Home Again!

I am exhausted, but audition #1 is over & done with. On Friday, Adam dropped me off at the airport, then (God bless him!) went home and reserved a hotel room for me. We'd just found out that my audition at Kent State coincided with their homecoming, so all hotel rooms in Kent were already booked. My first flight had a layover in Atlanta, so while there, I called Adam and got all my room reservation info and directions to the hotel from him. On arrival in Cleveland, I got to the rental car desk at 11:30 to find out that even though we'd reserved a car three days earlier, the guy at the desk was going to have to "find" a vehicle for me. According to him, I'd gotten the last car on his lot, a huge upgrade from our actual reservation: a Dodge Nitro. Can I tell you how much fun that thing was to drive?! Seriously, I drooled a little and was very sad to give it back.
Anyway, I finally got to my hotel around 12:15, tried to call Adam, but apparently my room was the black hole of phone service because neither my cell nor the room phone worked.
On Saturday, because of the threat of parking challenges thanks to Homecoming, I was up and out of my room an hour before I needed to be there. I only had to stop for directions once! Stupid little backroads and mapquest being liars....! It turned out there were about 20 of us auditioning this weekend. It was pretty evenly split between men and women. Most were from Ohio, and very few were recent college graduates. We met the faculty and had vocal warmups together, then waited in one of their lab spaces while each person auditioned for the panel. I ended up being the last one to audition, mostly because I wasn't nearly as tense or pushy as everyone else. The actual audition was fine. My songs didn't go very well, I think due to a combination of me being nervous and the accompanist not understanding what I needed from him. The monologues went pretty well. After that we all ate lunch together while asking the faculty questions about the program and department. After lunch we took a tour of the facilities, and see the plans for their new building set to open in 2010. Then we split into 2 groups: 1 group did Q & A time with the current grad students, while the other group did a workshop with the Acting Director, and then the groups switched. Personally, I found the talking to the current grad students to be the most useful part of the day, getting their opinions of productions, classes, faculty, assistantships, they really told us the nitty gritty of what being a graduate student at Kent was like. After that we were free for about 3 hours before coming back to see their undergrad performance of "A New Brain" that evening. I drove around Kent for a while and then ended up at Starbucks so I could get online for directions from Kent back to the airport. Their show that night was... ok. Granted, the actors were all much more gifted singers than I am, but their acting itself was defintely young. Not a ton of commitment to their characters or much energy. Then I finally headed back to the Cleveland Airport where I returned the Nitro and upon arriving at the check in gates learned that all the airline checkins were closed until 4:30 am. 5 hours away. I talked to Adam and my parents who both wanted asap updates and it was great to kill an hour and a half talking to people who knew and cared about me. After that, I pretty much just tried to get comfortable while keeping a hand on my messenger bag and my duffle bag. I dozed, but it was not an ideal situation, although at no time did I feel unsafe (thanks for your prayers everybody!). At 4:30, I checked in, went through security, got coffee and an egg sandwhich, and found my gate. Where I promptly fell so deeply asleep that I nearly missed my flight and only woke up when I heard them paging my name over the intercom. I was the very last person to board, still half asleep, and apologizing to the staff, but we still left on time, so it wasn't that bad. Short layover in Cincinatti, then home where Adam picked me up this morning.
After thinking about the auditions all day yesterday, I'm ambivalent about them. I did find out that this is pretty much Kent's only audition all year and that they're looking for anywhere between 6 and 10 new students, so my chances aren't too bad. One thing that I love about their program is that each grad student teaches two classes every semester, by the time I'd graduate, I would have taught 12 undergraduate classes! Since I want to be a professor, that's fantastic training. On the down side, their department has a heavy musical theatre emphasis, and I just don't have the voice or intuition for that. Another thing is that the MFA Acting Director is a huge Michael Checkov method/technology man. Coming from my "organic process"/improv background, that's a huge adjustment. Not that I'd be opposed to learning it. I guess over all, I don't necessarily think that I'm what Kent State is looking for or that they're what I'm looking for. I won't be surprised or hurt if I don't get offered a position there. Even if I do get offered a spot, I think whether or not I accept will depend on my other schools. It was an extremely valuable experience, I can survive and graduate audition, I know the questions to ask, and I think I presented myself well. I'm just very glad that I didn't have my heart set on Kent State.
Next up: Indiana University and Illinois State University.