Auditions

I attended the Theatre Puget Sound General Auditions this year. I was a yearly auditor from 1999 - 2001; this is the first time I have attended since then.

This was TPS's first year of "going digital." Auditors received all the actors' headshots and resumes printed out, on regular non-photo paper in a binder, along with a CD of the same. The headshots were numbered, in audition order.

What I noticed is, I have shifted.

I have "leveled up," as gamers say; I have grown. I am committed. My commitment level at DigiPen is intense, as is the commitment level of the students I am working with. They have committed four years of their life, and eighty thousand dollars to this work. I have been here three years, and it has gone by like a spring week. What I notice is that most of the non-equity actors do not register on the same scale of commitment (although many of them likely are); they do not have that solid day-in, day-out feel to them. Interestingly, the Jet City Improv company actors do; they look at home on a stage, real, connected, alive; they look like equity actors, like company actors from other countries. But overall -- only the equity actors feel right to me.

I have gone pro. In all respects.

I felt matter-of-fact about looking into how to hire and pay them. I talked with Rik Deskin, our Equity contact, and said I would be sending him an email. If this is something I can afford, he will work it out with Los Angeles, who handles all the Seattle equity contracts.