Taking A Leap

I'm going to audition for a play tonight. For someone like Izzybella, that's no big deal. She's been in dozens of plays. She's a fantastic actor (and I'm honestly not saying that just because she's my sister).

No, I've only auditioned for one play before, and that was at the University of Texas at Arlington. I was hoping to be cast as Mrs. Webb in "Our Town," although honestly I'd have been happy to be playing Dead Woman #4. In the audition my vocal cords got some kind of glop on them, and I could hardly talk. It was hardly an auspicious audition, and needless to say, I did not get the opportunity to even play Dead Woman #4.

I have taken one acting class, and another class called "Fundamentals of Voice and Movement," both at UTA. They were FUN. I learned a lot and had a great time. I had actually planned to minor in theatre until the a$$hole dean at the college where I worked decreed that since some secretaries were unable to flex their time, none of us could. Most of the English courses I needed for my major were only offered in the evenings. Theatre classes, for obvious reasons, are not offered during the evenings. I had to give up my dreams of minoring in theatre, and went for a more prosaic, but still enjoyable, history minor.

Yet here I am, at the ripe age of--oh, yeah, I'm 19, aren't I?--going out to audition tonight. It's a small theatre company, doing very avant-garde type plays. All their proceeds go to different charitable organizations. I like that. Izzybella is one of the founding members of the company. I like that. I know two of the other founding members, and like them very much. They're really cool people. And I'm learning how to be fearless.

See, I've wasted so much of my life worrying about what people might be thinking that I didn't do so many things I wanted to do. And I missed out on so much. So regardless of whether I get cast in this play, I'm excited about taking the time to audition. I know that M. and V. won't laugh at me. They like me. They respect me, and they'll respect my efforts, even if what I bring to the mix isn't what they want. And that's cool

So look out, everybody, I'm about to take a leap of Faith!