Natalie Scarlett holds auditions for 'Six Characters'
Betsy Woodruff
Issue date: 2/19/09 Section: Arts
It's 7:45 on Wednesday night, and senior Betsy Stone is about to start her final audition for a college production: Luigi Pirandello's "Six Characters in Search of an Author."
Before the audition, she glows with cheerful confidence.
"The auditioning process is really nothing, if you're used to it," she said a few days before the audition.
Often, she wears to auditions a favorite pair of navy blue stilettos she's had since her freshman year of college.
"Usually when I'm wearing them, I get the part I want, or a part," she said.
Today, though, they are notably absent - they clashed with her medium-blue shirt. Stone doesn't seem worried without them, though.
"When I'm in the real world, I won't always be able to wear those shoes," she says.
She, senior John Scribner and freshman Brian Thomas, who are auditioning together, walk calmly into the Quilhot Black Box Theatre where auditions are being held.
The director, senior Natalie Scarlett, waits for them at a long table behind a spread of papers and a mug that says, "You are special today." She's wearing her trademark burgundy combat boots.
The audition starts out like a bizarre parody of a job interview, as Scarlett peppers them with open-ended questions.
"Talk to me about the play," she says. "What did you like about the play?"
For a few minutes, they discuss theater and, specifically, "Six Characters." Scarlett is intrigued that Thomas lists the Music Man as his dream role and would love to play the lead in a big musical.
Then the actors begin to perform, posturing elaborately and contorting their faces in confusion or anger.
Scarlett uses an atypical auditioning method. Instead of asking students to read from the script of "Six Characters," she has chosen several Chekhovian scenes for the actors to read. These short scenes lack specific settings and have undefined characters, so anyone could perform them, regardless of age or gender.
Before the audition, she glows with cheerful confidence.
"The auditioning process is really nothing, if you're used to it," she said a few days before the audition.
Often, she wears to auditions a favorite pair of navy blue stilettos she's had since her freshman year of college.
"Usually when I'm wearing them, I get the part I want, or a part," she said.
Today, though, they are notably absent - they clashed with her medium-blue shirt. Stone doesn't seem worried without them, though.
"When I'm in the real world, I won't always be able to wear those shoes," she says.
She, senior John Scribner and freshman Brian Thomas, who are auditioning together, walk calmly into the Quilhot Black Box Theatre where auditions are being held.
The director, senior Natalie Scarlett, waits for them at a long table behind a spread of papers and a mug that says, "You are special today." She's wearing her trademark burgundy combat boots.
The audition starts out like a bizarre parody of a job interview, as Scarlett peppers them with open-ended questions.
"Talk to me about the play," she says. "What did you like about the play?"
For a few minutes, they discuss theater and, specifically, "Six Characters." Scarlett is intrigued that Thomas lists the Music Man as his dream role and would love to play the lead in a big musical.
Then the actors begin to perform, posturing elaborately and contorting their faces in confusion or anger.
Scarlett uses an atypical auditioning method. Instead of asking students to read from the script of "Six Characters," she has chosen several Chekhovian scenes for the actors to read. These short scenes lack specific settings and have undefined characters, so anyone could perform them, regardless of age or gender.
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