Monday,
September 30, 2013
Well, more than two months later, I thought I should sit
down and actually write down the Orlando Story.
If you haven’t heard or read, I am traveling to Orlando, Florida,
this December to participate in a national talent showcase.
This is how it started.
Back in July, I heard an ad on a local radio station: “Calling all singers, actors, models, and
dancers: come to this audition! It’s not like auditions you may have
experienced before!” Or something to
that effect.
Well, the first time I heard the ad, if I’m being honest, I
half-heard it. It was during a workday,
as I rushed about town, so I didn’t pay too much attention. I heard it again about 2 days later, and
again about a week later. I actually
tried to call the phone number that time: 1-800-STAR-102. It rang and rang with no answer. I figured it was not legit, so I dismissed
the thought. A couple days later, I
heard the ad and phone number again, “Auditions will be Friday, July 19th.”
I called again, this time on Monday, July 15th. I got an answer, and said, “Yes, I’m calling
about auditions in Salina, Kansas this Friday.”
“Yes, we will be in Salina
this Friday…the auditions start at 7:00pm,
and I’m going to give you a website that you can go to, that will give you more
information about your audition.”
My thoughts were, “That’s it? Really? I just show up?” I had been expecting to be given a 20 minute
time slot, sometime during the day, that I was going to have to jump through
hoops to be able to make.
She gave me the website, www.theartstalent.com. I forgot about it until the next day,
Tuesday. On the website, I found out
that there would be a presentation before the audition process: “We want you to
know who you’re auditioning for.”
I also found out that I could prepare a 60-second song and a
60-second monologue. “Okay, cool,” I
thought. Also, I was to bring a picture
of myself, no larger than 5x7, that could be kept with my file.
The REALLY COOL part was that, about a month prior to this,
I had been watching my favorite show, Gilmore Girls, in my living room, like I
always do. I came across a really strong
rant by Lorelai, the main character, and I stopped everything I was doing,
rewound it, and watched it again. And
again. “Wow, that was a really good
monologue,” I thought.
So, a month later, upon seeing “prepare a 60-second
monologue”, guess which one came to mind?
It was like the monologue had been divinely given to me for precisely
this audition.
On Thursday, I thought to myself, “Oh, that audition is
tomorrow; wasn’t I supposed to print an audition form off the website? Oh, I also need to pick which picture I’m
going to print off.” So back to the
website I went. This time I printed the
form and made sure I was clear on the expectations and “rules” for the
audition. “Everything is G-rated; no
drama allowed!” (I’m paraphrasing, but basically, the company is
family-friendly and oriented---not your typical slang/gang/all-the-rage Hollywood).
I also picked my picture off my Facebook albums. Luckily, I had a slew of semi-professional
photographs to choose from, as this modeling thing is not completely new to
me. J
On Friday, the day of the audition, I had a full morning of
work appointments. My job is not a
typical office job; I drive all over town all day to different homes and
schools. I tried to get up super early
to do my 55-minute Turbo Fire workout that was scheduled for the day; I failed,
so I had to fit it into my after-work-before-audition schedule.
I also had to figure out when I was going to hit up
Walgreens to print out my 5x7 picture.
I figured out that I had a window of time between the end of
my 1pm appointment and the
beginning of my 3pm
appointment. I thought I was going to
have to drive this kid all the way back out to the country to his house,
though, so I didn’t know just how much time I would end up having.
Well, as divinely set up as it could get, the kid’s
grandmother had me drop the kid off to them at the grocery store, just across
the street from the Walgreen’s where I needed to print my picture. Score. (And thank you, Jesus)
Oh, and by the way, I didn’t have any idea what song I would
be singing until about 12:45pm
that afternoon, on my way to pick up my 1pm
appointment.
I was driving out to the country, to pick him up, and I was
wondering, “WHAT am I going to sing?”
Not 10 seconds later, the song pops into my head and I sang
it out loud: a Garth Brooks song I remembered singing in high school with my
show choir.
“You
know a dream is like a river/ever changing as it flows/ and the dreamer’s just
a vessel/ that must follow where it goes/trying to learn from what’s behind
you/never knowing what’s in store/makes each day a constant battle/just to stay
between the shores/and I will sail my vessel/til the river runs dry/blah blah
blah blah blah blah blah/these waters are my sky/I’ll never reach my
destination/if I never try/so I will sail my vessel/til the river runs dry”
It gave me chills.
But, darn, what are the actual words behind those “blah’s”?
Inside my head: “Okay, figure out the rest of the lyrics
later; gotta pick up this kid; but this is the song I’m singing. Cool!”
Right. So back to the
Walgreens intervention. I dropped off
the kid, then ran across the street and dropped off my picture for
printing. My plan was to go see my next
two kids (3-4pm; 4pm-5pm) and then pick up my picture.
I picked up my picture at 5pm. Then, I called
my friend Jeff.
“Jeff? Okay, I need a
favor. I can’t explain now. I’ll explain everything later.”
(Jeff) “Okayyyy…”
“Okay, I need the lyrics to the first verse and chorus of a
song. I don’t know what the song is
called. It’s something about a
river. It’s a Garth Brooks song. Are you ready for me to recite the first
line? That should be enough for you to
put into Google and get the rest of the lyrics.”
So, 2 minutes later, Jeff called me back with the title of
the song, the lyrics to the first verse, and the lyrics to the chorus,
clarifying my mystery “blahs”.
“Like
a bird upon the wind/these waters are my sky.”
