It’s been awhile…

Over the past monthish, I’ve been working a lot; late August and early September was me gimping through work, unable to lift anything over ten pounds. But by the time I went to Tampa with my family on the 20th, I was completely cleared to do everything, physically and activity-wise.

Tampa was tempestuous. I’m still feeling the burn, and I don’t mean from the sun.

In early September, I signed with a talent management company. I’m not a huge fan of them, for a lot of reasons, but after a week of being signed with them, I went to this workshop with a casting director from one of the big production companies. After the workshop, he met with us individually. I didn’t get in to see him until ten p.m, but I really liked him, and he liked me and where I was at. He said if I was willing to come to NYC twice a month, and I could afford it, he’d love to coach me.

I decided to go for it. I’ve been wanting to get back into training for awhile, and I couldn’t figure out how to do it. All I knew was that I couldn’t take some for-fun class at a local theatre. And I really liked Robert; his personality clicked with mine and the way he described his approach reminded me of my college training. I had my first session with him on Saturday and it was AWESOME. I was really nervous; I knew he was expecting me to have four monologues, and I also knew from a story he’d told at the workshop that I’d be expected to perform all of them. I was especially nervous about my monologue from  my first college show because when I tested myself on it that morning, I wasn’t clear on it at all. So I downloaded the file and studied up and hoped I would remember it.

After we had a sort of re-intro session, Robert had me do all four monologues, back to back. I could see him nodding through all of them and giving littling compliments at the end, so I knew he liked them. He asked about the last one and if I was nervous about that one. I said yes, and that I wasn’t sure how solid I was on it. “Saving the best for last,” he said. Finally, I launched into that one, and though I did mess it up a little, it was fine. After I finished, there was this long silence, and then Robert said, “Stunning. Wow. That was the one you were unsure about?” Then he said, “I knew you were saving the best for last. That was what I wanted to see, that emotion!” like it had been my plan all along.

The thing he didn’t realize about me is how much of a theatre person I am. He thought I dabbled in theatre but focused on film, so when he heard me basically speaking theatre, he was like, “Oh no, this has to change.” Basically, he said I need to get out there and audition because I’m ready, and he would know. After that, had had me read a lot of sides. I knew he was the right teacher for me (besides my instant comfort with him) when I read the first line the first time and he said, “Nope, not good enough.” That’s what I’m paying for. He was really impressed with how well I read on the spot, so he pulled out a ton of more complex sides and looked really happy when I was able to rattle them off cold.

I’m so excited to be working with him. I think this is a step I needed to take. Now I just hope I can keep affording it…