Open Call

My daughter goes on auditions. Not that many auditions if you are a full-time working actor, but a fair number for a full-time high school student.
 
These days, she can often go it alone, but today, she and I attended the open call for NBC's The Sound of Music. For hours, we stood in an organized crowd of mostly girls, some boys, and a whole lot of nervous parents. The percentage game makes it pretty clear that most of the crowd will walk away with the experience, but no new role to go with it, and yet, we continue to do it. After all, as you'll hear in many different ways, you'll never know if you don't try (aka, "you've gotta be in it to win it," "you can't win if you don't play," etc.)
 
Auditions may be a very specific process, but they're really not so different from most of the challenges we face in life. We are judged every day, not just on our ability or preparation, but also on our appearance and on that vague criterion known as our "fit." We can rail against being judged on any of these things, but if we want to do more than just sit in our own little world and read or surf the Internet, we have to be prepared for it, and if we want to move forward in what we do, we actually have to embrace the process of being judged.
 
Our trip to the open call left us both a little tired, but happy for the experience. Who's to say if there will be any more result than that. But, at least for today, we embraced the process. We were in the game (whether "in it" will win it or not). And as long as she and I can continue to appreciate the game--win or lose--I am open when called.