UPTA no good

So last night about midnight, after 13 hours of driving, I arrived back at the apartment after my very long weekend in Memphis and the surrounding area. I was there, for the most part, to particpate in the UPTAs (which, I think, stands for the United Professional Theater Auditions). It's the chance for actors to go up on stage in front of around 100 producers from all over the country and wow them in 90 seconds or less. It's fun. By the time my audition number came around on Monday, a lot of the companies' reps were gone. Which is odd because if you're working, you have shows Fridays and Saturdays and Sundays and the only day to audition is Monday. So if you've got a gig, it's almost like you're being penalized.

Or something.

Anyway, I got four callbacks, three offers to slip my headshot and resume under the hotel room of the company rep for their files, and two requests that I attend the dance callback Monday evening. So I signed up for callbacks where appropriate and went to one and then hit the dance callback. I knew a bunch of people there watching these, so the pressure was kind of on. DM from Turkeyville was there, "Jeremy" from the place Heidi has worked with for years was there, and a lot of the people who were running and volunteering with the UPTAs were folks I knew well back when I lived in Memphis. The guy who runs the auditions every year even yelled "Tucker loves the dance" down at me as I was rehearsing the basic routine in the lobby-type area. But I think I pulled it off alright. I even got a few compliments after the fact. So good for me!

A couple of the callbacks were very interesting. The reps said all the right things...one even wondered where I'd been for the past ten years. She claimed to have been looking for my type every year she had been at the UPTAs and that I should come to her theater's season auditions in December because that's where the majority of their casting comes from. One guy actually told me that when he stops having fun in theater, he'll stop doing it. I've been saying that for YEARS!!! I had been to mass auditions like this before but this was the first time I ever really felt like it was the right decision and the right thing for me to be doing. I REALLY think that the 10 or 12 year "break" from these kinds of auditions has seasoned me enough to know what I'm looking for, know what I'm doing a bit more, and have the knowledge to ask the good questions and trust my gut a little bit.

After all the callbacks and dancing and running aroung the hotel in general, it was time for the most important part of the day...the hanging out at the hotel bar and talking people up a little more. Now, I've never been very good at "schmoozing" but this turned out alright. I got to talk to the aforementioned head of UPTAs, which was nice. I got to meet and talk to a friend of Heidi's who offered the both of us a chance to travel together a do a promotional kind of show for his Alaska cruise lines (or Alaska tourism...or...um...something...whatever, it's two months or so traveling with her and having fun). And I got to do a little catching up with folks I know (or knew) and finding out what they have all been up to.

All-in-all, I left there after a looooooooong day feeling pretty good about how it all went. I will be doing a little more research on a couple of these places to see if it looks like something I would want to be a part of if, in fact, an offer comes through but I feel good about the time and energy I spent on everything. We'll see what happens.

Other than that, I got to introduce Heidi to one of my favorite places...Memphis. She had never been so I took her to Graceland, Sun Studios, Beale Street (specifically Silky O'Sullivans and the Rum Boogie Cafe). We ate at Huey's and Corky's BBQ and Brother Junipers. We hung out with some college friends and she got introduced to a bunch more old Memphis friends while she hung out with us at the UPTA hotel. And because we felt like a change of pace after Monday, we decided to go down to the Tunica, MS on Tuesday and hang with my friend "Tommy J" and do a little gambling at the Horseshoe Casino. You should have seen Heidi's eyes light up when we entered the casino! Blinking lights and ringing bells and loud music...she fell in love with it instantly. And "Tommy J" hooked us up with a cool hotel room at the Horseshoe hotel. Awesome!!!!

So after I spent 13 hours driving through AWFUL windy and rainy weather yesterday, I collapsed into my own bed last night. This morning I returned the rental car and now I'm just trying to clear my head from the whirlwind past 5 days. I have lots of those annoying follow-up postcards to write and send out and some research to do on some of these places and maybe even some headshots to send out to the places that didn't call me back but look interesting to work for and even some e-mails to send to those people I saw this weekend and got to catch up with to thank them for their time and tell them how good it was to see them again. Oh...and I have to be off-book for "Mop Top Festival" tonight so there's that as well. Lots to do.

One thing I definitely will NOT be doing today is dancing. Had enough of that junk on Monday...