Break a Leg!

by Travis Rocha

If you read one of my recent blogs, you’ll know that I had a pretty bad audition for the Theater Department’s director showcase. Thankfully, the wonderful student directors decided to take a chance on me regardless and I received five callbacks. I was absolutely astounded and excitedly grabbed my sides from the callboard. (Sides are the scenes that an actor is given to familiarize themselves with for their callback audition.)

I looked them all over and quickly became ecstatic over all the thoughtful, interesting characters I was being considered for. I rehearsed my sides and, on Monday around 5, I went to my first callback. The process was simple enough. I was given a scene partner, someone who was called back for the other role in my side, and we rehearsed together for a good five minutes as other pairings went into the audition room. When it was finally our turn, the stage manager called us over and told us “break a leg.” We walked in and performed our side. After our first performance, the director gave us notes on what we could improve and we ran the scene again. All of my other callbacks were pretty much identical to this format!

Callbacks week was extremely hectic for me. I barely had any time to sit around; I was always on the move, whether it was theater, class, homework or just meal plans. Hopefully, this week will be a little slower paced. Though, I’ll be hearing back about callbacks soon and I couldn’t be more excited. I hope I get a role!