December 20, 1999
As I finished up the third scene of the audition, Dava Waite gave me a congratulatory look and beamed approval. "Great job. That was a good scene," she offered. Unfortunately, I had already done another two, and in comparison, they were quite bad.
H.U.D. sounds funny. He's a Peter Sellars-esque goofball super spy, working undercover for H.U.D., the Housing and Urban Development Agency for the US government, which is secretly a spy organization. As I was playing Havoc, our hero, he thinks he's just a little cooler than he is. His main flaw is that he can't tell how easily people see through him. Not a good trait for a super spy.
First scene: I stumbled over the monologue in the beginning, and Dava almost suggested we go back, but she didn't want it to suffer in other ways, so we left it. Second scene: I could hear the lines coming out of my mouth and they were just not how I had planned them. I don't know who had taken over the controls, but I was no longer in charge. I think I may have been trying to compensate for Dava's advice, which was 1.) pacing, and 2.) don't use accents. Trying to appease hint number one, I think I rushed it instead of doing what I wanted. Rookie mistake. Now I see how I got my show canceled.
So finally that fabulous third scene. It wasn't that I rose above myself at all, I just held it together long enough to do what I had envisioned and rehearsed. The last little bit was cute and funny and Dava got it. I just have to hope they watch the whole tape of me and don't fast forward to the next guy after scenes one and/or two. Maybe I'll be lucky enough for them to get it, too.
And maybe it will help that I worked on High School High. Yes,
it was only one line, but even back then I was able to execute two
things... 1.) pacing, and if I recall correctly, 2.) no accents.