January 14, 1999
Put on the spot for spot on stage
Editor's Note: This is the first of a five part series following the Old Town Playhouse's production of "A Chorus Line" from casting to final curtain call.
By Garret Leiva
Herald staff writer
Performing your own root canal, riding a roller coaster blindfolded, pining a corsage on your prom date. Each perhaps equally painful, exhilarating and nerve-raking. Now add a song and a four-step jazz dance combination.
Auditioning for a play is about putting yourself in the spotlight and on the spot. At tryouts last week for the Old Town Playhouse production of "A Chorus Line" the process proved both daunting and delightful for those seeking selection and those choosing the select few.
In a case of life imitating art, the selection process seemed a page right out of the musical's script itself. Specifically, "A Chorus Line" takes the audience through the final grueling auditions run by the director of a new Broadway musical. Assembling 30 semi-finalists, the group is eventually thinned down to the final sixteen of which only eight will be chosen for the musical.
Perhaps no one recognized the similarities more than Kris Hains. An Old Town Playhouse veteran who auditioned for her first play at 17-years-old, the Traverse City resident knows the arduous role of the director.
"It is hard because I've certainly been on the other side and I know what it feels like and I try to be sensitive to that," said Hains, who has directed four musicals, including "Guys and Dolls," and "Grease" at the Eighth Street Playhouse.
"When you've got twice or three times the number of people auditioning than you have parts, there are going to be people that are disappointed."
Despite the mathematics, the 54 people attending Tuesday night diligently filled out audition forms, pinned a black felt pen number on their clothing, stood in a semi-circle around the piano for vocal warm-ups and hoped to put their best foot and whole note forward.
For some the audition is over after the first few notes or dance steps. Sometimes it only takes a few lines to have a sense of whether a person can carry a tune or stay in pitch noted Hains.
"Some people I can tell they're nervous so I may let them go a little longer to get through that: 'Oh my god, I'm in front of all these people, why am I doing this?,'" said Hains, who remembers lining up Tums, Maalox and Rolaids on the table before her first audition.
Hains also seeks something beyond a strong singing voice or assured dance steps. Equally important is stage presence and the ability and determination to learn.
"The person might have gotten it on the first try, but maybe when it comes to stage presence it doesn't carry beyond the first row," noted Hains, who has a 25 member production crew that is involved in the behind closed doors selection process.
Waiting on the other side, Erin Peck still admits to audition night butterflies.
"Sure, that's what is fun about it. I'm an adrenaline junkie. I thrive on that atmosphere," said the Traverse City resident, who works as an emergency room nurse and performed professional theater in the Orlando, Fla.
For local singer and songwriter, Judy Harrison, auditioning for community theater provided a personal challenge to combine song and dance. Although she had auditioned for a Playhouse production 6 years ago and choreographed several other shows, Harrison remained nervous.
"Auditioning kind of puts you out there right on the spot to do well right then and there," said Harrison, who was eyeing the role of Cassie, a dancer past her prime that is trying to get back in the chorus line.
A veteran of several Playhouse productions, Traverse City resident Carrie Burke said she has gotten past the point of shaking during auditions, but the anxiety remains. It is a feeling she hopes will never go away.
"It wouldn't be worth it anymore if you got up in front of an audience to perform and didn't feel those butterflies," said Burke, a double major in accounting and theater at Northwestern Michigan College. "That is the thrill of doing a show, there is no high like being on stage in front of an audience."
Michael Rumbach also knows about that thrill. A native of Traverse City, Rumbach has performed dinner theater in Mackinaw City and spent time in New York City auditioning for theater productions.
"In New York you walk into the place and there is 30 other guys that look just like you and they are all incredibly talented. It really is a situation where you have to seize the moment and not let the moment seize you," said Rumbach, who was seeking the role of Zach, the director in "A Chorus Line."
Despite never being cast in New York, the experience only solidified Rumbach's determination to perform on stage. That desire was seen on every face as director Hains read the evening's callback list.
"When you have that one performance, when all of a sudden you've got 500 people's attention, there is nothing that can compare to that," noted Rumbach.