Looking for Work; A year in the life of this Broadway actress

Unemployment blows, I need something productive to do, and this is it. I am going to keep an audition journal. For the record, it has been 10 months and 3 days since I had regular employment.

What, exactly, is an audition journal? When I was in college, we took an audition class and they taught us to keep an audition journal of all the Facts of your audition.

Facts like:

Who was in attendance? (Not other actors in attendance, who was auditioning you in the room? Director? Producer? Music Director? Casting Director?) The idea behind this is so you can cross reference against future auditions to see if you are auditioning for the same person in the future. (Side note--I have to ask, why? So you can walk in the door and say "Hi! You didn't hire me the last time I auditioned for you on May 22, 2004, but maybe you'd like to cast me this time!" This seems, to me at least, like a spectacularly bad idea, unless you'd like to turn it into a drinking trivia game with your friends. Flash cards of directors that you hold up and scream "That's James Lapine! He didn't hire me for Into The Woods in 2003 and Spelling Bee in 2007!" Then, all the actors compare when they auditioned for James Lapine and whoever has actually worked for him has to pay for every one's drinks.)

What did you wear? The theory behind this is that if you have an audition and then get a callback, you need to wear the same thing so they remember you--"Hire the girl in the RED sweater!!" Good God! What if you change outfits, and you come back in a blue sweater and then, they hire someone else who is wearing YOUR red sweater?
Never gonna happen, (they have your pictures and resumes in front of them) but people become superstitious about it. You don't get hired for what you wear--no one writes down "great outfit!" although you can bet that they will write down if you ass looks big in your skirt. Then you come back in the same skirt and they say "Oh, right, she's got that big ass. Send in the next person."

Just to be fair, I do always wear the same thing to an initial audition and a callback, so I guess I fall into the superstitious crowd. BUT, I always wonder if my ass looks big in my skirt.

What did you sing? This is a good thing to remember, but usually, if you get a callback you are doing stuff from the show you are auditioning for. If you have something particular happen in the audition room, like Paul Gemignani says, "Don't ever sing that song again, it's terrible for you." You may want to remember that. Although, if very famous Broadway music director Paul Gemignani says that to you, you should rip that song out of your folder and throw it away before you even get in the elevator to go home. No need to write it down. By the way, that may sound extreme, but very famous Broadway music director Paul Gemignani did say that to a friend of mine, although I forget what the song was. If I remember, I'll tell you.

There are other things people write down or plug into their treos as we sit in the hall waiting to go into the room and strut our goods. I think it is just busy work--but I'm not a terribly organized person. If I can make it to my audition on time with my picture and resume stapled together, well, that is a major accomplishment.

This is not going to be that kind of audition journal.

I am going to talk about what happens in the audition room....it's like opening Pandora's Box.

First installment? Tomorrow. I will cover bits and pieces of the 4 auditions I had this past week. For today, I have to get dudded up and out the door. I'm singing a concert in Westchester tonight. I'll make a little money and hopefully sell some books, which sounds like fun. Catch ya tomorrow.