Hm, Lessons for Me

As I am laying writing this, exactly 1 week since my graduation from Jacksonville University, I think about the road ahead. In this past week I applied for one job, auditioned at Disney, had a call back (will be discussed later) and was finally able to catch up on sleep at the beginning of the week.

SO what I learned from this audition at Disney:

1. The biggest lesson of all: Even if you mess up it's not the end of the world. So I sang "Can't Take My Eyes Off of You" from Jersey Boys because it's poppyesque without resulting to Backstreet Boys (which one guy did and was really good and got a call back!). I knew I could act the song and the song shows off my top nicely. So what do I when I'm in front of the casting directors? Sing the ENTIRE SONG Under Pitch! KARMA! I'm not sure what happened but the guy was like "Are you nervous" and of course said "YES!" and he was like "Ok. Don't be just breathe. You have a great voice but you sang the song slightly under pitch. Do you have anything else you could sing?" Praise Jesus for being on side and helping me be prepared, and for Dr. Tudor for always saying "BE PREPARED!" so I had My Girl by the Temptations that I bought for Josh Guilyard like a year ago, and I sang that and was good apparently so I got a call back! for High School Musical?

Lesson 2. BELIEVE! So I was expecting to be looked at for Lion King so when they said "High School Musical" I was flabbergasted to say the least. But that goes to show, and points back to being prepared in a way, Expect the Unexpected! So they give me the callback material which has The Boys are Back, High School Musical (with a B flat at the end) and I Want It All (with a B Flat at the beginning!) Then they add to the "excitement" with "Callbacks will be at 10:00 a.m." I'm like are you serious?!?! One I've never trained as a tenor (stupidly) and just by the grace of God been able to make it through the past 3 shows I've been cast in as a tenor, and that was just with a A's, not even B flats, so of course I panic and freak out inside! So in the afternoon I look over the music get comfortable with it as much as I can, but can't really belt it out like it needs to be so it's easy to say the next morning I'm feeling ok..but not super confident! So what does Nina say, "Believe!" and as cheesy as it sounds I really thought about it and after reflecting on the prayer I had with my mother over the phone in Dunkin Donuts...I started to believe that whatever happened is in God's hands and if he wants it to happen it will. So I believe and I go in there and I do my thang! AND, of course, I mess up on some parts. My high notes aren't all there, I mess the rhythm but you just keep going and STAY POSITIVE! Which goes back to Lesson 1: just because you mess up doesn't mean its the end of the world. SO they call me back to dance! AND I'm the only they had to sing I Want It All...either because they realize that is mean to make someone sing that high before lunch, or because they liked it, or because I was so bad they didn't want hear someone butcher that song again. So two other guys get called back to dance with me.

Lesson 3 The Dance: SELL IT BABY!

So I always say I'm an actor first and everything with performing I come at it from an acting point of view. This is true with dance or "movement" as the Disney people called it. In this part I was of course worried because dancing is my weakness and this just pushes me to work harder at it, but I realized, selling it makes it easier! If you approach it from your best side it automatically becomes easier for you to handle. So that is what I did. The moves technically weren't that difficult. The pacing and the length of the piece was! So I got the steps and I could do it all, but I knew there were some parts I wasn't exactly comfortable with but you just got to keep on moving and keep on selling it. Unfortunately I don't know if this "technique" has worked out yet because I haven't been called with "Congratulations YOU GOT THE JOB!" but having reflected on it, I think it's a useful technique.

So if you read through all of this I hope you took something useful out of it! As the Title says this is mainly for me to have some documentation of my first audition after College Graduation, so as I prep for more in the near future, I can keep growing, because that's equally as important as booking the job in my book!

Preparation

Preparation.

How does one Prepare for anything? Planning? In a little over a month I will be 21...21...21...and in a little over 2 months I will be graduating from college...college...college...where was high school? I feel prepared in I know what to expect from the business and what I need to do to get where I want to as an actor, and the most obvious step is to audition...but that's not the most economical step...so what do I do? Well prepare. Prepare for the best (I book a job from the auditions I have lined up, or get a tech job doing costumes or hair and make up somewhere!); and prepare for the worst (prepare for the GRE and look into grad schools and jobs in Jacksonville.) Either way lots of planning and lots of work needs to be done and the time to do it currently non existent. Time to get on the ball, this is ridic!

