushing home from work. And my old voyueristic tendancy came rushing back... I saw a cute guy standing around waiting for someone. So of course I wanted to capture him for posterity. Sadly, I failed, but I do kinda dig how everyone around him is blurred and he's kinda still - even if it is a crappy picture! I kinda like the colors, though. But here, you check it out.


So here I am in a Starbucks on 8th Avenue, just north of the Port Authority Bus Station, waiting for my date. Yes, crazy web friends, I have a date, with a man I met through, of all things, a personal ad. He's a lawyer and a Democratic activist. So he gets politics points, and points for not being an actor. Or even remotely connected to the entertainment industry.

I'm taking it easy, here. I don't really expect to meet the love of my life online, you know, so it's a lark. I think in a worst case scenario, he's gonna turn out to be a funny guy with whom I can spend a little time. I'll let you know how it goes. I think it's kind of hilarious that we're meeting at the Jackie Gleason statue in front of the 8th Avenue entrance to Port Authority. I don't know exactly why that strikes me as so funny, but it does.

Wish me luck!