BWW Blog: De'Ja Williams - Missouri All State

Every two years, across the nation, State Thespian Societies hold an All-State Play. This year, the Missouri All-State Play is the greek tragedy Iphigenia: the sad tale of what happened to Agamemnon's family in order for the greek ships to sail to Troy. In January of this year, the Missouri State Thespian Conference was held in Kansas City, Missouri where six members of my troupe auditioned and interviewed for spots in the show--in between running to individual events and workshops. It was the most emotional audition process I have ever been a part of. It was like being on a bullet train that makes frequent turns and trying to walk in a straight line.

The first day, the actors and I slept in and worked monologues with our director and slipped into one or two workshops. From there, I ran from a workshop to the other building of the hotel where the individual events were happening: a quick bathroom break and straight to the stage. The event was fun: listening to what people across the state had spent so much time working on! My friends and I sat together and waited for our turn to take the stage. When I got up in front of all those people, I tried to remember everything I had been told and taught: all the things that could get me eliminated. Don't twist your ring or it counts as a prop, pick a spot on the wall or they'll think you dropped out, don't take too long or you'll run out of time. Don't let your feet dance, Remember to mime the right things and don't drop it but don't mime too much. There was a lot going through my mind and I had two monologues that normally took ten minutes and only five minutes to perform both. In the end, I won a superior rating from the judges and before I could even sit down and review how I thought I did, I had to run to my audition.

When I got there, I signed in and I tanked it. Rule number one of acting, don't let other actors interpretations and works affect your performance. Let's just say my thoughts leaving the room weren't the most pleasant; I closed with a killer monologue but I wasn't sure if it would be enough to save me. Getting the callback, later that night at intermission of the musical, was like getting a shot of adrenaline straight to the heart. I was so excited: I got called back for every female role. Going through the whole audition process was exhilarating but it meant I couldn't do anything else. I only ever went to one workshop and broke for lunch and dinner. The rest of the time I was working on my pieces--no matter how awkward or difficult some were. For example, in the call back for Agamemnon's concubine, I was paired with a devilishly handsome 6'2" human. It was so unfair. Anyway, there is a kiss in that scene and all the guys were too afraid to kiss the girls. I knew I had to stand out from the twenty-something other girls in the room but I had just watched tall-dark-and-handsome reject two other girls who tried to kiss him. Respecting his choice and determined to be different, I did what any self-respecting desperate actress would do (maybe), I kissed his neck. It was kind of weird. I sauntered away to the roar of applause from the other girls in the room. When we--handsome and I--sat back down, I noticed my lipstick on his neck.

"Y-you got..um a little.." I said pointing at his neck.

With an 'oh' he wiped it off blushing and extended his hand to me. "I am David, by the way."

I awkwardly blush-smiled, shook his hand, and mumbled my name back. The entire room erupted in laughter. It was so awkward. We're best friends now and he's upset with me at the moment because I broke our snapchat streak. [I have a good reason, I swear!]

The worst part by far was the announcement of the cast. My troupe had to leave early so I knew I wouldn't be there at the reading of the cast list. The anxiety was killing me. I made lots of friends at the dance and in elevators. I gave them all my phone number or some other way to contact me and asked them to listen for my name at the general assembly on the last day. One night, at the last musical, I spotted a really cute guy from the callbacks and I thought 'Why not? What are the odds you'll ever see him again? Just go make a move, De'Ja'. I wanted to be bold and take some risks as I had been preaching to my friends to do for months. So, I walked up to him in the theater.

"You're Derek, right?" I asked.

"Yeah, you're De'Ja?" Derek said.

I asked Derek if I could give him my number and if he'd text me to let me know if I made it into the cast. To my horror, the man standing beside me began to exclaim, "Oh my god, Derek, are you getting a girls number with your girlfriend sitting right next to you?" Needless to say, I died on the inside. It got worse. I tried to convince them that I was not hitting on him and instead that it was only about the play. To which his director responded, "Sure it is, yeah sure it was honey."At this point, his director had gotten the attention of his entire troupe and told the tale of my woe. After the transaction of contact cards, I literally bounded down the steps and made contact with all the guys in my troupe. (side note: Derek is in the show now and has had no idea of my true intentions until this moment)

The bus ride down was excruciating as I waited for some news about whether or not I was cast. It took almost four hours before it was confirmed that four of my troupe mates and myself had been selected to be a part of the cast and crew. It was an amazing accomplishment: to be chosen out of over a hundred other people across the state for a role. The only thing better than being cast was meeting the rest of the cast and spending time with them over the past two weeks at camp. An amazing experience that I will elaborate on at a later date.

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