March 2, 2001
PAUL is the lead in this show, an hour-long drama set in Northern California's Silicon Valley. There are four audition scenes, but this was just a pre-read today so I only had to prepare one of them. The pre-read is partially designed to weed out the people who are wrong for the role, but mostly it's to weed out the people who suck.
So I wasn't overly concerned today when I went to the audition. I did put together what I thought was a good little monologue in the first scene. I read it for her (and it was put on tape) and she seemed pleasantly surprised. Actually a little too surprised. It reminded me of reactions from six or seven years ago when no one knew anything about me and I would have a good audition.
With her look of near-shock, she remarked to me, "You were very natural and funny. That's hard to find."
And I thought to myself, "Yeah, that's what I do."
And out loud I said, "Thank you," and went on my way.