BWW Blog: Living in Rexburg: A Small Town and a Theatre Major Pt. 2

Welcome back to my blog everyone. For those who don't know me, I'm Rebecca Prior and I am a Theatre Tech and Design major at BYU- Idaho located in Rexburg, Idaho.

This past week has been a whirlwind! Last week, I told you that I would be auditioning for a community production of Beauty and the Beast. If you have ever auditioned for a show you know the agony of waiting for cast list to be posted (and also the call back list). So, anyway, I went to this little old building in downtown Rexburg that was going to be the rehearsal space for the show. To say the least, I was slightly concerned about the building collapsing on top of us.

When I got to the audition, I was checked in, they took my measurements, and then I was brought into the dance audition. I think that has got to be the fastest dance audition I have ever done. They taught us four eight-counts of a routine and while we were just reviewing the choreographing, they actually auditioned us. After that, we were told to go up these rickety stairs to get up to the third floor for our vocal audition. We climbed to the top of the stairs and the assistant stage director was waiting for us. He took our resumes and we all sat down and waited for the group ahead of us to finish.

The directors called in a group of five of us to begin auditioning. We were given a short spiel about what we would be doing in the audition as well as when callbacks and cast lists would be posted (callbacks would be sent out late Friday night after auditions and the cast list would be posted by midnight on Saturday night). I was the second person in my group to go and once I had finished singing, they had me do a cold read from the script. After this crazy adventure, I was able to go home and finally relax after a long day of school and stressful auditions. And now the waiting begins.

Because the end of the semester is fast approaching and the new semester is not far behind it, I've been taking a lot of time working on all the little projects that my teachers are having us do to prepare us for finals as well as signing up for next semester's classes. Let me just say, I loathe lots of small projects especially when they are all due in a short amount of time. But, that is how college is sometimes and I just need to power through it. However, auditioning for a show and then waiting for a cast list in the middle of trying to get a mountain of homework done. To put it simply, I really did not get much done this past weekend.

My roommate who is also a theatre major had her final for Directing I this weekend. For this, she had to direct and design a one-act play. On top of that, one of her friends in the class asked her to perform in their play. During a break in my crazy schedule, I was able to go see her perform in her friend's one-act which was beautiful. They performed a one-act of Amicable Parting. They did a really great job and I was glad that I got to see it.

Friday night came and went, no callback. Saturday seemed to drag as the hours passed. I was nervous about the cast list and I was pretty certain that they weren't planning on taking everyone that auditioned. I tried finding a way to distract myself: play the piano, work on homework, watch some movies, etc. I went out to dinner with my cousin and while I was sitting in the restaurant, I received a phone call asking if I would accept a role as an ensemble member. I was relieved that the wait was finally over, and I could finally get back to my crazy life. Later that night, they posted the entire cast list. 200 people auditioned and they took, if I counted correctly, about 140 people! This cast is gigantic! I have never been in a cast this size and honestly, don't know exactly how it will turn out, but I'm excited about the opportunity. Next week I'll let you guys know about our first rehearsals and... FINALS!