Acting

This morning I did my first casting/audition for a movie.

I haven't explained yet that at the end of last year I took my first steps into acting. The possibility came to me by chance and I was so attracted to the idea that I couldn't refuse the invitation to join this independent group which has been in the circuit for more than 50 years.

Particularities of this company:

- it was founded by a group of theatre enthusiasts 56 years ago.
- it developed into the first Independent Theatrical Company in this country.
- it became the longest-lived English-speaking amateur dramatics society in South America.
- the Society has so far publicly presented a total of more than a hundred different plays ranging from Victorian melodrama to slap-stick comedy, thrillers to romantic pieces.
- the group has grown from a small nomadic troupe, rehearsing in members' living-rooms and presenting the productions in contacted theatres; till in 1986 moved into their own venue -an old house converted into a theatre, a workshop and a English Pub (with a barbacue in the garden!).

I made my first contact with them same period C moved to live with us as I considered it a great possibility for him to stay in touch with the English community and to interact with other people in his own language, without the hurdles of trying to communicate in Spanish that he couldn´t speak at all.

All the group was very welcoming, fun people, nice food, good drinks and a warm environment. Not long after we met them, C gave an acoustic concert at the pub and later they didn't find it too hard to convice me to join them for a new production.

My first performance with them was last March with a dramma. Only 3 women on stage and I was one of them. The experience was amazing. The process of preparing the play was hard work but a lot of fun too. However, I was not sure of my feelings about acting until the night of the first performance. Two minutes before entering the stage I was terryfied; the next two minutes on stage I was already enjoying it, the adrenaline running inside my veins, and what was more satisfaying, I could sense that the audience was enjoying it too. I felt that I had it in my hands. It was a great success, and I my thought was "now that I have tried, that I have started, now I won't be able to stop".

And I haven't.

At the moment, we are working on a new production to be presented on the last 3 week-ends of June, with performances Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

Last week, when we were rehearsing at the centre we had a meeting with these canadian guys who were looking for new talents (English- speakers actors). They explained to us that the movie is a comedy coproduced by Canada and my country in an attempt to give a new breath to the film industry in this part of the world.

They asked us if we would like to be part of the project and they stayed to see us rehearse. When we finished, they took us pictures and asked for our contact details. A week later, they contacted me to do this casting/audition.

When I arrived, there were many people already awaiting for their turn. I recognised some of them as television actors and a couple of commedians. Some of them were already learning lines, some others were doing vocal excercises. I announced myself with the person in charge and she said to me that they would explain me my role when they call me.

Fantastic: I would have to "improvise" a situation. Something that, for a couple of reasons, I am not good at:

1. I am not a trained actress yet.
2. My experience in acting is very poor!

However, I thought, "I am here already, I will do my best".

15 minutes later they called me to the set. I had to improvise a funny conversation with the main actor. They only gave me two clues: he was a pop star, I was the make up girl, excited by his presence and wanting to gossip all about his life. It was fun to do, the guy was very nice and funny too... but let's face it, I was not prepared for it. I was not confident enough about myself and even when I could hear some laughs from the rest of the crew watching, the situation was not hilarious.

I am content enough that I did it. The experience was a good one, but the opportunity came to me in the wrong moment. Hopefully, there will be other chances in the near future.