They asked me to prepare a lot of material (in total 3 songs and 7 sides), but they were running about 15 minutes behind schedule and said there was no way we’d get to everything. We started with “Purpose,” an upbeat, inspirational song that Princeton sings about finding his purpose in life. I’m really glad I got to sing that song because it’s the story of this chapter of my life, and it’s a song that I can truly connect to. Afterwards I read most of the sides and sang “Schadenfreude.” I got a lot of notes and took every single one.

Just a quick note on notes: when you get them, shut your mouth. Listen. If you understand, say ok. If you don’t, get clarification. And then, and this is very important, do what you are told to do. It doesn’t matter whether or not you agree with the note. It doesn’t matter if you think your character would never do whatever it is you’re being told to do. If you are getting the note, take it, and give them exactly what they’re asking for. And, please, lose the attitude. You wanna score easy brownie points during your audition? Take the note. That’s it. Have I harped on this enough?

So I was getting and taking notes, right? Well, what’s that mean? That means that, all of a sudden, we’re working together. We’re collaborating. We’re auditioning, sure, but now it’s more than that. We’re creating art. And the director stops. He puts down his pen. And he says “Put a puppet on him.” I was so stoked! I had heard all these fun stories of people going off to puppet camp and here I was about to work with a puppet right away! Lemme tell you, those puppets are easy to manipulate, but very difficult to master. Once again I was getting notes and putting them to work, and by the end of the audition I was singing “Purpose” with Princeton on my arm.

I look back on this experience and I’m overjoyed. I worked my ass off to get there and, yeah, I obsessed over line readings and vocal flourishes but it all paid dividends in the end. I don’t know when they’ll contact me. Or if they even will. I really didn’t think I’d get this far. But now I know that I can. I gave it my best and I’m proud of what that is. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who believed in me and cheered me on. Knowing that you were behind me made me feel like I had an added advantage that no one else had. You made me feel invincible.