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When You’re Ready to Give Up, Stay
I got a relatively late start into acting: other than a few shows during elementary school, I didn’t start acting until my senior year of high school. When I went into that audition room, I was up against people who had been acting for all of high school; even a few who had been acting their whole lives.
I made some of the best friends I ever had in that room, but a part of me was painfully aware that I was the underdog. I didn’t have the experience. I’d never taken a drama class. I was going off instinct, half-baked memories from childhood, my naturally booming voice, and my ability to follow instructions.
That served me well for the fall play, a straight show where I managed to snag a role in the ensemble. Coming off that show, I went into winter break on an absolute high. I was excited for auditions for the musical. I spent most of Christmas preparing my audition song-It’s been a while, but I’m pretty sure I either went with ‘You’re the Top’ or ‘Sunrise, Sunset’.
Despite the dilation of time that seems to occur whenever you’re looking forward to something, eventually, the first day of auditions came around. Cold read-no problem. Vocal audition-a bit bumpy. Then there was the dance audition.
I had never been in the dance classroom before that day. I was greeted with an order to take my shoes off, and to…
