It was at this time, the time Kaylin found herself between when Nick had left and when he would return, that Kaylin decided to try acting. As a little girl her mother would sing with her while they cleaned or to pass the time while waiting for her father to get home. Her little performances would earn her one of the much coveted smiles from her father and a little peace in the house. Her father had even told her she should try out for the community choir or theater. But as the tension between her parents heightened, and her mother began to go out more and more the time Kaylin spent singing for her parents dwindled, and the idea of time spent on a stage was occupied with time spent keeping up with those responsible for her.
Now with Mark Ainsworth telling her to have a life outside of her relationship with Nick, and her own need to waste away the time before Nick got home, Kaylin went to the community theater to audition for a role in their spring production of Godspell. Kaylin found the idea of loosing herself in a different persona invigorating, and she immersed herself in the theater life. She volunteered to help with props for the next show, paid close attention to the hair and makeup application, and practiced singing the songs long before the first rehearsal scheduled for after the New Year. She put every detail in her letters to Nick, and his letters were full of support and repetitions of how happy he was that she was doing something other than shutting herself in her room. She mailed him pictures of the two of them, and of her for his walls, and he mailed her lyrics from songs that reminded him of her. She told him of the dramas going on in school and of the goings on at the local theater; he told her of group sessions and learning to meditate.
As the holidays approached Nick and Kaylin began to count down the days until his scheduled release. She was concerned that things wouldn’t be the same between them when he returned, and she was secretly fearful of their first meeting after so long apart. The countdown dwindled down from weeks to days, and finally days until hours; Mark Ainsworth left Riversedge early Friday to pick up and return with Nick Saturday afternoon. Kay didn’t go to school that Friday. She was restless and worried; part of her was aching to see Nick in a way that frightened her with its strength, but another part of her was terrified that when they saw each other the connection, the feeling she had when he was around would be gone. She stared at the picture she had taped to her wall: a candid picture of her and Nick, he was hugging her, her head was on his shoulder and his head was leaning on her forehead, he was wearing the softest smile. He looked so happy, so content; was it her or the drugs he must have been on? Was the intensity and chemistry they had together just a side effect of his drug habit? How much of him did she really know?
All her worries didn’t stop her from cleaning the house the way her mother had taught her so many years ago. She scrubbed the baseboards, polished the doorknobs, vacuumed every rug and then combed over the vacuum marks. She did anything to sway her mind from it's constant vacillating between the images of what her and Nick's reunion would be. She pictured the two of them running to each other in slow motion, like a poorly written movie, a long, passionate kiss and never speaking of where he had spent the last eight weeks. But then she would also picture an awkward hug, followed by uncomfortable silences punctuated with forced questions like, "Well, how've you been?" and uneasy glances from Mark who was constantly hovering over them. She couldn't figure out which scenario was more likely so she could prepare herself. Readying herself for big emotions was a necessity, and her indecision prompted her to clean the house manically and when she was done, she turned to herself.
She scrubbed her thick hair, now long past her shoulders and shaved her legs twice. She pulled on an old pair of blue jeans and noticed for the first time how baggy they felt. When she turned to view herself in the mirror, she saw a fraction of the person who was supposed to be staring back. The white, knit shirt she was wearing was no longer tight, but fell loosely around her. Nick had been gone for six weeks and in that time she had wasted away. She pulled her hair out of the twisted towel and let it fall wet and limp around her face. She had put on a light coating of makeup and now sat staring at her reflection. She was twisted with emotions when she heard the familiar sound of a car pulling up to the front of her house.
With her heart a hummingbird in a cage, Kaylin sprinted down the stairs. She peeped in on her grandfather, asleep in front of the television and checked that the note she had written for him an hour before was easily accessible to him. Along with the Ainsworth's home telephone number, she had written out that Nick was coming home and she was going with him and his father to welcome him home. Without stopping to wait for a knock, Kaylin opened the front door and before her stood Nick, same as he'd ever been: the same easy smile with dimples at either side, the same soft eyes that twinkled like lights in the sun.
In that instant, all her fears and visions of what might happen drifted away and again she was Kaylin McSandsen, the most beautiful girl in the world to this one boy.