Stage Beauty

This morning I watched the amazing, inspiring, glorious movie Stage Beauty starring my new love Billy Crudup. I haven't seen the whole movie, just like the last hour, but what I did see inspired me and gave me more respect and admiration for this craft and it's history. I spent the day cleaning my mind and room and reminiscing about that beautiful movie. I then went to rehearsal. I'm going to slit my wrist. After seeing the beauty of acting and the stage this morning, tonight I witnessed the corruption and death of it. I truly feel this production currently shits on Theatre. The understanding, and nuance, let alone talent, that is needed to successfully perform All My Sons is no where to be found in this production. There are talented few but they get lost in a tornado of shit that rampages on the stage! I wanted to have faith and be positive and try in these last few weeks to make this play something good, at the least, but I fear a miracle that my mortal hands, mind, and heart cannot perform is needed to save this plane full of shit from crashing down upon audiences in two weeks.

Life and Theatre

Hola...so much for keeping up with this thing. Thank you all 6 of you who may read this. So I just finished Pippin. It was AMAHZING! met so many awsome and talented new people and I gained a new note. An A! now i need a B. in chest voice I mean. I feel like every time I do a show at Players by the Sea I grow. Wish it was the same for J.U. Not to say that I learn something new or grow at all, it's just not anything like...new...I guess. It's weird. So now that I am finished with Pippin (tear) I can focus on All My Sons which is in dire need of an overhaul right now. I'm assistant directing but haven't been able to do much since most of my time has been devoted to Pippin but now I have no excuse not to attend those positively dreadful and head ache inducing rehearsals. I'm praying that I can help guide this production back on the right track (Pippin reference) but this is my first real time Assistant Directing something so we'll see. Another project I have is Die Fledermaus. It'll be my seconds opera and I hope it's just as fun and exciting as the first! I have to learn my choral parts by myself so at least I get to use some of the theory I'm learning in Music Theory Fundamentals to use. The Lord sent me a sign the other day. Jbo was in my voice lesson and Ezell was saying how she should look at the show Hairspray. She meant she should be Tracy because Ezell suggest shows and songs without actually knowing anything about them (something I can't fucking stand!!!) but that obviously would throw off the entire plot line and focus because Jbo is Puerto Rican. Yeah so today Jbo sends me an audition notice for Caribbean cruise lines and they are doing a production of Hairspray. I'm one to believe in signs so i'm hoping this is one since I graduate in December and have no earthly clue what i'm doing! I also hope this works out for Jbo cus God knows that girl is too talented for her not be performing and putting her art out there. That is all. Peace unto Zion!

My First Blog!

So this is my first blog!!! I'm way excited. I use to have a livejournal where i would write my daily experiences and I might use this for the same. I'm not too sure yet. This is mainly so I can write my feelings and thoughts freely. If I let you follow me that means I think you can handle my crazyness as I won't edit my true thoughts and feelings here. If you can't handle it, then please feel free to not read my blogs, I won't care at all.

So NOW! alittle about me!: I am a Theatre Major. I live and breathe theatre. It is my one true passion right now. I would love to be more well rounded but over all I am a pretty bland person. I haven't really "discovered" who I am truly and hope that this blog will help me to "find myself." My next few blogs will probably be a recap on my life as few really know the story but I want to be open and true on here, no matter how scandalous, and there have been some scandalous things! again if you can't handle it...don't read. But for now lets start with the current.

I am currently in rehearsals for Hair the musical and am WAY excited for it. I'm going into my Senior of college so I'm trying to get as many credits on my resume as possible and this is definitely a good show for me since its currently running on Broadway. I am also helping to construct costumes for The Producers that is being done at a local theatre so I'm really happy to be back in the costume shop since for the past year I haven't been able to invest as much time as I would like to it. I am also doing the make-up and hair for a show called the Weston Women which is hilarious but according to some people it isn't being performed very well. I'm also taking Macro economics which isn't super bad, but it's definitely not the best thing going on right now. I'm looking for more excitement. I love doing costumes, I love doing hair and make up, I love doing a show, but besides that and the class I wonder what else is going on? I see people going out to clubs, going to art openings, going to parties and I wonder how and why they get those opportunities. Do I even like art? Do I even like theatre?

I love theatre, I dont know why I asked that question. Two nights ago I read a very touching interview on broadway.com with Karen Olivo, who is absolutely amazing and I just related soooo much to her and her experiences. My favorite line from the interview is "I'm an actor who acts like I can dance." I screamed for joy and cried at this line. It means soooooo much to me because I think I can dance. Like I have rhythm and I can move but I think the problem is I'm not comfortable in my body so that holds me back alot. But I'm hoping this summer all that will change. I'm getting the P90 dvd's and will stick to it religously and hope by the end of the summer I will have lost some weight and will be ready to take Ballet 1 in the fall.

So this has been a really random first blog. I dont know how any of these paragraphs are linked but it is what popped in my head. Like I said, I will be posting my life history in future blogs so look forward to that! OH And follow me on twitter if you aren't. twitter.com/chollin2