Auditions? Hell yeah!

Not everyone loves auditioning, some really hate it.   But at times when the biz is achingly slow, I'm sure even those who hate auditioning would kill for the chance to remember how much they hate it.  And like it or not, auditioning is part of an actor's job.

I  kinda dig auditions, I have to say. I think auditions, as with most things in life, come down to your attitude.  I agree with Jack Plotnick when he says; your thoughts create your reality, and that is especially true when it comes to auditioning.  The casting director isn't there to judge you.  Wait, what?  Isn't that exactly what the casting folk do Susan?  Well I don't think so.  I think they are trying to find the right person for the part and that depends on so many things, and I hate to tell you, but your talent is low on that list.  I also suspect, having the casting person, the director, the producer and the writer(s)  agree on the perfect actor to be cast involves flying pigs and aligning cosmic bodies.  So really you, the actor, don't have the hardest job in the room.  You have the most fun job, you get to play! You get to do what you love and have somebody watch you.  After all what actor doesn't want an audience?

Tom Todoroff says your goal is to change the molecules in the room.  Cool, but always change them in a positive way.  Going in scared or needy or resentful that you are even being asked to audition, will put a big wet blanket over the room, and you'll be remembered alright, but probably not the way you want.

There are so many, so, so many actors in Toronto,  just the fact that you are " in the room " is a victory for you AND your hard working agent.  So be grateful, do the work, show up, and have a good time.  So they will want to see you again, and again, and again!!

Today's last word goes to the remarkable Judi Dench ~ "Seriously, though, I think I never ceased to be grateful of the fact that I am able to do a job that I really love - I never got over that."

 Picture credit, Tom Sierak.

Mother's Day......................sigh

Ah Mother's Day.  Why do I have such an issue with you?

Maybe because I am a Britt. My family doesn't celebrate Mother's Day, never has.  It seems to be a North American phenomenon.  Not that there aren't days set aside to honour mothers in other cultures, there are, but the big TO DO seems to be North American.

I was trying to research the origins of Mother's Day.  The consensus seems to fall on a woman named Ann Marie Reeves Jarvis , and Julia Ward Howe's  Mother's Day Proclamation for Peace.  Whatever both these women had envisioned, it is clear the modern Hallmark, flowers, chocolate, spa gift extravaganza, wasn't it.

 I was listening to a call in show on the radio today, subject; worst and best Mother's Day gifts.  Someone gave his wife, wife, not mother, a pair of diamond earrings!  What? What the hell did he give her for her birthday? And why is he giving his wife a gift?  Mother's Day, remember?  It is like parents giving their kids gifts for Valentine's Day.  Ugh Valentine's, don't get me started.  As the self professed least romantic woman in the world, you don't want to be standing near me in the card shop as I snort and groan, while I wade through the saccharin, facile, badly written poetry in most cards.  But I digress. 

You have probably figured out that my problem with Mother's Day, Father's Day and yes Valentine's is the crass, grasping, consumer driven greed of it all. For the record, mum, dad and husband get a card and even then it is because I am buckling to social pressure.

Now I am not trying to tell anyone how to spend their hard earned dough.  It is yours and it is no business of mine.  But maybe, just maybe in the spirit of community service that started the whole thing, consider donating to women close to home  in shelters who really need food more than you need a box of chocolates.  Or women around the world trying to start a business, take control of their lives and become the best mothers they can be.

Just a thought.

The house does not rest upon the ground, but upon a woman.~ Mexican proverb