This week I got to experience something
that very few ever get the chance to experience - I auditioned for
the famous Blue Man Group! It was a life changing event in many ways
for me and I want to share the story because I think we can all walk
away with a few things from the trial.
Tuesday Afternoon Blues
I was casually perusing my Facebook
timeline as I normally do to see what everybody was up to (and
secretly plan the next GREAT thing I was going to do to rise above
the noise and raise my "like" count on my posts:)). I
joined several Facebook groups dealing with casting for various
opportunities such as film, TV, stage, and other formats. Initially
I was going to promote all of my existing endeavors on these groups
but quickly realized that most of them were not receptive to
shameless plugging (at least I hadn't been around long enough for
others to tolerate it). I ended up just following the posts and
every once in a while something cool would pop up of interest.
DOOOOOOOOO EEEEEEEEEEET!
Someone casually posted up the open
audition notice for the Blue Man Group and that definitely caught my
eye. I looked at the date and realized, "Man, that's tomorrow.
Damn, probably can't get away to go do that. Well, I'll just pay it
forward and maybe one of my peeps will go for it." I shared the
post with the comment "I'm tempted to do this just to see what
the process if like." The true intent of the post was to
communicate, "Ha ha...this would be a cool thing to do some day
in my life...not right now...maybe one of you should do it."
Apparently, hardly anyone read it that way. Within 30 minutes I had
15 different replies saying something to the effect of "DOOOOOOOOO
EEEEEEEEEEET!!" and cheering me on. I was
floored by the
response. I just had to ask myself, "Should I go do it? Do all
of these people REALLY think I can? What if it goes well? " So,
after some thought (
lasting roughly 2 minutes), I decided to
gingerly left a voicemail asking my loving Wifey if I could escape
from the family to go pursue this audition. As I waited for her
answer, the likes and comments kept growing on my post (
I guess I
got that "like" count to go up like I had originally wanted
:)) I was REALLY hoping my Wifey would be done for it. She her
response via text was, "Blue Man Group? Go for it!"
YES!
What Can Blue Do For You?
The open casting time was from 10:30 AM
- 3:30 PM the next day so I took my time. I finished up a bunch of
work in the morning and wasn't able to escape until noon When I
arrived at 1:30 PM, I expected to see a huge line outside the door
full of highly qualified drummers, actors, dancers, and wanna-be's
psyching themselves up for the audition and talking about all the
ultra-important projects they were doing/working on ad naseum to pump
up their egos. That totally wasn't the case.
When I showed, up there were roughly 10
people sitting around the lobby of the Briar Street Theatre waiting
and a small, unimposing woman checking people in. She smiled, asked
if I was auditioning, and handed my some paperwork to fill out. I
went to a corner to fill it out and in the corner of the sheet it
read "57". That caught me off guard. You mean to tell me
that I would be the 57 person so far auditioning for this?! I really
expected it to be like 250th at the point I showed up. However, I
reminded myself of the very strict requirements auditionees were to
adhere to:
Must be between 5' 10" and 6'
1" in height
Must have an athletic build
Must be willing to relocate
Must have excellent drumming
skills
After a little bit more thought, I was
like, "Yep, that knocks out a ton of people from even trying
out." Everyone of those requirements fit me to a tee . So,
being 57th was pretty good.
The wait in the lobby before I got
called up felt like an eternity but was probably 45-50 minutes long.
I struck up conversations with people waiting in the lobby to not
only give myself something to do but also size myself up to the rest
of the competition. I decided to get to know them versus trying to
draw out a resume just to see if there would be a ton of arrogance to
wade through as I had envisioned earlier. Luckily, most people were
really nice and down to earth. There was no one I spoke to who gave
me the "I MUST MAKE BLUE MAN GROUP. IT'S MY LIFE'S DREAM. I
WILL STAB YOU IN THE THROAT IF YOU GET A SPOT AND I DON'T"
vibe. There was a guy who kinda went down the path of giving me his
resume but it seemed like it was a part of his personality versus him
intentionally trying to psyche me out.
