A Day At Auditions

This week we held auditions for our upcoming performance of "The Adventures of Mr. Toad".  I arrived at the theatre 15 minutes early to find a mob of people waiting for me to open the doors.  I have had an emotional few weeks with everything going on in my family, but walking in to the theatre and feeling the excitement of all of those kids always lifts my mood.  In fact, I leave feeling excited and much better about life, even with the prospect of having 160-something kids to work with.  Call me crazy, but I actually find it a fun challenge to figure out what to do with that many kids.  I find it exciting to feel the excitement of the kids, even before the day of auditions I have kids come up to me and tell me they are ready for auditions.

So, what happens at auditions - well, you have to face your stage fright fears and get on the stage all alone and sing.  It can be scarier than actually performing, because you do it all by yourself.  Into auditions walk kids that are "seasoned" actors, that have been doing the plays for a long time, some since they were 4 - the magic age of being old enough to be in the plays. There are kids who are brand new and not sure what to expect.  There are four year olds who have been waiting to be old enough and are so excited just to be there. And even the younger siblings who are not old enough, yet they are forced to sit through auditions while someone that is old enough goes up on the stage. After turning in paperwork your name gets called and you get to go on the stage and sing.  As a Director we see kids sing anything from Twinkle, Twinkle or ABC'S to the latest Justin Beiber hit.  Some sing whatever pops into their head as they sit there waiting, others have been working on their number for weeks - with hopes that it will help them to get a better part.  Sometimes we get tired of listening to Twinkle, Twinkle, and then someone will stand up and sing I'm A Little Teapot with actions, or bring their guitar and sing, or sing a song about their name that they made up themselves.  Once in awhile there is the terrible thing of someone forgetting the words to their song.  There is a collective holding of breath as everyone waits to see if they will remember, then there is the question of do you go ahead and clap, or give them more time to figure it out.  There are the kids who are so quiet we really can't tell if they are singing, so we have to wait for some sign that they are done. Then once in awhile there is someone who surprises you - like a little four year old singing the entire song of Popular from Wicked; or another four year old running up to the stage she was so excited to sing, and singing the ABC's with the most enthusiasm I have ever seen.  After the song is over and few on-stage questions answered; and let me just say that this time there were a lot of kids whose favorite part of school was math; the kids either run off to get off as quick as possible or wander off slowly, but most all have a grin from ear to ear as they walk off proud of themselves for what they did, and wondering "What part will I get?".