Hey everybody!

So, the first round of Equity auditions for I Got Fired was yesterday. What a blast. We saw over 200 extremely talented performers. The first person to sing (at 9:30AM) arrived at the audition studio at 5:30AM… wow. 

I mentioned last week how much being “behind the table” stresses me out, but with the help of donuts and the cover of having several other NYMF shows in attendance, I got through the day just fine.

Some quick thoughts:

• The new “it” (read: overdone) song this week are “Here I Am” from Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. We heard it at least 6 times.
• I need new headshots. And too many people’s headshots don’t look like them. Everybody says it, but nobody believes it… you are better served by a headshot that looks like you, not by one that looks like a 19 year old supermodel. Its often your non-supermodelish qualities that we are looking for! (Please don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of supermodels, I just don’t have any of them in my shows… hmm….thats an idea…)
• The time pressure is so high (to see as many people as we can), that the folks behind the table only get breaks that last only 2-3 minutes. Its worth it, because saving that extra 5 minutes allows us to see at least 5 more people.
• EVERYBODY can sing their faces off. I don’t know how many times I wrote “great voice” on the back of a headshot.
• I am frequently charmed when people screw up or get flustered. Its a moment when you get to see who the person is, not how “professional” they can act. Often times a technically flawless audition can be a little boring… drop your music or something… I can be really refreshing and appealing for somebody to be their own spastic self in an audition, not some sort of robot (YOU HEAR THAT MUSICAL THEATER TRAINING PROGRAMS??? NO ROBOTS!!)
• Heard some music composed by some of my friends and fellow young writers (Kooman & Dimond, Adam Gwon etc). It was great. 
• Also startling… seeing shows that you wrote on people’s resumes. I saw both Joshua & Scooby Doosical on resumes. It even looks like they didn’t write it in just cuz I was there. Thats a humbling thought. 
• Now I have a stack of 200 headshots, plus 100 submissions of incredible people who I don’t have parts for. Next show: Cast of 400!

ALSO: I will be attending the: NYMF OPEN (Non-equity) CALL FOR I Got Fired: A Semi-Autobiographical Sort-of-True Revenge Musical on Friday (the 27th). Go to MichaelCassara.net/audition to sign up electronically. 

Thats it for now… don’t forget to read the amazing IGF Intern Blog!

Keith