While waiting, I ran into a fellow
actor who had the day before encouraged me to audition. It was great
to see him because it gave me a little bit of solace to know that one
of my colleagues was here to cheer me on and that he respected me
enough to want to work with me in this arena. He informed me that
there were three rounds to the day's audition process:
Round 1 - an interview
Round 2 - an
acting evaluation
Round 3 - a
drumming evaluation
He
was already past the first two rounds and ready to do round 3. He
seemed so calm and collected when speaking to him that my reaction
was, "Dude, this guy has got it in the bag. He's not nervous at
all!" He was in all kinds of productions around town for which
I never thought I could be a part of due to personal commitments or
lack of skill. It totally respect him not only on stage but off as
well. To see him so centered and focused it made me feel like
"Nelson, you've got a TON of work to do today." My
attitude the entire time was more whimsical than anything. Don't
read "whimsical" as "I don't care" but more of
"Yes, this is important to me but I am not going to slit my
wrists if I get cut (no
pun intended)."
He returned to his holding area as did I and I awaited to be called
up.
Round 1 - The
Interview
My name got
called and I was happy to finally get on my way with the process.
The auditor took my information and led me into the theatre space
where there were two comfy chairs. The chairs were straight out of
1960s Bond film. They looked very expensive and inviting to sit in.
My first thought was, "It's so nice to be in a theatre that
actually has money." We sat down and I prepared myself for a
lengthy interview.
The woman looked
over my resume intently while nodding consistently and said, "Oh
yeah. You can do this. You're good."
That was my
interview.
She then came
with "Well, I guess I should ask you something right. Uhm,
you're currently working right?"
"Yes,"
I replied.
"Ok, well,
we're going to move you onto the next round. It might be a little
while before we have enough people to take you in a group for the
acting audition, " she said politely. I was lead into the
holding area for round two and saw most of the people I chatted up a
storm with from the lobby in there.
Do Ask, Won't
Tell
I don't want to
divulge too many "secrets" here as to what the entire
audition was like so I will speak about what we had to do in
generalities without giving away any of the BMG methods. Needless to
say, even if I was to share this information, it wouldn't really
help. The BMG requirements far exceed what I'd be able to explain
with my limited exposure and vocabulary. Everyone's internalization
of the audition is truly unique. You'll need to just experience it
yourself. So, for the rest of the blog(s), I'll be giving
high-level descriptions of what they asked us to show them.
Round 2 - The
Acting Audition
They
took a group of 11 of us to another office just up the block from the
theatre. Our auditors were Blue Men (both
men and women) and
welcomed us in. We sat around and got an overview of what the rest
of the audition process would be like (I'll go into it later).
Each of us then
individually performed a set of two exercises. They basically
forced us to demonstrate our ability to be able to tell story with
just our eyes and minimal body movement. It honestly was one of the
most uncomfortable activities I've ever had to do. Take a way an
actors usual tools to communicate and then ask them to perform in
front of completely strangers. It is nerve-racking!
Overcoming
the Teen Wolf Syndrome
Not
to sound too crass but I don't get nervous at many of my auditions.
Sometimes it's a good thing and sometimes it's bad. I went into
round 2 not nervous at all, but half way through the first exercise I
had never been so nervous in my life! At that precise moment the
Teen Wolf Syndrome
kicked in.
If
you haven't seen Teen
Wolf with Michael J.
Fox (MJF)
in the starring role, go do so! During 90% of the movie, MJF's
character Scott goes through growing pains in his social life after
discovering he's inherited werewolf-ism from his father's side of the
family. Scott uses his new found powers to excel at all kinds of
tasks such as playing killer basketball, acting in school plays,
moonlighting with the hottest girl in school, and performing awesome
acrobatics on top of moving vans. With all of this new found power,
Scott eventually learns that he's got to us his powers at appropriate
times and to focus on the people who really care about him. He
decides to play the championship basketball game in human form and
forgo the "guarantee" his werewolf form would give the
school. It's an unpopular decision but Scott sticks to his decision
which forces the other players to work at a team. They get to final
seconds of the game and are basically tied when Scott gets fouled.
He goes to the free throw line and gets two free throws to take. He
needs to make one to win the title. He shoots the first free throw
and misses. The crowd is in a frenzy and Scott lines himself up for
the second shot. Now this is where the syndrome occurs. As Scott
begins bouncing the ball, the entire world goes into slow
motion...and Scott magically also goes deaf. All of the crowd noise
dissipates and the only thing Scott can hear is the bouncing of the
ball and his heart beat. That is EXACTLY what happened to me in the
middle of my audition!
