Equity Audition

Aaron Sorkin has written a new play (The Farnsworth Invention) for Broadway that will open in November and auditions for this Equity show were posted in Backstage.com with a note that roles had already been offered to those that participated in the reading but that nothing had been cast yet and they were casting for understudies, too.

Non-eqs can audition for Equity shows if they are willing to wait and casting directors are willing to see them. Typically they go thru all the Equity actors signed up for the day, then those that have points towards equity but aren't official and THEN they will see the non-eqs.

So with that in mind, a non-eq wants to get there early and be in the top few on the sign-up sheet so the odds are better of being seen.

That meant that I woke up at 5am to get ready and head out for my first "equity" audition. The auditions didn't start til 10am.

I had heard about the Equity building (see pic) and "the rules". Non-eqs CAN NOT use the bathroom - they have to use the one in the McDonald's next door. Also - there is NO CELL PHONE usage allowed and talking and such much be kept to a minimum. Woot.

Since it was July 5th and there were 3 days of auditions, odds were good that Equity actors would show up to the later dates. Only a few Equity actors were there among all the non-eqs when they opened the doors. (Oh yeah, you have to stand outside the building until it opens at 8am.) We signed up (I was #3) and waited til 10am.

While we sat there I heard a worker on the Equity side talk about her new Eddie Bauer Lunch Bag she got from Target saying - "We love our Target, even if we do have to go all the way to Queens!" (Yes, although Target billboards are in Times Square the closest Target is in Queens - unfortunately not near my part of Queens. :( The subway ride is kind of roundabout to get there...)

I tried to read my book but was having trouble keeping awake. I befriended a guy standing in line a head of me and after discussing where the nearest Starbucks was he said he'd go with me
for some more coffee so we headed out and after seeing the ridiculously long lines at the 2 Starbucks within a block of each other @ Times Square we decided to check out Juan Valdez Cafe - for coffee AND to use their bathroom...

I wore my horseshoe ring for luck that day and took it off in the restroom to wash my hands. I came back and chatted some more with my new "audition friend" and found out he had just moved here with his wife (who is also an actress) in December. An odd coincidence that they met during a production of "All My Sons" as a good friend of mine who got married in December also met her husband-to-be during a production of "All My Sons". So watch out if you are in a production of that show - wedding bells may soon follow! ;)

We headed back. As I sat in the waiting area and continued to run my monologue thru my head (they asked for a brief, contemporary, dramatic monologue) I realized that I had left my ring in the bathroom @ Juan Valdez!!! My only consolation was that you had to have a key to the bathroom so traffic wouldn't be as high but still...it was sitting in a bathroom in a coffee shop in the middle of Times Square! Ugh. So much for having my ring for luck!

I tried to text a friend, thinking maybe he could call and see if it was still there - in an effort to be brief I texted - Call Juan Valdez and see if my horseshoe ring is there - it made sense to me but I can understand why he wondered if I was texting in my sleep or something when I sent the message! ;)

About that time they called us to the Equity side of the premises to wait. My new friend told me that this didn't guarantee we'd be seen soon. (Apparently at another audition they called non-eqs back right away and they sat there for most of the day.) That was fine by me - at least we could use the bathrooms now that we were on the Equity side! :)

And we got seen right away - one person behind the table in the audition room, with an unreadable face. I found out after the audition that typically if you get in early as a non-eq and if there aren't many behind the table, that probably means it has been cast already and Equity people know it - thus their absence.

Oh well. I still get to say I auditioned for an Aaron Sorkin play!

As soon as I was done I sped out of there and headed back to Juan Valdez. On the way, I heard/saw Mayor Bloomberg giving a speech (I backtracked for a pic - kinda far away) and noticed that The Loft has costumes from The Hairspray Movie in their windows.

When I got to Juan Valdez, the key was sitting on the counter - I grabbed it and hoped that my ring was still there...and it was! Phew!

On a side note - I did research on Pem Farnsworth (the character I hoped to be considered for) and once again found leads to books and info that were fascinating to me - am looking forward to seeing the show when it opens!