Auditions, Nuts

One night after Over the Tavern, I was telling Tony Ligouri (who played Chet) how jealous I was that Kelly (who played his wife Ellen) got to work with him. Three years ago, I'd seen a tape of his performance of Joe in a Stained Glass Playhouse production of God's Favorite. I was so impressed with his performance. He's a great actor and he's on my list of actors/actresses I would like to work with. He suggested I audition for Nutssince that was next on his list. I kept checking CTG's website for audition dates and found out that Donna Bradby would be directing. I'd worked with Donna before (The Vagina Monologues) so I was excited to audition for her again.

I got a tad bit lost going to auditions. I somehow had it in my head that I was going to the Carolina Theatre instead of the Cultural Center. By the time I arrived, there were a bunch of people waiting. (As it turned out, auditions for Jewish Broadway were also being held just down the hallway.) Allyson McCauley (who was in Sordid Lives and Daddy's Dying) was there as well. We filled out our paperwork and walked into the rehearsal room.

Donna introduced herself and said a few words. Jay, the stage manager for The Full Monty, is stage managing Nuts. Sides were handed out and finally, at around 8pm, auditions started.

I was called to go first for one of Claudia's monologues. I was the only one that read the entire monologue. I don't usually like going first but I ended up setting the stage for the other "Claudias". (i.e. I didn't wear my flip flop when I was reading. They have no traction on the rehearsal floor. During the next round of readings, several of the other girls went up barefooted!) I listened to the others and thought I did well comparatively. Then we did some scenes. The scenes were short and were more for the two lawyer roles. The girls were given a second Claudia monologue. Ally was first and she did a really good job. I was very impressed with her choices. A couple of others read and then I punched it up a notch.

I felt really good about my audition. What it will boil down to is who Donna will cast as Arthur, Claudia's father. If she casts older, I've got a shot at Claudia. Still, if I don't get cast, I won't be terribly upset, except for not being able to work with Tony. I figure there's a better role on the horizon.