Thursday, March 15, 2012

Crafty like a Fox

Hello readers--are you still there? Its ok if you're not. I think we've won the "world's most anticipated blog update award"--how many months does it take for Whit or Kristi to post? Let's see...a-1, a-2, a-3, a-4...4 months! Longer than it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop, that's for darn sure. One day, I promise, a blog post won't start with an intro like this. Little goal--huge feat--I think we can do it.

Now, looking at my title you might ask, "Oh, crafts! Is Whit going to share a fun craft we can do? Maybe decoupage our expired resumes to a vintage something and call it art? Make felt flowers with which to decorate our 16-bars? (accompanists love this, you know) Is she gonna get all Pinterest-y and post 18 ways to use old nail polish to jazz up my boring audition outfit?"

Umm.....

No. (Although, do the things mentioned above (and document it well with you sassy Instagram app), and you earn actor gold star bonus level-ups!)


Ok, so what am I talking about?

Audition packages.

I hate love crafting audition packages. This is why I'm not so in love with general auditions. Yes, its a great time to show your stuff, but I like being specific... for specific shows...for specific parts even. And yes, its maddening--trying to find new material to fit each audition. But what a great way to add to my collection of (almost) 25 monologues in my proverbial back pocket.

And yes, with being crafty comes risk--risk of under-preparedness, risk of cornering myself in a specific type of character, risk of my ideas not meshing with a casting director's. But aren't those the risks at every audition? I'm *learning* to accept risk as part of my artistic journey.

On the plus side, in being crafty, I find that I am reading SO. MUCH. MORE. I'm really starting to put into action our main mission with this project--looking for audition pieces in the strange, obscure, unexpected. I'm paying attention. I'm investing myself in the projects I'm interested in--whether I'm cast or not. I dare you to call me a lazy actor. Go ahead.

And guess what? Risky, crafty fox that I am, I think I've found my first "written for a male character" piece. Whether its appropriate for a specific show...not sold on that. But for a general audition--why the hell not try it?

In risky, crafty fox business, I bid you a good day. Until next time (and hopefully not 4 months down the road),

Whit