February 28, 2003
Audition #2 in this 3-audition day was an hour-long pilot, so I had a break from the jokes thrown into the middle of the day. Not only that, though, but the character is a confident police lieutenant who is thwarted by his own body. He has a stuttering problem. Very interesting character, but also very difficult audition. Or should I say "challenging?" That sounds better.
I called my friend, Glenn, in New York and we talked a little about the physical and psychological aspects of stuttering. It was helpful. I put together four pages of material and walked confidently toward the room to audition.
"We're only doing the first scene," the casting director informed me.
"Just this one page?" I replied, since the first scene was only one page long.
And yes, it was true. One page, three instances of stuttering. It
appeared to be a test of how each person was approaching the
character and the stuttering. They seemed pleased with my reading,
but I was not asked to read the second scene. Maybe no one was, but
it's never a great sign to do only the first one.