I Just Auditioned for the First Time, in My 40s.

Greg Ehrhardt, OnStage Blog Managing Member

I’ve written dozens of pieces about theatre for OnStage Blog and edited hundreds more for almost 10 years.

I love theatre, musicals, and everything about the acting process. I love sharing opinions on good and bad acting from a fan’s point of view.

There was just one small problem.

I had never actually auditioned for a play.

The one and only time I acted in a play was in middle school, when I played Petruchio in Taming of the Shrew.

I took a theatre class in high school and practiced acting for a semester. I loved the process and loved acting on stage in front of an audience, big or small.

But that was the end of my acting career. Nothing in my 20s, nothing in my 30s. There are many reasons why, almost all of them lame, but the biggest one was probably my fear of forgetting lines on stage.

That kept me from auditioning for any production in my area, big or small.

Well, until now.

At 44 years old, I was approached at a church event by a fellow parishioner about trying out for a play being done by a local theatre group.

And I thought, for the first time ever, “Now’s the time”.

I had to fill out a form to sign up for auditions, and it asked for my headshot and resume. Well, I didn’t have either. I took my phone out, took a selfie, and submitted that along with a note that my theatre resume would be a blank piece of paper.

At the time, I felt, “I have zero chance of getting a role.”

I looked at the script to see if there was a minor role with only a couple of lines. Maybe they’d cast me as that, and I could get my feet wet.

Nope. There are 4 male characters, and each probably has at least 100 lines.

Gulp.

I thought about backing out.

“Now’s not the time”.

“I can’t do this”

“I can help out in other ways, maybe backstage or front of house”

But then I thought, “What do I have to lose?”

I walked into the audition room for the first time in my life. I showed up a few minutes early. I was terrified. I introduced myself to the director, stage manager, and producer. I made sure they knew I had no expectations of being cast; I was just happy to meet them and let them know I wanted to help this production in any way they needed.

They couldn’t have been nicer. Told me there’s nothing to worry about, it’s “just community theatre” (not exactly reassuring, but I appreciated the sentiment), and to give it my best.

And the room was just me on the other side of the table, an area I spent years writing about and editing.

And now I’m here.

They asked me to read for the 2nd male lead. It was a bit of a relief because this was the character I read the most heading into the audition. The character was a blowhard accountant. I’m a bit of a financial nerd, and I love faking being a blowhard to get laughs from my family and friends.

I can do this.

I did the reading with one of the board members. It was supposed to be a cold reading, but I was familiar enough with the lines that I decided to try being in character a bit.

This play is a comedy, so I played it a bit exaggerated to try to get some laughs. Go big or go home.

I got some chuckles, maybe out of politeness, maybe genuine. But my nerves dissipated. I was comfortable.

I finished the scene.

I was done.

Or so I thought.

“Can you read through a few lines of the lead character now?

Gulp.

I know what this usually means from our own editorials and podcasts.

If they want you to read from a bigger character, they usually like what they hear.

The problem is, I didn’t read through any of the lead character’s lines before the audition.

I had to wing it.

They read his character bio aloud. He’s an older curmudgeon who’s very forgetful.

Ok, I can sometimes be either of those things. I can do this.

And I did. I broke out in a slightly different, crankier voice. I improvised some facial quirks. I made a couple of dramatic pauses for laughs. More chuckles.

I felt relaxed. I was giving my best shot.

The scene was over, they thanked me for the audition, and asked me to circle any conflicts with their rehearsal schedule.

I walked out of that audition room energized. I still had no assumptions that I would get cast. The company has many talented actors. In my mind, I shouldn’t be cast.

But they saw what I could do, whether for this production or for the next. Hopefully, I can help with this production in any capacity.

But now I’m thinking, “What if I DO get cast? Can I really memorize all these lines?” (you can see how bad I am at memorizing lines here)

I woke up last night with stage fright, and I haven’t even been cast yet (if at all).

“If I’m not going to be cast, why did they ask me to read for the lead?”

But now I know why actors get crazy waiting for the cast list to drop. (This Batman meme came immediately to mind)

Yet, no matter what happens, I’m glad I auditioned.

No matter what age you are, if you’ve spent years thinking about auditioning but telling yourself that ship has sailed, I can now tell you something from experience:

Shoot your shot. Especially because it could be the first of many shots.