A Musical is Born! -Part 5- The Auditions

I'm sitting in a room that is charged with energy.

54 nervous kids are waiting for their 2 minutes. A lot is riding on those 2 minutes.

I'm not auditioning, but I'm as nervous as these kids. How will I know in those 2 minutes if this boy or girl will be the best one to portray my characters?!

Fortunately, I have the artistic team to help me decide. And even more fortunately, CYT is a tight-knit community, so I already know some of the actors. I've taught them in class, I've worked with them in shows, and I've seen them on stage. Besides, these 2 minutes is not the end of the process; there are still callbacks (when we hear specific actors reading for specific parts, oftentimes in dialogue with another actor. This is also when I can hear the actors singing songs from the musical.) Our callbacks will be tomorrow morning.

So, I'm sitting here, just waiting, shuffling papers again and again. Then it hits me! My nerves are not about the auditions. It's because THIS IS THE POINT OF NO RETURN. This is me, Mama Baird, sending my "baby" out into the world.

It's always been a wonder to me how the creative process is so much like birthing a baby. Part of it is a mystery: I'm contributing, yet wheels seem to turn by themselves. And in the end there is something new in my life that didn't used to exist before, and now I can't imagine my life without it. Then I share the music (or drawing, or story, or whatever) and my baby has taken its first steps. Next thing I know, I hear someone singing my song, and I realize that my Baby has gone out into the world and made friends. And I hope that more and more people will like my Baby and become its friend.

Tonight's auditions are equivalent to my Baby's first day at school. The first actor gets on stage and begins her slate*... here we go!

*Slating is when an actor gives his/her name (and possibly age) and announces the role he/she is auditioning for and/or the song or monologue that he/she is going to perform