A Rural Movie Set And An Expectedly Unexpected Romance

By: Katie

Chapter 1: Abigail

Walking into an audition is a lot like walking like walking into the first day of school. People reading papers are everywhere, and everyone looks nervous as hell. Many girls latch onto their boyfriends for emotional support, while others latch on to their parents. I fall under neither of those, and am here am here alone.

I can't say that auditions are actually an enjoyable experience. Especially when I'm is nervous about trying to remember my lines to say to the casting directors, or the proper key for the song that I've had prepared to sing for the music directors.

I walk over to the check- in table, and see two lines. One line is for last names A- N, and the other is for M- Z. I get in the "A- N Line", and before I know it, I'm at the front of the line.

"Next!" A squinty- faced woman with brown eyes, midnight black hair, a nice clean layer of makeup, a super model's body calls in a bored- "I have better places to be than here" tone.

I take a deep breath, and walk up to her.

"Name?" The woman asks.

"Abigail Hanning," I smile politely.

"Hanning, Abigail-" The woman repeats, flipping through a few pages of papers on her clipboard, and finally stops. "Your number is 47," she says, handing me a paper with a number on it, a safety pin to attach it to my shirt, along with a thick manila envelope. I take the objects from her. "You'll start with acting, then move on to singing, and finally dancing. Call backs will be posted at 5PM. Questions?"

"Not that I can think of," I tell her.

"Good." The woman says. "The acting room is that way. Any further questions can be directed at anyone in a blue Splash! Corporations shirt."

"Thanks. Have a good day!" I continue to smile, even though I know that it's a fake smile, and that I'm actually getting sick to the stomach with nervousness.

I can't seem to find an "acting room", so I open the manila envelope to see if I can find a map of the Splash! Corporations lot. Sure enough I do find a map, and I find that I'm just on the wrong side of the building. I follow the building, and soon enough find the entrance.

I enter the building to see 40 foot high ceiling, which I can see the crossbeams, hand cement floors, and bleachers with about 30 other girls sitting on them.

I head over to the bleachers, walk up a couple of rows, and take a seat.

Most girls are sitting down, looking as nervous as I feel, a few girls are mingling, but most of them are practicing lines.

In front of me, three pale, bony, anorexic looking girls are chatting. Their outfits, hair, and makeup are flawless. Their looks definitely resembling the looks of the stereotypical "Hollywood Girl".

"Real Hollywood actresses don't even have to audition!" first girl whined.

"Tell me about it!" The second girl agreed.

"Oh, just chill girls!" The third girl snapped. "Don't waste your energy complaining!" The third girl finished.

The other two girls might have responded, but a scrawny, pale, black haired, green eye man walked over to us first. He wore jeans, white wife beater, and black hiking shoes.

"Hello ladies!" The man called through his megaphone.

"Hello Eric!" We all call simultaneously to the casting director of the latest Splash! film, all knowing that getting a role on any Splash! production is a major accomplishment and knowing that having even the tiniest role on a Splash! production will work miracles for our careers.

"Hi, I'm Eric Norrington. I'm the casting director for Splash! Corporation's first ever made- for- TV musical film. These auditions will be intense. So if you're not a 200 percent dedicated for these roles, leave now." Eric began, not even bothering with a welcome.

I look around me to see all of the girls wearing the same determined expression that I am.

"My assistant will pass out the monologues, and you'll have 20 minutes to memorize them. Then, you'll have your individual auditions." Eric continued to tell us, as a petite woman wearing a khaki pants suit, and Jimmy Choo sandals, looking lost as us. "You'll audition in numerical order, and have one minute to present to us. If we like you, we'll have you come for pairs callbacks at 5PM."

And with that, Erick Norrington shoved his megaphone in his assistant's arms, and walked away.

The shaking assistant pulled a bundle of papers from a manila envelope, and handed them to the girl on the bottom right bleacher.

Finally, the paper pile reached me, I took a paper, and I passed the pile on.

"Feel free to spread out in the room, and I'll be back in 20 minutes. Good luck!" The assistant offered us a smile, and walked away.

I remained in my place, and practiced the monologue.

It's what they call on of my strengths: reading monologue once over, and having practically the whole thing memorized.

Before I knew it, girls were getting called in, and it was finally my turn to audition.

"Number 47: Hanning, Abigail!" The assistant calls.

I take a deep breath, and then walk over to assistant.

She leads me into a room. Inside the room there is a curtain backdrop set up, a chair in front of it, a hand video camera set up on a tripod, and four or five empty chairs.

"Mr. Norrington and the others will be in soon," The assistant informs me, and quickly exits.

Moments later, Eric appears in the room.

"Hello, I'm Eric Norrington," Eric sticks out his hand.

I shake his hand.

"I'm Abigail Hanning," I introduce myself, and smile slightly, to try and demonstrate my "sweetest side" as my Aunt Annie says when mimicking my agent, Tiffany Tan.

"Nice to meet you," Eric says. "Now go over to the stool, introduce yourself, and then do your monologue.

I step carefully over to the stool, and carefully sit down on the stool. I cross my legs in a lady like manner.

One man goes over to the camera, stands by the camera, and cues me to begin.

"Hello. My name is Abigail Hanning, and I am auditioning for the part of Anna in film High School Secrets."

I pause, and take a deep breath before beginning my monologue.

"Most people just don't get it. Either that, or they just don't believe it. When I tell them that I've got dyslexia and dyscalculia they always start to babble endlessly on how it's just an excuse for "stupid" kids to feel "smart". Well... try telling that to the rest of the kids in my class. You see; I'm in a Special Education program at school, but they don't call it that. They call it the "Learning Assistance Program" or "LAP". All of my friends are in LAP with me, and we try to avoid anyone who isn't. Most of them just like to mock us. The only person who gets to cross over between LAP and "Regular Classes" is the ever- popular Nick. Nick gets to cross over because he is the varsity soccer team's starting forward; he's got like mega ADHD, and is always getting fed the latest ADHD drugs. But because he is smart, but not in the "usual way" he gets to take a couple of "regular" classes like English and Computer Sciences, and as a result has a different lunch than the rest of us in LAP. Well, everything seemed just fine... until this year..."

I finish my monologue, and looked up to see if I can see the reactions on the directors' faces. I have no luck; their faces remain stoic.

This doesn't help. It only makes me more nervous, because to tell you the truth: I think that the audition that I've just done is possibly the worst audition that I've done since the "auditions" for my fifth grade class' production of "California State History: The Gold Rush".

Eric looks over at the other casting directors, and they mingle for a few moments.

Eric then turns towards me with a mysterious smile on his face.

"Well, Abigail, we liked what you did with the monologue, and we'd like to see you again at pairs auditions," Eric announces, and then almost instantly looks back down at his clipboard, and begins to play with his chewed ballpoint pen.

I let out a sigh of relief, even though I know that this audition is only the first of several to come.

"Thank you! I won't let you down!" I assure the directors, before finally heading out the room door with a more confident walk than the walk I had when I entered. "You won't regret it!"