-One of the daily things I do as an actor is go onto sites such as Actor’s Access, Backstage-even Craigslist, and look for roles to audition for. If I find something that I want, I submit myself for it. Last week I got a reply from one of those submissions. I received a notice from casting director Alexandria Steinmetz to come in for an audition for a lead role in one of the Discovery ID True Crime TV Series-a role that requires long hair. This was great but also a challenge in that the audition was in New York City-which I’d only been to one time previously in 2007-and that was with someone. This time I’d be coming in solo. Plus I didn’t even know if I could afford the trip there and back. As has been usual with my acting career so far, I found a way to make it happen and was on a bus on my way to New York City at 8:30 AM.

-Now, some of the things I’ll write in here may seem to sound strange but hey, that’s the way it is for me. I will be the first to admit there are things that I have no idea about that-to most others-is second nature. For example-taking a bus. I think the last time I rode in a bus was when I was in college so this was a first for me. I was pleasantly surprised to see electrical outlets on the bus-especially on the way back-for my cell phone was almost out of power by the time I got on the bus to go back home.

-I arrived at Port Authority in NYC just before 1 PM. The audition was at 3:45-4:00. Yes, I could’ve taken the next bus that arrived at 3:25 but 1-I didn’t want to be late (as I can be at times) and 2-since I’d never been there on my own before, I wanted to make sure I had some extra time in case there were problems. The only problem I had, really, was having to wander around Port Authority for awhile. No chairs / benches unless you go to the lower levels (which I didn’t discover till hours later) so if I wanted to sit down I either had to go to one of the restaurants (which meant buying food at higher prices than in Syracuse) or just plop down against a wall and sit on the floor-like I saw several others do. I chose the former. I actually saw 2 guys at different times lying on the ground-one seemed to be sleeping in a corner and the other on a stairway-with people just going by like nothing was there.

-I was way over dressed for here. I tend to heat up quickly. Back in Syracuse, I had double layers of almost everything on. In Port Authority I was sweating a lot-and this is before the audition! What a way to make an impression 🙂 Of course, this was fixed by just going outside and wandering around. NYC is still as crowded & compacted as when I was last here. I’m amazed that people don’t get hit my cars a lot-talk about jay walking central. I saw one guy basically in “terminator mode” and just walk thru an intersection non-stop;cars were stopping and honking their horns at him. I saw plenty of people talking to themselves as well. I did get a pic, well sort of, of me with Morgan Freeman 🙂 It was a wax statue of him actually-very life like.

-Here’s another new thing for me-I’d never taken a cab or been on a subway before. I figured the subway would be best saved for the next time I’m in NYC (I even got a map of the subways before I left) and went the cab route. The cab I got from Port Authority to the audition place was interesting in that 1-the guy hardly spoke English and 2-he was using a GPS-which I noticed he didn’t follow all the time. Wonderful. Cost me over $20 to get to the place.

-The audition itself went by great. I didn’t have to read any sides-Alex just asked me some questions and looked over my headshot / resume-as well as take a pic of me. She seemed a little surprised, yet glad, that I had questions. She was also glad that I’d texted her at 3 saying I was in NYC and on my way. This interview was also in regards to other episodes so it’s possible that if, for some reason, I didn’t get this part I might be in line for others. It was fun and I found out more about the part that I was auditioning for. Alex told me I’ll be notified soon as to whether I got the part or not. Then it was over and I was on my way back to Port Authority-this time with a driver who got me there faster without a GPS. Interesting to note that when hailing for a cab, some of them were saying they WEREN’T going to Port Authority. I think I got the swing of how to hail a cab though. 🙂

-So I’m at Port Authority at 5:15 PM and my bus leaves at 7:15 PM. I’m glad I checked with the ticket counter as to which gate I was leaving at cause I was under the impression I was leaving at 7:45 PM. Missing the bus would have sucked. That still meant having to occupy my time for 2 hours-and I did that by doing what I did before. This time, however, Port Authority was WAY more crowded. I finally got on the bus and into a seat that leaned back and couldn’t be adjusted. Oh well. I just alternated between sleeping and reading until I got back to the Syracuse Bus Station at 12:45 AM. Now that I’m writing about it in here, it seemed to happen so fast that it’s kinda feels like it didn’t even happen. So ends my 1st solo trek into NYC for an acting job. Looking forward to more…