Unscripted - A Blog for Actors - Backstage: Tow-tally Unbelievable

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I recently auditioned for a play that will be premiering at the Kirk Douglas Theatre this fall. Being non-equity, I knew I would have to get there early, but I didn’t want to drive in all that morning traffic so I decided to take the metro from North Hollywood (where I parked) to Downtown.

I arrived at 9:10 am, only to find that there were 8 people ahead of me and there was an EMC list. What in the world is EMC?! (I guess I hadn't been auditioning in college as much as I thought.)

The polite equity monitor explained the acronym (Equity Membership Candidate) and upon looking down at the list again, I realized that I was really number 15 in a sea of people hoping to be seen. I sat down and approximately 8 hours later, my name was called. I had one of my best auditions: focused, yet spontaneous.

I left quite ecstatic, texting my boyfriend and my mother. I was in high spirits on the metro and as I walked to where I parked my car, I didn’t see it anywhere. I locked the doors before I left so it couldn’t have been stolen. I looked up at the parking sign. “No parking at any time. Vehicles will be towed.” This would be my 3rd parking violation in the span of 2 weeks (all which happened to be in North Hollywood.) Unbelievable.

I sulked for a few days and just as I was getting over my streak of unfortunate events, I got a call from the Center Theatre Group: they wanted to see me again! I have this idea that if you make a casting director laugh, you’re doing alright, and I had her laughing all throughout the callback.

I really felt good about both auditions. It would be wonderfully redemptive to get this job, not only because it would be a great first gig out of college, but because the stress of that incident would totally have been worth it.

--Dominique Toney