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Posts Tagged ‘audition’

Curtis was an actor standing in front of a theatre in New York City. Acting was the first thing he cold recall ever wanting to do as a child and as he stood there at age fifty six getting ready to open the door and audition for Death of a Salesman he hoped that it would be the last thing he wanted to do with his life. This was in part, or perhaps fully due to the fact that he never pursued acting past his high school production of the same play that he was about to audition for again after fifty years off stage.

Before Curtis entered the theatre that was located next to one of the five star hotels New York City he thought back about that theatrical experience had in high school so many years ago. At the time he was acknowledged as having an emotional depth that went far beyond his years and he was predicted to be the most likely to become famous in his high school year book. Somehow, however, his early love of acting and dreams for a live onstage slipped past him as he let year after year disappear in front of a computer screen.

And now there he was all these years later, not trying to suddenly fulfill the high school year book prediction so many years later, but perhaps trying to recapture a bit of who he was back then. In many ways his life felt a lot like the character of Willy Loman’s and he thought it felt a bit ironic to him that he was standing there feeling almost desperate to play a role that had come so naturally and easily to him so many years before. Perhaps because back then he really felt he had nothing to lose, and now it seemed as his nervous hand pulled open the door that everything depended on the outcome of this audition. He handed his resume and headshot to the assistant and tried to muster a bit of sincere smile. Curtis stepped out onto the stage and looked out into dark theatre. Facing the casting crew and facing his fears Curtis spoke the words, am I in the light?