Three Girls And A Leading Man Read Online Free PDF Page B

reminded myself. You’ve
been working in this city for years now. There’s nothing to worry about.
    I entered the building, trying to
tamp down the nerves. A sign in the lobby directed me through to the stage
area. I could make out a clump of people down by the stage and I headed in
their direction.
    A skinny man met me in the aisle. I
recognized him as Jackson Coles, the man I had read for in my initial audition.
He looked busy and impatient and I was very relieved that I was early. “Name?”
he asked briskly.
    “Annie Duncan,” I said, burying my
hands in my pockets to stop them from shaking.
    “Good. You’ll go in the first group
here.” He gestured behind him to the small group of people waiting by the
stage. “We’re just waiting for one more.”
    The man handed me a stack of
stapled papers before turning away to talk quietly with the woman sitting next
to him.
    Well,
at least they’re welcoming , I thought to myself sarcastically. I took the
papers and headed toward my group.
    “Hi,” said a girl who looked to be
a few years younger than me. She was gorgeous, totally perfect. She had
porcelain white skin and long, silky blond hair. I felt intimated by her
immediately, though she was smiling kindly at me.
    “Are you as nervous as me?” she
asked.
    I smiled back. “Yeah, pretty
nervous.”
    “This is my first audition,” she
continued, leaning toward me conspiratorially. Great. She had managed to pull a
major callback on her first try. Brat.
    “Do you think he’ll be here?” she
asked.
    “Who?”
    “Jenner Collins!” she replied,
looking surprised that I hadn’t known immediately. “I mean, it is his show, you
know? I heard a rumor he plans to actually direct the show. Don’t you think he would want to be involved in the casting?”
    “I bet he’s pretty busy,” I said,
shrugging. I didn’t need to be worrying about Collins in addition to all the
nerves I was already battling.
    “Oh, wouldn’t you just die if he
was here?” the girl continued, closing her eyes while a dreamy smile lit up her
face. I rolled my eyes. “He’s just so gorgeous and successful. I would love to
meet him.”
    I found myself feeling a little
better as Jackson called for us to head to the stage. I may not be as
heartbreakingly beautiful, or as young, or as lucky, as the blond
girl—but at least I had a bit better sense than to get all star-struck
like that.
    “Okay, listen up,” Jackson called
out. “We’re going to start with some cold readings. We’d like everyone to stand
out to the side until we call your name. We might have you read in some odd
pairings and we might want to see you in different roles than you prepared for.
We ask you please to just go for it and do your best. We’re looking to see how
flexible you can be, how quick you are on your toes. We’ll be asking for some
more in-depth character readings a little later.”
    I was relieved not to be one of the
first ones called. The lights on the stage were very bright and the theater
seemed to stretch out endlessly behind the seats where Jackson and his partner
had set up. I was feeling those nerves return and I was grateful for the
moment’s reprieve to gather my thoughts—and check out the competition a
little, of course.
    The first three actors they called
forward were clearly good. The two men carried themselves with that confident
air that only comes with true comfortableness. The girl that had read first
seemed thrown by the activity. She had been asked to read for an older woman,
though she appeared to be no more than twenty-five. I suspected that she had
studied her lines ad nauseam last night and she didn’t seem to be adapting well
to having to read something unfamiliar.
    When it was my turn, I was asked to
read one of the male parts. Determined not to let it throw me, I made sure to
read clearly and loudly. At one point during the reading, I thought I saw
another figure join the two in the back, but I was concentrating so much on