Woman in Shakespeare Audition Unaware She Signed Up for Master Class

10th Floor at Nola: Having spent a semester abroad at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, Jamie Brock felt more than qualified walking into her audition for A Midsummer Night’s Dream with Shakes-Your-Booty Theatre Co, a brand new, non-union, site specific, New Jersey based company. Upon entering the room, Brock quickly discovered just how wrong she was.

“At first I wasn’t sure I was in the right place, when I walked into the room and only saw this little man eating a burger behind a table, but I rolled with it,” Brock confided in Hackstage, “I only managed to get through ‘Gallop apace you fiery-footed steeds’ before he cut me off.”

Rather than being offended by this abruptness, Brock was pleasantly surprised to discover that director Miles Hallwell had much to teach her about the joy of Shakespeare.

“First he had me hop around the room like a baby bunny rabbit to work on the iambic pentameter of the piece. Then, we delved into my childhood to get to the emotional center of the piece. Finally, in the third hour, we did Gilbert and Sullivan-style tongue twisters to really get the bite on those consonants.”

For his part, Hallwell says it’s all in a day’s work. “I only tend to make it through 3 or 4 auditions per day, though I do schedule 20-25 an hour, just in case. Though I usually end up casting my friends anyway, I think the actors that are receptive to it (and don’t storm out of the room in a huff) really benefit from this audition process.”

Ultimately, Brock did not receive a callback for the project, but she was personally invited to donate to the company’s Kickstarter. “While I’m dissapointed that I wasn’t cast, the silver lining is real artists see every experience as a learning experience--now I don’t have to go to grad school!”