Learning to Handle Rejection, Theater Edition
Coming into my freshman year at CBA, I can honestly say I really had no idea what I was doing, but one thing kept me motivated.
When I went to a new middle school and wanted to make some friends, I auditioned for the school musical with the thought that acting and singing would be really fun. They gave me the lead role three years in a row after that day. I still don’t know what they were thinking.
I showed up at CBA with the hope of auditioning for Pegasus Production Company, and got a nice big slice of humble pie. I was a big fish in a small pond heading into the ocean.
When I auditioned for the Pegasus fall drama my freshman year, I realized something pretty important. I had only acted in musicals before, which is a completely different format than straight plays.
For a play, the director will have you read sides for a certain character. Sides are samples of the script that you read for the director in order to read more at a callback. A callback is basically like moving on to the next round of tryouts. Musicals have sides in their callbacks, but not the auditions. I was used to the classic musical audition of singing a song of your choice and learning a dance routine.
I didn’t get a callback in that fall show, but I was lucky enough to learn a lot from the seniors that year as an understudy. When auditions for Music Man came that spring, I thought I knew what I was doing, but was fooling myself again.
I couldn’t dance. I was very unprepared for my singing audition because I didn’t know how to get sheet music. I got cut from the musical. I was devastated. I did lights and house crew that year and learned to love it. I prepared non-stop for my next audition and with the help of a few friends, played the lead in Don’t Drink the Water in my sophomore year.
After that, I went on to play Motel Kamzoil in Fiddler on the Roof, Eddie McCuen in The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, Dennis in All Shook Up, Mortimer Brewster in Arsenic and Old Lace, and now for my final role this March, Reverend Shaw Moore in Footloose.
I have never been happier because I am always doing what I love. The biggest piece of advice I would give to any Colt who wants to be an actor: come prepared and don’t be afraid to admit that you don’t know everything. That’s the best way you will learn.
The more prepared you are, the better your results will be, I guarantee it. I would also say – to anyone at the Academy – is to embrace failure. I figured out to learn not only from my mistakes, but also to learn from the mistakes of others. Most likely, you will have friends at CBA and beyond that will help you along the way.
