#125 Stagefright 3

“There’s going to be another show! Who wants to try out?”

“Me!” I shouted along with everyone else.

Mom handed me the audition sheet. “There’s only one role for a boy your age, and it’s one of the leads. You’re going to have to work really hard if you want to get it.”

I grinned up at her. “Let’s do it.”

Mom read my lines with me, laughing at the funny part, and reminding me to speak slowly and clearly so that people at the back of the auditorium could understand me. I picked out one of my favorite songs and mom printed up the sheet music from the internet so I could sing it at my audition.

And then it was time.

Once again, in the auditorium, the stage was a chaos of mismatched props, like a world waiting to be formed, with one big grand piano on wheels in the middle of it. The accompanist took my sheet music and spread it out, then started to play.

I hadn’t practiced with someone playing the piano, only with the track on my mp3 player, so I think I missed the spot I was supposed to come in. The pianist stopped, then began again at the beginning. I blinked, confused, and she stopped again.

“Here’s your note,” she said. “Just start singing.”

I sang.

My voice echoed back to me, clear and sweet. It was like the auditorium was singing to me! The piano came in and I dropped back, uncertain, but then I sang out again, enjoying the sound of my voice and the piano together.

“Okay, that’s enough,” the director said, long before I was finished with the song. “Now let’s do lines.”

After the audition, I bounced up the aisle of the auditorium with Mom next to me. That had been fun!

“Great job,” Mom said. “Now, don’t feel bad if you don’t make it. You did really well, and every time you audition it gets easier, doesn’t it? But there’s only one part, and they’re going to pick the person that most matches what they have in mind for the show. Still, you’ve got to be prepared by always trying your best, so that when you are the right person for the show, you show them that you can do it.”

That night was a church dinner. Just Mom and Dad were singing this time, so I sat at one of the long tables with my brothers and tried to eat through the plate of food I’d picked out for myself. After they were done, Mom and Dad came and joined us.

I was just finishing my third dessert when Mom’s phone chimed.

She picked it up and tapped the screen a few times. Then she gasped.

“You made call backs!” Mom told me, her voice squeaky and excited. “You made call backs!”

“Yay!” I said. “What’s that?”

“That means you’re one of the ones they’re thinking about for the part. You need to try out again in two days. There’s more audition material in the theater office.”

“Do you want me to go and get it right now?” Dad asked Mom.

“Yes!”