Chelsea Morgan

Yay! It's Friday! We made it!!!

I've had a long and busy week of auditioning and transition at work, so I'm celebrating with St. Vincent. I've been listening to Digital Witness a lot, but this Cruel is speaking to me more at the moment. 

Hope your Fridays are all awesome, and that everyone gets to enjoy the beautiful weather this weekend. 

Naptime at a particularly long audition

There are a lot of people in my everyday life who have no real idea what I do to pursue theatre on a daily basis. Sometimes it's difficult to explain why I need a day off of work for example, and harder still to justify why I would forego a day of pay for even the slightest chance to audition. People in general, especially in the USA, tend to gloss over the importance of fine arts in our culture and thus a void exists in our society's knowledge about the day to day work of every artist. One aspect that baffles many of my non-theatre friends is the concept of auditioning. How does it work? What do you do all day? How come you have to take an entire day off for a 10 minute audition? It is my goal with this particular post to address some of those questions and hopefully shed some light on the specifics of what I do all day long.

If you're in the Chicago theatre community, you know most of this already, but here's a little background for those who don't, or those who are interested in getting started in this theatre town. There are Equity (unionized) and Non-Equity productions happening all over the city. If you're an Equity actor, you're in the union! That means some sweet benefits (like audition appointment times and health insurance) but it also means you are unable to audition for Non-Equity productions. Of which Chicago has many. Equity productions tend to pay better, but there is also a saturated market and many actors going in for the same roles. But what does this mean for auditions? Well, Equity performers can schedule an audition time in Chicago, and Non-Equity members cannot. 

So how does this affect me? I am currently an EMC, which stands for Equity Membership Candidate. I get a point for each week of Equity work I complete, and once I reach 50 weeks, or 50 points, I am eligible to join Equity (also known as AEA or its official title: the Actors' Equity Association). This is awesome, and I would very much like to be Equity one day, but for now, being an EMC works well in my favor. It means I can audition for whatever I want. I can't make an appointment time, but I still have the privilege of going on a wait list before Non-Equity, Non-EMC actors. This brings me to...THE WAIT LIST.

Because not all audition slots get filled for every audition, the directors want to see as many people as possible. When there is a gap in their day, they fill it with people who are Non-Equity, and EMC's like me get first pick. So what does that mean? Whenever I go to an Equity audition, I present my EMC card and put my name on a waiting list with all the other EMC's. When all the Equity actors have finished auditioning, the audition monitor will start calling names from the EMC list. This makes it really tricky to know when I'll be seen, if at all. And this is why I need to take a full day off from anything else I might have planned, because I might have to be at an audition from 8am until 6pm to be seen by the director. Trust me, I've done it. And some days, I might go and sit at an audition ALL DAY and not get seen. It's unfortunate, but you have to give it your best. Some days (the best days) I go in at 10 and get seen right away! You never know what you're going to encounter.

In New York and LA, things are different and a little harder. I'm glad that in Chicago, the monitors are gracious and the directors more often than not make every effort to see every actor they can. And I'm grateful that I have a flexible job that allows me to leave when I have an opportunity for theatre. Not everyone is so lucky. 

But Chelsea, what do you DO all day if you sit around and wait to audition? That's it? You sit around?

Haha, no. Well, sometimes. But imagine sitting and waiting in completely uncomfortable anxiety for several hours and then you have to go sing, act, and look gorgeous. It's not that easy. And it takes a lot of preparation. 

First I wake up, usually later than I wanted to. Today I was really late and woke at 7.30 instead of 6. I get up, do my hair and makeup and vocalize. Even if I'm just going to read a monologue I'll still sing to open up my throat.

Mike is usually able (and willing) to make me breakfast and so after hair and makeup are done, I'll scarf down some eggs. If not, any protein breakfast will do. Oatmeal, whole grain toast, fruit. I can't eat dairy before I sing and I ALWAYS have tea.