As
I was telling the first story with my eyes, all of the noise in the
room went away. All I could hear was my heartbeat and my thoughts.
At that point I had made the realization, "HOLY SH*T! I'M
FREAKING THE F*CK OUT! WHAT DO I DO? WHAT DO I DO?! OH MY GAWD!
THIS IS AWFUL! " I can feel myself getting hot and starting to
break a sweat. Because of the eye expressions and my nervousness, I
went partially blind as my contact were drying out. The world went
blurry on me. The whole experience was starting to crash in on me.
The only thing I could do was think, "CALM DOWN. BREATHE! JUST
BREATHE!" So I began breathing heavily and patiently and
completed the piece as calmly as possible.
When
I sat down to watch my peers go up, my mind was blown. This isn't a
bragging point (or
maybe it is....I don't know)
but I hardly get nervous at auditions. It's not because I am the
best actor or that I feel i've got the job on lock but rather I want
to have fun at my auditions as much as possible. By having fun, the
pressure is reduced. I still take my auditions very seriously but
getting nervous doesn't really help anyone. The judges want you to
do well in an audition and are really cheering for you. Why not join
your own team by having fun? Having been so nervous in this audition
at that point was incredibly foreign and alien. Just minutes before
I was cracking jokes and chatting up a storm with my peers without a
care in the world. At this point, I'm torn to pieces and incredibly
insecure about what I just did for the judges. Apparently I wanted
this thing more than I ever realized.
We
finished our sets and the judges went back to confer with each other.
It felt like we just made the first round after the golden-ticket
phase of American Idol where they put all of the kids into different
rooms and everyone waits with baited breath for the results. We sat
there for probably 7 minutes but it felt like an hour. At that
point, they came back and thanked everyone for their audition. Only
three of us moved onto round 3. Fawk. That's hardcore! And I made
the cut!
Round
3 - The Drumming Audition
We
left the building and were told to return to the holding area in the
theatre. After paying my parking meter, I walked into the theatre
while one of my peers was performing with a Blue Man drum instructor
on the Brair Street Theatre stage. Shortly I was called up to head
up on stage.
The
drum instructor asked me about my drumming experience and I told him
that basically I had been involved in various bands, had been in
marching bands, had drummed in musicals, and marched in a drum corps.
I had to remind him that I wouldn't actually consider myself a
drummer but have some basic skills.
They set up two
practice pads where we could face each other and play. We started
off playing straight eighth notes on the pad together and he asked
that we make our drumming sound the same. Mind you the other
drumming auditions I had eavesdropped on ran anywhere from 7-10
minutes so I was already prepared to have to pull unknown skills out
of my arse as I figured they would run me through my paces for that
amount of time. After roughly 7 seconds of drumming he began nodding
and saying ,"Yeah...good...alright, you've got it." He
stopped and then softly said, "Let's get into the more complex
stuff." I was like "Wow. Ok!"
He then began
doing various syncopated accents that he wanted me to follow. I
picked those up really quickly. Once we got into a groove, he and I
would mirror each other instinctively. It harkened back heavily to
what I felt like doing during my drum corps days of "gacking"
with the drum line during down time to learn their cadences and get a
sense of what it was like to be in the line during a show. I could
tell he really responded well to my actions and we ended up riffing
off each other a little bit and getting into poly-rhythm work. I was
especially proud of the moment when we both decided end the jam
together with a unified rim-shot at the end just like most drum lines
do. That to me was the sign I nailed that part of the audition.
And Now We
Wait
I was then
finish for the day. I has no idea if I was going to get a callback.
I went to my favorite restaurant Uncle Julio's Hacienda for a
celebratory meal and then started heading back home. My mind was on
auto-pilot the entire time as I needed time to decompress from the
experience. As I'm on the road chatting up with one of my theatre
members, I receive a text message. I think I got a callback for the
next day. I basically ignored what my buddy was talking about for
about 10 seconds while I carefully double checked what it said. Yep.
I definitely got a callback! I then exclaimed into the phone,
"Dude, I think I just got a Blue Man callback!" followed
by a ton of apologies for completely ignoring him and the
conversation.
Day 1 was a
crazy experience. It only got crazier when I got home. I'll detail
it in Part II.
