Chee-hooo!

Where I grew up shouting "Chee-hooo" would be a the equivalent of yelling "Yeeee-haw"! It went with native dances, it went well when playing sports, heck I've heard it being yelled in a cinema during an action sequence in a movie. In my case, it's the excitement of being cast in my first gig since moving here to San Jose!

I went to two auditions this past weekend. One was for a student film
and the other was for a play called Pandemonium. The student film audition was at a convenient location, De Anza College, where I happened to have class the very day I was scheduled to read. It went well I felt. There was a few minutes when I had an interesting inner monologue going:

"Yeah man, first audition of 2008, let's kick ass! Focus man focus, throw that chewing gum in the trash. What if these guys turn me away at the door...no wait, they wouldn't do that. Oh look, cameras....yeah...YEAH...OH YEAH!!!!!"

I get a natural high during the entire audition process. To say I'm addicted to it is an understatement. However, I find it is entirely important to be able to drop any notion or day dream of being cast as soon as I'm back on the street leaving said auditions. In some cases, (a Coca Cola commercial a couple years ago) the dream tend to linger. Every audition is a new chance to train in, moving on to the next thing available.

According to the directors of the short film, actors will be contacted by the 10th of February.

Moving on- I found the Pandemonium auditions to be quite revitalizing! It was in a small intimate dance studio and it was freezing outside. Luckily, the heat started to creep in as we stretched and mingled among ourselves. The audition was to be done as a group with actors tossed in with different roles to read. I find this style of auditioning highly stimulating because it allows you to be able to react with fresh ideas which bounces around with the other actors.

There were some devilishly talented actors in attendance and in many cases it really bumped the standard of the audition. A previous acting instructor hammered the idea to always commit to your acting decisions and to follow your instinct when approaching a role. It's sometimes difficult to approach that idea because it's not necessarily part of your everyday life. But I threw all caution to the wind and lost myself in the reading.

It was intense. At some point the cold had completely left me and there I was, in the midst of other actors, emotionally naked but very much alive. I thought to myself, "heck, even if I don't get a role, this is fantastic!". By the end of the audition, my back was aching (lol, I should exercise more) but my spirit was in fine form. I gave my sincere appreciation for the opportunity to audition and started home.

Forty-five minutes later as I was stepping out of my bus I felt a sharp buzz in my jeans (no no, not that kind of buzz, perv!). It was a call from one of the artistic minds present at the audition. It started slowly and was starting to sound like so many past audition calls, you know the ones that go, "Thank you for coming, it was good to have you there...". Except, at the end she uttered the words "We would like to extend..." and if it weren't for the fact that I was still on the phone with her, I would've yelled "CHEEE-HOOOOO"! Instead, I held it in until all details were hammered out and I was safely across the street.

CHEEEEEE-HOOOOO! I've landed my first gig in San Jose!