Almost Made It!

Oh, my goodness. What a day.

First of all, I must explain how Equity auditions work in Los Angeles:

To audition, you need a card that states that you are, indeed, an Equity member, and that you are paid up on your dues. To obtain this card, you need to do one of the following: get hired in an Equity theatre under and Equity contract, or obtain 50 points through the Equity Membership Candidacy (EMC) program. I joined the EMC program in 2001 when I did a production of "Honk!", but have not obtained any further points since then, because I have been doing mostly Equity-waiver (99 seat) theatre. I have wanted to be Equity for QUITE some time, because you don't have to wait around ALL DAY LONG at auditions. You walk in, show your card, get an appointment time, and you will be seen for the audition. If you are non-equity or even an EMC member, you run the risk of not being seen, even after waiting ALL DAY.

There are a few audition "types" - Equity Principal (EPA), Equity Chorus Call (ECC) and Equity Dance call. If you are a member of the Candidacy program, you can go to any EPA and, after the Equity members have been seen, you will be allowed to sign in and audition. Basically, you are one step above non-union folk, but are still lucky to get an audition.

I am EMC. As of today - Sunday, March 2nd, I am still NOT Equity, although I have received a contract through "The Marvelous Wonderettes" as of January 11, 2008. The thing that has held me up is paperwork...oh, blasted paperwork -- and the paperwork that I needed to become Equity arrived in the mail on SATURDAY. Of course, too late for me to go to the Equity office and join to get my card so that I could obtain the glorified status of being an Equity member -- ALL SO THAT I COULD AUDITION FOR "WICKED"!!!

I decided to attend the "Wicked" EPA today, anyway, as an EMC member. I figured that, since I had a matinee performance of "1776", I could sign in at 9:00 a.m. and return at 6:00 p.m. and get a chance to audition. I had it all planned out.

Thankfully, the Equity monitor running the auditions was (and still is!) a friend of mine; a fellow Actors Co-Op member. I was thrilled, since he has been so good to me in the past at Equity auditions. He has gotten me into the auditions, no problem. Other monitors are not so efficient. Anyway, he told me to call him when I was on my way from the matinee to see what the status of the audition was. I called him at 4:30, and left a message saying that I would be there in an hour. "1776" runs two and a half hours, starting at 2:30 p.m. and, well, ending at 5:00 on a good day. The "Wicked" auditions were over at 6:00 p.m.

I got out at 5:15. I tore out of the theatre like a crazy person. I drove as safely as I could (honestly, there were five cops on motorcycles behind me the entire time, dangnation). I got to the audition at 5:40. PHEW!

I opened the door, but Gary (the monitor) was no where to be found. I peeked into the audition room and saw that he was there with the casting director. I patiently waited, out of breath.

When he appeared, he said, "OH, LESLIE! I just sent the last girls in...I just gave the Casting Director the last set of pictures and resumes. This is the end of the audition day. I am SO SO sorry!"

I sat down, in a daze. All that work for nothing. We ended up chatting and laughing about it - what can you do, really?? -- and I started to head home.

A few minutes after I had left, Gary returned my message: "I JUST got your phone call, and had I received it, I would have told the Casting director you were on your way and had him wait for you! I feel even WORSE now, and I'm SO SORRY!"

I didn't really know whether to laugh or cry. In the end, I laughed, and then I drove myself to church. Because what else can you do?

Tomorrow morning I'm marching myself to the Equity office to join. I think I will cry when I get that card, because I have worked DAMN HARD for it. I won't have much time, though, because I'm going to attend the ECC for "Wicked". If I don't get seen I will laugh hard, and accept the fact that it's just not meant to be this time around. But you better believe I'm going to try as hard as I can to get into that audition.