Auditioned for the Colony Theatre in Burbank for TRAVELS WITH MY AUNT, adapted from the novel by Graham Greene. The Colony is another place I’ve wanted to audition at for a long while. My college friend Heather Lee has performed there, and they get some of the best stage actors in L.A. to perform for them. Nothing like an Equity contract. They wanted a British (Standard British Southern) dialect, and actors who could play multiple parts, so I got out my David Stern ACTING WITH AN ACCENT for British and reviewed it all week. Doing dialect driven roles occasionally, I high recommend the Stern…gives you a good quick start on a dialect.
I did a short monologue from EVERY BATTLE, EVERY WAR by Arthur Jolly, which I found online. Very funny piece. He’s got a great way to catch traffic, he offers monologues from his works for free, and you’ve got to pay if you want the full play. Clever idea. www.arthurjolly.com
When I auditioned for Patricia Cullen & Barbara Beckley, I was treated with respect, and not a peep of laughter!? Silence?! Maybe because it was early, I was the first one to audition…maybe I wasn’t funny…I felt I was funny… arghh, oh well, at least I tried. The casting director said “great British dialect” and I went on my merry way. I didn’t realize at the time she is British, and instead of it being a polite brush off compliment she meant it. I have a callback this coming Wednesday. Been working several hours day on the dialect and lines for the audition, and more this weekend.
Two years ago I did a British dialect for the Rogue Artists Ensemble adaption of Neil Gaiman and Dave McKean’s THE TRAGICAL COMEDY OF MR. PUNCH, and after one performance a Brit asked me what part of England I was from as he couldn’t quite place it…er, Columbus, Ohio…
In doing research for the callback, I discovered that the very different writers Douglas Adams and Karl Marx are in the same cemetery in the Highgate section of London. Somehow that seemed appropriate for Doug Adams, not so much for Marx.