Next I'll get dressed, grab my book and anything else I'll need for the day. If it's going to be a long day I'll bring makeup, snacks, and usually a book to read. Sometimes I bring a change of clothes or different audition shoes.

I run for the bus and switch to the train, depending on where I'm going. If there's an audition at the Equity building, I'll drive and bite the parking bullet. If it's anywhere else in the loop I take public transit because I don't want to spend any more time tracking down a spot.

When I get to my destination, anxiety plagues me as I sign up on the EMC list. If it's a new audition location for me, that makes me doubly nervous. Where will I pee? Can I warm up? Change? I go over my material more times than necessary. I overthink. I writhe.

And then I wait.

The waiting is the killer here. I wait until there's a slight and fleeting opportunity to be seen. And pray that I don't fuck it up. If I do get a chance to be seen, I queue up in the line and the wait intensifies. I am fidgety. I sweat. Everyone is as nervous as I am but everyone is also polite and respectful. The wait is one for hope, not for despair. I never go to an audition that I think is a waste of my time, however much I plead for them to be over. They are a necessary evil, but also a strange time of focused peace. And everyone there understands exactly what you're going through.

A note on friends at these auditions: they are abundant. I am proud to belong to such a community. If the worst part of auditioning a the anticipation, the best is the people.  In fact, I have met some of my dearest friends in Chicago at auditions. (Game of celebrity, anyone?) When I was fresher and greener, I saw these actors as my superiors. So imposing! So articulate! Everyone was already connected, how was I to fit in?

But slowly, I began to meet people through shows and auditions. Gradually, I saw those people outside of and inside the theatre. We knew each other's desires and we knew that there was certainly enough room for all of us. Maybe not in every season, nor every show, but one day. I hear people say that actors are vain, shallow, pretentious, and rude. This is not the case here. These people are compassionate, friendly, honest, and dedicated. These people make me laugh when I am anxious. They make me smile when I am stressed. They encourage me when I doubt myself. They carry me when I cannot carry myself. They make me want to do this even more than my own ambition. I will never stop being grateful for my fellow actors. My friends.

In any stressful situation, so many things can go wrong. Forget your music? Your headshot? Your words? Been there. So has everyone else. And in my experience, everyone is always willing to help each other out. Auditions never stop and they never stop being difficult, but the people who participate make all the difference. Even if I could pick another career to love, the people would never be the same. So what do I do all day? Most of the time, stress out for a 10 minute moment in my life. But when you have amazing people on your side, it certainly becomes a lot more fun. 

So I'm lame and didn't have time to post a playlist song yesterday, but to compensate, you get DOUBLE today! First up is this awesome jam by Husky:

And second, I'm super happy to announce that my incredible friend Emily has just released her newest album. Her music is rad and her friendship is radder. Give a listen to his lovely lady and check out her website as well!

Happy Satuday!

Rainy days are so awesome. Cleaning my apartment, curling up in bed with House Beautiful, and packing up to drive to the burbs tonight to hang out with family. My perfect day, including the cleaning. And so today I give you a little KT Tunstall. 

This song I first heard on a rainy day at work and it was such a lovely moment of solace. Peace with an undercurrent of movement and transformation. I love songs that are quiet but still driven. What are your favorite songs like that? Or any other rainy day songs you love? Post below if you'd like. I'll be reading and sipping tea under cloudy skies. 

It's no secret that A Beautiful Mess is not only an amazing and beautiful blog, but my absolute favorite one as well. All of their projects look stellar, but some are definitely more accessible for a struggling actor. Can I build a desk in my apartment right now? No. But can I make these delicious lemon meringue Greek yogurt parfaits? Absolutely. 

Web integrity is super important to me (and to any artist), so please check out their blog for the original source of this recipe. I used exclusively Trader Joe's products for my rendition, and it's more of a step-by-step than a complicated recipe (layer the ingredients), but they were the original, so they should tell you how it's done! I'm just happy to share my version and pass along the credit to the lovely team over at ABM. 

A desk, though...