Everyone Must Play a Nun Sometime

Determined not to be late today for my Danville audition for "The House of Blue Leaves," I left early enough to arrive at "Town Hall" 40 minutes early for my 2:30, in 110-degree dry heat. There was no one there. It was part of an office complex that included the police department down a hill behind the building. I figured, OK, I'm early, but even if I'm up first, it's eerie to be the lone vehicle in this parking lot. There had been no address on my email from the director confirming this location, Town Hall. So, I dialed the director. The phone number was wrong. I took a short drive around downtown Danville and passed the balloon-festooned car show featuring 1950's and 1960's vintage hot rods and Ducati motorcycle and tire vendors with exhibits, noted the frozen yogurt and Foster Freeze in case I needed a little treat after the audition, eyed the cute girly-girl boutiques with big sales going on, and kept my eyes peeled for perhaps another "Town Hall." Didn't see one.

Drove back to the location. Still no one there, place locked up. Began calling 411 for the director's phone number, trying all East Bay locations, to no avail.  Finally, it came to me - the director must have transposed two digits in the phone number. I redialed, switching the last two numbers and was amazed to finally get her.

By then it was after 3. I started to panic that the audition would shut down before I got there, like yesterday's. She explained that the Danville Town Hall was not this City Offices site, which is what had turned up for me on both Mapquest and Google when I typed in Danville Town Hall....No, the real deal was on Front Street, five minutes away, next to the theater.

I made it in time, got to see a really good young actor reading his part, then was invited to read two different nun's roles with two other actresses. I so wanted to be the Head Nun! All that enervating energy already expended in the dizzying heat, just getting there made the actual audition anti-climactic.

"Everyone must play a nun sometime," said Margo, the director. Yes, I agree. She called tonight with the news that I will indeed play the Head Nun. I got cast as a nun on Yom Kippur, the day of atonement, same day I picked up a statuette of Ganesh, the remover of obstacles, at a yard sale.

Danville discovery:  the lovely Magee Park at the end of a country road. In the middle of this park, which includes a "dog corral" and splashy waterworks for toddlers, there's a white gazebo. There, in this dazzlingly hot gazebo, I rehearsed my lines as Carmen for "Real Women Have Curves."