Nick opened the storm door while Kaylin stood reeling in the moment. He put his hands on either side of her face and stared at her every feature, his eyes were glistening with tears not shed, his touch made her body warm, and for a moment, neither of them said a word. Nick was lost in the moment of seeing her again; this moment he had dreamt of nightly for the last eight weeks was unfolding itself before his eyes and he was lost in the process. As if moving her was moving another part of his own body, he easily brought her face up to his and kissed her lips gently, softly, relishing the taste and feel of her once again. They broke the kiss, and his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, drawing her as close to him as he could hugging her tightly against him.
For the last eight weeks, Kaylin had been working herself into the ground; not one to step on scales she was sure that she had lost a considerable amount of weight since Nick held her last. His hands traced over her ribs as he surveyed her appearance. “Oh, Kay,” his voice was gentle and concerned, “babe, it seems you and I have been apart way too long. You need good diner food and lots of it.” He flashed her a mischievous grin, took her hand in his, and kissed it. “Let’s go get started.”
Showing posts with label Audition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Audition. Show all posts
Monday, June 1, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Chapter One
Meeting Ryan took a full month. They had first seen each other at a “cattle call” audition for a new run of the mill musical being opened just off of Broadway. At huge auditions each person was assigned a number and would wait for their turn to stand on the stage and sing for ten measures and recite two pages. To pass the time, Kaylin watched the other auditioners and rate the men based on looks alone. She barely listened to the carefully thought-out speeches or the same songs over and over, she just looked and rated. Most of the faces were the same from other auditions - most of the songs were too. She had a few friends in this business, and they sat around her. They rated the men too, and the gossiped quietly among themselves.
Kaylin wasn’t paying much attention when the number 6-1-6 was called out and a man slowly approached center stage. From behind her, one of the girls did a breathy cat call, while still another gave a dramatic, “Hellllooo…” Kaylin blinked a few times and focused her eyes. He was wearing a black cotton shirt with blue jeans, nothing too spectacular, his hair was a rich chocolate brown that he wore parted down the middle and swept just over the tops of his ears. He read his two pages of dialogue and cleared his throat as he began his ten measures of “La Vie Boheme” from the musical Rent. He was good looking, but not enough make her pay any closer attention.
She saw number 616 again, closer this time, at the first call backs a week later. Ten men and ten women were called to come back and have a second audition. This time they were paired up and had a full scene to perform together; they were asked to sight sing an entire song from the show, and were taught the basic choreography for one number; it was all very standard. Kaylin had had call backs before, nothing for this close to a full scale Broadway show, but she was good at channeling her nervous energy into a steel reserve.
She wasn’t paired up with number 616, she was paired up with number 218 - a blond with such perfectly messy hair that she knew immediately it took him a half hour in the morning to make it look that way. Although the ten actors called back were of the same size and body shape, their hair color varied as much as their accents. 218, Kaylin quickly discovered, was originally from Oklahoma and although he could drop the accent at any time, in casual conversation he preferred to use it. He whistled a lot to accentuate when he was overwhelmed, or excited, or just about any time.
The second audition ended up lasting two days. This time she did notice number 616 a little more; he had a dimple on the right side of his chin, he ran his hands through his hair easily so he didn’t use hair product (something that couldn’t be said for number 218), he laughed easily, and he could act. He could act and sing very well. He was perfect for the part.
At the final audition there were only six people. Each actress had to do a scene and a song with each actor. When Kaylin matched up with number 616 their reading was short and their song turned out to be the same one she had sang at the first call back – a plus. They weren’t called by their numbers anymore, but Kaylin didn’t quite hear his name, she was focusing on how to read her part with him. The scene was an argument and she had to be angry, seething, but also vulnerable and scared. Before she knew it, the stage manager called their scene to a close; she shook his hand, smiled and walked over to her things piled neatly on a folding chair sitting in one of the wings of the stage.
Two days later Kaylin got a call from her manager excitedly telling her that she had the part, the lead in a major production. The theater would be hosting a press conference on Wednesday announcing the actors and actresses. This was a very big deal. She needed to be at the box office Tuesday at ‘nine sharp’ to sign her contracts.
That night Kaylin went out to celebrate with her girlfriends, two of whom auditioned for the part she had landed. These were her New York friends; New York friends were rivals and confidantes: they celebrated each other’s successes and figured out ways to get each other in the chorus lines when their insurance was about to run out. New York friends gossiped with each other and about each other, New York friends got pissed when you landed the part they wanted, but never missed an opportunity to celebrate. New York friends became like family when no one could get home for the holidays, or when there was no family around. Kaylin had a lot of New York friends.
