We got into the hotel, got beautiful, and headed out to our first Seattle appointment. Apparently, every theatre in this town minus one is located in the Seattle Center. I am exaggerating. But a lot of them are.
We met the casting director at this one theatre, and he told us that our MFAs told him that we could do a monologue. He was happy to see our pieces if we wanted to show them to him, but he didn't need to. So we didn't. He talked with us for maybe an hour and a half about the theatre scene in Seattle, how he does his casting, and how we can best stay in touch. He is a former New Yorker--it was like being back at home. He actually is going to be in NYC conducting auditions in early November, and told us to keep in touch about those!! He was right down to business--specifically going through the rest of his season with us, and what we might be right for. It was great. Then he showed us the theatres, the backstage areas, the shops--very welcoming. It was great.
Later that day, we had a singing audition, and the auditor happened to be a Brooklyn College directing MFA grad. So he was one of Tom's students--Tom, you better be reading--and was realy chill. He told Emily to check out the original Starbucks, because the mermaid lady there has nipples. I guess nipples were too edgy for Starbuck to include them on their national trademark. But they are still at the original store. So we went to Pike's Market and saw the nipples.
That night, though, was pretty amazing. We went to a "Conversations with Artists" talk with the Artistic Director and Managing Director of another theatre we are seeing. They both spoke about their careers, their origins in the regional theatre movement, and their mission and role today. Fascinating. Fascinating. And both of them said they never imagined they would be doing their particular job. I should write more about it, but I would not know where to begin. We met them both afterwards, along with the moderator (who is a cousin of one of the BC dramaturgs--this is getting ridiculous), and the President of the Board at the theatre. "Good question," they told me. I had asked them to elaborate on the shift in what regional theatre's role is since they started. So yay me.
We were both buzzing that night---oh man. This is so frickin fun.
