experience
Not Throwing Away My Shot
My experience auditioning for Derby Dinner Playhouse
BY REMY SISK | PHOTOS BY CHRISTIAN WATSON
A S A M U S I C A L T H E AT RE AC TO R i n
Kentuckiana, I have often wondered what it
would be like to be on the stage of Derby Dinner
Playhouse, the region’s preeminent dinner theatre.
The quality of Derby productions is always
top-notch, from their technical production value
to their supremely talented casts.
I’d thought about auditioning at Derby’s periodic
open calls on multiple occasions, but for whatever
reason – I thought I wasn’t good enough, I thought
there wasn’t a role for me, etc. – I had backed
out each time. However, at their recent January
call, one of the auditionees was a semi-awkward
26-year-old tenor whose palms were sweaty and
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water bottle was almost empty upon arrival…in
other words, it was me.
I have a problem that many musical theatre
performers can likely relate to: I am not great at
auditioning.
I can sing my song well, do my monologue
proficiently and look natural the whole time
while at home, with a coach or in the car, but the
second you put me in front of a table of individuals
judging my ability, I overthink the song, fumble the
monologue and look uncomfortable doing both.
But this audition wasn’t for a smaller local
company; it was for Derby Dinner Playhouse, a
professional theatre where, if I were to be cast,
I would be able to call myself a paid, working
actor. With that knowledge, I resolved to make
this audition my best in years.
Derby’s criteria for an audition is a one-minute
monologue as well as 16 bars of music or one full
song – both fairly standard.
My monologue choice was easy. I have one
that I’ve used on a few different occasions, and I
knew it was the one I wanted to perform. It’s from
the groundbreaking play “The Laramie Project”
and is spoken by a college student who recounts
getting into an argument with his parents when
he tells them he’ll be auditioning for “Angels in
America.” The monologue fits me, as it’s meant