I received an email a few days ago from an actress that I worked with a couple years back in a production of the Agatha Christie murder mystery Ten Little Indians. Aimee's very talented and I enjoyed working with her immensely. We played the romantic leads of the show and we had a great time flirting onstage whilst watching our fellow characters get picked off one by one. She's one of those people that are just ideal for period pieces.

Aimee told me about auditions for a production of the classic Arsenic and Old Lace. So, on a lark, I decided to audition. I haven't been doing many plays lately becasue they're so time consuming but I figured, you can never audition too much. It's like a muscle that needs constant exercising and will get stronger the more you use it.

So, I went to the audition and read for the smaller role of a crazy Irish/NYC cop. It's one of those roles that just gives you permission to ham it up and chew the scenery. Have a blast and let go. I did just that and got a good response from the director and the producer. They didn't ask me to read for that role again. I suspect that they had other people in mind for it that either did a better job and/or looked more the part. Though I really enjoy doing character parts, I don't get to do them very often because of how I look. We all have our thing.

In any case, they asked me to stay and read for the male lead part, Mortimer. He was played by Cary Grant in the movie of Arsenic and Old Lace (though I've never seen it). I was given three scenes and got to read two of them. The first was with the two sweet but murderous aunts. I didn't have a lot of dialogue but I was honestly enchanted by the two ladies and felt I did well holding up my end of the scene.

I went back to the waiting area and ran into Aimee. She hadn't changed a bit and we had a great time joking and catching up. Unbeknownst to me, one of our other Indians castmates was also there. I hadn't recognized Elaine for some reason. She was wearing her hair differently but essentially looked the same. It was delightful catching up with both of them.

After awhile, I went in to read with Aimee. It turned out that she had been already been cast as the young ingenue lead. We read together and I had no trouble establishing chemistry and having a grand time. I left the room and waited for awhile outside. Aimee came out eventually and we said our goodbyes and I drove home, feeling rather good about the audition.

Now it's a good idea, after an audition, for an actor to just "let it go." You can't change what you've done and the decisions are just out of your hands. You did the best you could at the time and that's that. The decision is in someone else's hands.

With that in mind, it's still a bit difficult not to keep an extra vigilant watch on your phone, just in case they might... wait... was that the telephone?