More Than I Bargained For

Some pretty extraordinary things went down at MTC this week. Out of all of the excitement galore, two events in particular stand out in my mind.

First off, we had not one, but two seminars this week. One was with Barry Grove, the executive producer of MTC (as he has been since the company began, some 40 years ago). His life is pretty fascinating, and he's such a legend in New York theatre that it was incredible to be able to hear what he had to say. My favorite quote from the meeting: "You have to be like a chameleon and change colors...there are also some fish who change colors as well. I'm more of a fish person, so I associate better with water animals than with land creatures."...WHAT?!

But the other seminar was possibly even more exciting. This one was run by a special guest: Bill Pullman. That's right, the Bill Pullman. Of such classic films as "Spaceballs", "Casper", and "Independence Day". It was fantastic to hear him speak about his life as an actor - he has done a lot with both theatre and film, and he took a crazy road getting to where he is. He even has a Master's degree in directing - who knew?! Of course, we theatre interns were most interested in his work with Edward Albee, who is cah-razy. He told wondrous anecdotes, and we were even provided with free snacks and refreshments. An exciting time indeed.

And finally, I have saved the best for last. Around 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, I got a call at my desk from Kelly in the Casting Department, who was frantically looking for someone who can play the piano. They were doing auditions for a musical version of "The Hudsucker Proxy", and their accompanist had to leave. There were still three auditions left, so they wanted me to play for them. Of course I took them up on the offer. I hurried downstairs and into the audition room, where sat Lynne Meadow (MTC artistic director) and Glenn Slater (Tony-nominated Broadway lyricist), as well as some others. And the first audition was with Broadway star Jenn Gambatese. These auditions were legit, and I rocked all three (well, the last was a little sketchy, but it was mainly the girl's fault...). So basically, I made some good impressions in front of some big-time Broadway names. My professional accompanying debut, and I didn't even have to seek it out...

In return for coming to the rescue, the casting office delivered to me a bottle of red wine and card thanking me for "saving our bacon". They also said I should give them my resume for them to put on file as an audition accompanist. So yeah, I count this experience as a rousing success.