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On Monday, the final auditions for UTPA’s version of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” were held at the Studio Theatre in the Communication Arts and Sciences Building.
As 7 p.m. came around and the auditions officially began, about a dozen students were signing up and given a “No Fear Shakespeare: Much Ado About Nothing” script. Although the thespians acted as if they were not antsy, when asked for an interview, they said they were nervous and didn’t want a distraction away from their roles. Stage manager Russell Licciardello, junior TV/film major, was in charge of the auditions, and suggested the media wait until after their auditions.
Some students sat quietly, reading lines. Others paced back and forth inside of their William Shakespeare box reciting lines to themselves. One thespian, Patty Moreno, role-played with one of the student-assistants working for the stage manager.
When it was Moreno’s turn, she walked in with a small smile and didn’t come out of the Studio Theatre until after ten minutes later. This final production of the 2009-2010 schedule is also the last chance for the senior performance major to have a role in a theatre production at UTPA. The play runs April 21-25 on campus.
“It would be kind of bad,” she said, “to not be in the last show.”
Making the grade was especially important because acting in a Shakespeare play looks good on a resume for any person in theatre. Although it seems to be more pressure for the senior, she said, “I only get nervous right as I enter the room, but never before or after an audition.”
Whether the director, Jack Carroll, a guest director from STC, has callbacks or not, Moreno said the most nerve-wrecking thing about auditioning is waiting for the cast list.
“It’s horrible,” she said. “You sometimes have to wait and wait.”
Unfortunately, according to Licciardello, a callback list is anticipated but names have yet to be announced. Callback auditions will be on Friday, with an unknown time at the moment. Until then, the anxious Moreno will just have to wait to find out if she made the callback list or not. For now, there’s “much ado about nothing.”
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