Sometimes I hate this "business"

This kinda thing doesn't happen too often but it does happen and I always seem to get the ass-end of the situation. I don't really know why. But I do. So here's what has been going on in the past two weeks with a theater company that shall remain nameless but let's call, for the sake of giving it a name, "Chicago Dramatists"...

Two weeks ago (today, as it turns out) I took the commuter train back from seeing Heidi in Indiana for a few days so that I could go to an audition and the big "Escanaba In Love" show (which I had found out as I was packing up had been cancelled). The audition was at the above mentioned company and I was "crashing" it. Essentially, what that means is that the audition time for that day was for members of the Actors Equity union. I'm a candidate (which means I'm sort of, slowly, on my way to maybe one day joining the union) so if there is a slot that opens up somewhere, I can slide in there and audition. So that's what I was trying to do. But they had wildly overscheduled these audition slots and so I waited around for a looooong time (long enough to read the entire original script) to get in. In fact, I was the last person they ended up seeing for the day...after 2 1/2 hours of waiting.

I read the scene they had given me (the Big Scary Guy role, naturally) and did a pretty good job. The director laughed at all the right times, he gave me some notes, and asked me to try it again. So I did...and they laughed some more. "Great", I thought! I thanked them for sticking around to see me and off I went on my merry way. According to the literature they passed out at the audition, the callbacks for the show were to be the following Tuesday and Wednesday. I sat back and waited for a call.

On that following Tuesday night I was cleaning up my apartment a little bit while watching baseball (Go Red Sox!!) and came across the sides I had collected at that audition. "Well," I thought, "guess I don't need to keep these since the callbacks are going on tonight and I never heard anything." I tossed them into a big bag of garbage. About an hour later (this must be about 7:45PM or so) I get a voice mail from some guy (let's call him "Patrick") at "Chicago Dramatists" saying that he wanted to tell me that they had not called people back yet and wanted to let me know that the callbacks were now scheduled for the following Thursday (which, by the way, is today) and if I'm called back I will get a call on Tuesday. Also, if I take another part in another show, they would appreciate me calling and letting them know.

"Fantastic" I think to myself. It seems to me that this "Patrick" couldn't really SAY that I would be called back but that it seemed like pretty much a foregone conclusion. Having to call if I take something else is certainly a good sign...especially considering that I hadn't even been through a second audition yet!

But there's a problem. I have a show on Thursdays. So I called "Chicago Dramatists" to let them know and I finally get to talk to the Artistic Director and Director of the show...let's call him "Russ". So I explained that the message I got was fairly ambiguous and even though I understood that I didn't actually HAVE a callback, I appreciated being told about the later callbacks and I was happy to just maybe get a second chance to read for the part and blah blah blah. "Russ" listened and said that the callbacks would be in the afternoon on Thursday so that IF I was called back it shouldn't interfere with my show that night and then he said "you know what...this is silly, you'll get called back so plan on coming back".

So I thanked him and hung up. Great! I penciled into my calendar that this afternoon (at some point and in some location) would be a callback for "Chicago Dramatists" and stopped worrying about it. But then yesterday afternoon I realized that I never got a call and wondered if maybe "Russ" thought that he had given me all the information so I called last night during a break in "Six Degrees" rehearsals to leave a message about it. It's the passive aggressive way of dealing with the situation...perfect!!

But "Russ" was there. And he told me in no uncertain terms that I had not been called back. So I apologized for my misunderstanding and sorry for bothering him so late at the office and I hope to be able to read for him again sometime and blah blah blah. So...no callback. Which I can deal with.

But what the hell is that all about? Ever since the initial audition, I feel like I've gotten nothing but positive feedback from this company. Calling to tell me the callbacks were moved. Asking me to call if I get cast in something else at the same time as their show. Saying that I would get a call on Tuesday for callbacks. The director flat-out TELLING me that I was called back. And then, when I call to try and get information and finalize this thing...I get treated like I had just dumped poop on his head. I don't get it.

So that's the kind of thing I get to deal with a lot in this business. People who are too busy or too self-important to bother to remember my name or actually give me correct information. I hate it. It's obnoxious. And I think I deserve better treatment than that.

Sorry...I'm just venting right now as I sit at home getting ready to go off to earn my $10 tonight doing this great show when I should be reading for a decent part in a good Equity show that might have actually paid me something that isn't insulting.

ARGH!