Tales From the Front Lines of Pearl Studios
Some unsolicited opinions about this year's audition season
Most people I have spoken to on this subject seem to (pretty much)be on the same page. This audition season has been quite frustrating, as it is every year, but this year there’s been an added layer of “what in the hell?”. Not only is the market insanely over-saturated, there seems to be a new wave of desperation and intensity. So what is going on?
For those who don’t know, there is a certain time of year in New York City that is referred to as Audition Season. Normally this is January, February and March. By the time you get to April, things die down slightly. You can normally gage just how bonkers things will be based on what happens in January. February is hell no matter what. It’s snowing and raining and cold and every one is sick and everyone is miserable and seasonal depression and you’re really really tired. March tends to be the time where people get burnt out and can really go either way in terms of vibes.
A typical day for a non-union actor involves getting up at stupid in the morning(anywhere from 3-4:30am depending on which burrow you live in and how crazy you are), and making your way to Pearl Studios, Ripley Grier Studios, or the dreaded Equity Building. Once you get there, it involves putting your name on a list, loitering and hoping for the best. If you’re a member of Actors Equity you get to bypass all of these lovely experiences and can most of the time just have an appointment slot. The same goes for if you have a good agent or manager.
I’ve taken the time to lay out all of that exposition to be able to follow up with this statement: this year, things have been Bass Ackwards. Don’t get me wrong, I have lived through some audition seasons, I’ve seen and heard of some crazy stuff. This year things don’t seem to be too terribly out of hand, but holding rooms seem to have developed a new nervous energy that I cant quite put my finger on. There’s the obvious Actor-Nervous, but this is different. This is Company-Nervous and somehow simultaneously Company-Does-Not-Care with an added layer of Late-Stage-Capitalism-Doom. Yummy, right?
There’s another piece to the puzzle that makes me laugh, and thats the fact that these contracts everyone has been showing up for, fighting for, making lists the night before for etc. aren’t really anything too special. Often its a regional house in the middle of nowhere that will not hesitate to pay you $350 a week and expect you to thank them while you help strike the set at the end of the run. And the kicker is? They can easily get away with paying someone that little for their work because if you won’t do it, somewhere someone else will.
“So if the non-union thing is so difficult, why don’t you just join Equity?” In theory, I could. I will admit, there is a certain allure to the possibility of wandering into a holding room and being seen right there and then. But, there are fewer contracts to go around because its much more expensive to employ an Equity actor. Being seen by casting is not the same as being cast by casting. In fact, the average rate of auditions to contracts is a healthy 75 to 1. Joining the union is also expensive, and it is my personal opinion that I should see a recoupment in sight if I’m going to make that investment.
On the days that non-union folks like me make it into the audition room, the perspective shifts ever so slightly. Yeah, the odds are against me, yeah its probably already cast, but I get to go into a room and do a little sing-song or monologue or dancey-dance. In school a teacher of mine used to say that you get to a point in the audition grind where you’re just happy to be singing a song for someone, and I think theres some truth in that. Throughout the years, my mindset with auditioning has shifted from “I have something to prove” to “I have something to offer”. So when I get the chance, I go in, I do the thing, and if they like it, great! If not, I have to trust that what’s meant for me will not pass me by.
I know I’m pessimistic. I know I’m a little jaded, perhaps a little arrogant. And I know that at the end of the day, I am talking about Musical Theatre, and in the world we live in right now, we have much bigger fish to fry. But being realistic about the state of this industry makes the good moments all the sweeter. I’d like to think theres a light at the end of the tunnel. I’d like to think that there will be a renaissance in the next few years. People are tired. People are angry. People want good art. I am people.
So perhaps I might be holding out hope.
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