Okay, cool. Thanks,
Jeff. J
So THEN I went home and rushed through my 55-minute workout,
which I finished at around 6pm. Then I took a 1-minute shower (rinse-off with
warm water, just to get the sweat off), and sat on my couch drying off while I
frantically scribbled my monologue onto the back of an envelope.
Yup.
I let my hair down and added more powder to my shiny
face. I curled my eyelashes, added
tinted lip balm, and a little eyeliner.
I picked clothes to wear (pink top, jeans, black flats).
I was out the door at 6:27
pm.
I pulled up to the hotel, parked, and got out of the
car. I walked to the door, then realized
that I didn’t have my picture with me. I
panicked for a minute, thinking I left it at home. Thankfully, I had left it in the car when I
pulled up in my driveway to do my workout.
I went back to the car and got my picture. I walked into the lobby. I checked in at the table. I sat down to fill out my form (which I had
not managed to fill out previously).
Then they told us it was time to start the presentation.
I went in and found a seat in the front row. I listened while Ms. Kim Myers introduced
herself, her company, and what they were all about. She told us how she works and what she is
auditioning us for. She told us she
travels around the country to find talent for her “human buffet” that she puts
on her big Broadway stage in Orlando,
in front of Disney, Sony, Tyler Perry Studios, and others. She told us that she believes everyone needs
a chance to pursue their talent. She
told us that everything we do in Orlando
is prepared ahead of time. She told us
that she doesn’t put anything on her stage in Orlando that is not good. She told us, “This is my show.” She told us that if we got a callback, we
would get an email late tonight, inviting us to an informational session where
we would receive more details about the program.
Then she asked for anyone who would be singing to line up,
as we were to go first. The line was
long. I was cowardly. I got in line wayyyyy in the back. I tried not to be nervous. I watched little kids sing, teenagers sing,
boys, girls…then it was my turn. There
were a total of probably about 50 people in the room.
I stood in front of the judges’ table (and the whole room of
families and children behind them), introduced myself, and watched as Ms. Kim
sprang into action: “So what kind of heritage do you have going on here? Do you speak Spanish? Your last name makes it look like you should
speak Spanish, but you know, so often it looks that way, and then the person
doesn’t speak Spanish. You know, this
means two languages, two commercials, two paychecks, right?”
Whoa.
“Okay, what are you going to sing?”
“I have ‘The River’ by Garth Brooks.”
And I sang.
She liked it, talked to me some more, then told me that she
wanted to hear me read a commercial from the prepared scripts they had for
us.
“Actually, I have a 50-second monologue I prepared. It’s not all the way memorized, but I have it
here, written down.”
“Go for it.”
So I went.
“Look at you!”
She looked over my audition form, over my goals and
aspirations, and said, “There’s a passion there when you perform; it’s a
hunger, I think. You know, a lot of
times, in this business, you find yourself trying to motivate people to do
more, to challenge themselves. I look at
your form here, and I see myself trying to keep up with you; you don’t get that
a lot. Nicely done.”
Whoooooaaa.
I couldn’t believe how genuine the whole process was; how
calm and confident I was while I sang (I used all my breath support and
everything!), how encouraging Ms. Kim was.
I felt truly good about it.
I left the audition thinking, “That was the best audition
experience I’ve ever had. I don’t even care
what comes of it.”
I called Fred and gave him the play-the-play, then just went
home. I knew I had to work the next
morning, as it was my assigned Saturday for the month. I don’t have internet, so my plan was to
check my email at work the next morning.
Well, 10:00 am
Saturday morning rolled around, and I checked my email, on the slowest computer
and internet connection known to man.
But I managed to read: “Callback from the ARTS” in the subject line.
I had a callback.
Yay!
The information session was the next day, Sunday. Ooh.
In Kansas City. Yikes.
Kansas City is a 3 hour drive
from Salina.
I called F and gave him the “yay”, the “ooh”, and the
“yikes”.
I calmly told him I wanted to go, and that I would go by
myself, but felt like it would be really beneficial if he went with me,
especially because I didn’t want to have to come back and try to explain the
whole thing to him. He is a very
detail-oriented person, and I knew that there would be no way I could explain
it to his liking.
He had to go to work, and so did I, so we agreed to talk
after his shift, at 8:30 pm
that night. When we talked again, it was
decided: we would go to 9:00 am
service at church the next morning, and then we would drive to Kansas City for the info
session.
The info session started at 4pm, and we listened to all the details, including cost of
the program (it’s a very honest, no-hidden-costs thing; definitely not a “quick
rise to stardom” or “get-rich-quick” scheme).
We learned that I had til the following Monday, July 29th, to
decide whether or not I would be attending the showcase in December, and to put
down my initial deposit.
I knew I wanted to go, and I would say my final decision was
made by about Wednesday the 24th.
But the area between the info session and my final decision was
agonizing. It was stressful, worrisome,
and lots of prayer was involved. I
didn’t know how I was going to afford it, mostly.
But we scrounged together my deposit, and on Monday, July 29th,
I called it in and secured my spot on the biggest stage of my life: The
Applause Rising Talent Showcase in Orlando,
Florida.
I felt like everything had been lined up and put in place
and dropped in my lap for me to have this audition. I felt blessed to have the callback, and
privileged yet COMPLETELY OVERWHELMED to be able to spend time trying to make a
decision about the showcase. There was
an overwhelming feeling of a cloud of providence surrounding this ordeal for
me.
Thus began my journey.
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