At some point during the night, a friend of a friend called and recruited the small group to join a few more at a small club in Brooklyn. It was there that she saw number 616 again: the friend of a friend turned out to be a friend of a friend of number 616. The small club turned out to be loud and not very crowded, so the combined group made up the majority of the space. The girls danced wildly and screamed to each other over the loud music thumping loudly around their swinging hips. When Kaylin got tired and returned to their table, she found that the only other person sitting there was number 616. He was watching her, and rather than looking away when she met his gaze he smiled when he saw she was coming over.
Kaylin wasn’t paying much attention when the number 6-1-6 was called out and a man slowly approached center stage. From behind her, one of the girls did a breathy cat call, while still another gave a dramatic, “Hellllooo…” Kaylin blinked a few times and focused her eyes. He was wearing a black cotton shirt with blue jeans, nothing too spectacular, his hair was a rich chocolate brown that he wore parted down the middle and swept just over the tops of his ears. He read his two pages of dialogue and cleared his throat as he began his ten measures of “La Vie Boheme” from the musical Rent. He was good looking, but not enough make her pay any closer attention.
She saw number 616 again, closer this time, at the first call backs a week later. Ten men and ten women were called to come back and have a second audition. This time they were paired up and had a full scene to perform together; they were asked to sight sing an entire song from the show, and were taught the basic choreography for one number; it was all very standard. Kaylin had had call backs before, nothing for this close to a full scale Broadway show, but she was good at channeling her nervous energy into a steel reserve.
She wasn’t paired up with number 616, she was paired up with number 218 - a blond with such perfectly messy hair that she knew immediately it took him a half hour in the morning to make it look that way. Although the ten actors called back were of the same size and body shape, their hair color varied as much as their accents. 218, Kaylin quickly discovered, was originally from Oklahoma and although he could drop the accent at any time, in casual conversation he preferred to use it. He whistled a lot to accentuate when he was overwhelmed, or excited, or just about any time.
The second audition ended up lasting two days. This time she did notice number 616 a little more; he had a dimple on the right side of his chin, he ran his hands through his hair easily so he didn’t use hair product (something that couldn’t be said for number 218), he laughed easily, and he could act. He could act and sing very well. He was perfect for the part.
At the final audition there were only six people. Each actress had to do a scene and a song with each actor. When Kaylin matched up with number 616 their reading was short and their song turned out to be the same one she had sang at the first call back – a plus. They weren’t called by their numbers anymore, but Kaylin didn’t quite hear his name, she was focusing on how to read her part with him. The scene was an argument and she had to be angry, seething, but also vulnerable and scared. Before she knew it, the stage manager called their scene to a close; she shook his hand, smiled and walked over to her things piled neatly on a folding chair sitting in one of the wings of the stage.
Two days later Kaylin got a call from her manager excitedly telling her that she had the part, the lead in a major production. The theater would be hosting a press conference on Wednesday announcing the actors and actresses. This was a very big deal. She needed to be at the box office Tuesday at ‘nine sharp’ to sign her contracts.
That night Kaylin went out to celebrate with her girlfriends, two of whom auditioned for the part she had landed. These were her New York friends; New York friends were rivals and confidantes: they celebrated each other’s successes and figured out ways to get each other in the chorus lines when their insurance was about to run out. New York friends gossiped with each other and about each other, New York friends got pissed when you landed the part they wanted, but never missed an opportunity to celebrate. New York friends became like family when no one could get home for the holidays, or when there was no family around. Kaylin had a lot of New York friends.
At some point during the night, a friend of a friend called and recruited the small group to join a few more at a small club in Brooklyn. It was there that she saw number 616 again: the friend of a friend turned out to be a friend of a friend of number 616. The small club turned out to be loud and not very crowded, so the combined group made up the majority of the space. The girls danced wildly and screamed to each other over the loud music thumping loudly around their swinging hips. When Kaylin got tired and returned to their table, she found that the only other person sitting there was number 616. He was watching her, and rather than looking away when she met his gaze he smiled when he saw she was coming over.
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