Auditions – Chemically Imbalanced Comedy

Last week I came across a notice announcing an audition for a brand new sponsored long form troupe to be part Chemically Imbalanced Comedy (CIC).
http://www.cicomedy.com

Now for those of you not in the know, “Chemically Imbalanced Comedy (CIC) is an organization of artists from the Chicago area and beyond, dedicated to providing performance opportunities for comedic artists.”
The group is around 7 years old I believe – they sponsor and create sketch, stand-up, & improvisation in weekly shows and also performs and produces comedic plays (some original works, some not).
They also are the producers behind the kick ass Snubfest improv festival
( http://snubfest.com )

Recently (like in November) the group signed a lease on a brand new theater space - roughly four blocks north of my apartment.
So considering the fact that I’ve been itching to start performing regularly again, the theater’s amazingly convenient location, and the chance to get some audition reps in – I quickly signed up.

The auditions were Earlier this afternoon – Sat, Dec. 15th, from 1-4pm. It was to be all improvised so there was nothing to prepare (yay) and we were asked to bring a headshot (or at least a current picture) and resume.

Anyway I got to the theater early to sign in – the place is a very nice black box theater, with a small entryway that doubles as the lobby/concession area. The place has around a 50 seat capacity (maybe a smidge more) set up in stadium style seating - along with a back stage area (behind a large curtain, big enough for small set storage) and a kitchen area in the very back. All in all certainly no iO or Annoyance – but a nicer space than the Playground theater.

When I got there – already a number of hopefuls were sitting down – probably around 30 people. It turns out I knew the Director from interning at iO – great guy named Jorin, performs with the Improvised Movie: OFP, and is on a Harold team along with the Producer (who I also knew from interning) at iO.
I got into the space and started filling out the paper work (standard audition fair – contact info, conflicts, etc) and a card with my physical description on it – and I ran into three other people I know who were trying out. One guy was from my level 2 class at iO, another is currently in my level 2 class at the Annoyance, and then one girl I know from college improv festivals – she was part of the host troupe to Whistler’s very first festival ever (complete tangent warning – there are around six people from the troupe: Absolunacy currently in Chicago involved in the scene, all of whom rock and met at that festival).

Anyway by the time things finally got started a little after 1pm – there were a little over 50 people hopeful for one of up to ten spots on the new team (around 1-5, pretty good odds for Chicago). All the people were of varying experience levels – some had graduated places like iO or Second City but had never (or been cut) from a team – others this was their first audition ever.
The director quickly had us count off by five dividing us into (you guessed it) five different groups (I was in group four… along with my friend from Absolunacy and my iO level two class – how fortuitous).

Due to the number of people and the limited amount of space – groups 4 & 5 chilled in the audience and the other three groups separated and got warmed up.
After they got warm – group one was asked to stay on the stage and my group (#4) went into the back kitchen area to warm-up.

Before this however the Director clued us in to what he was looking for: not necessarily funny – but people who listened, supported each other, and built off what their partners gave them.

The warm-ups were very relaxed actually – especially since I already knew two people in my group (makes a huge difference) – and lead by one of the theater staff. We warmed up till group one was done with their audition and then snuck back in to find seats.

We got to sit and watch groups 2 & 3 audition. The format was as such: the group got up on stage and formed a back line – the producer would call out the name of one person from the group who would hop out and start a scene, and then one other person (didn’t matter who) was to hop out and support them – the producer called scene – and that was it. The focus was on two person scenes (but if multiple people stepped out, no big deal).
In other words basically like almost every class I’d had at the Annoyance so far – rocking.

I never got to see group 1 go through the paces – however there were a lot of really entertaining moments from both group 2 & 3 and a lot of very talented people
(One of the reasons as someone who’s run improv auditions before part of me doesn’t like the idea of having the other groups sit and watch, it can get people in their heads – or psych them out … especially if they are in the last group and have been waiting for a while – that said at the time I didn’t care since I was enjoying watching the other people*).
There was however a slant toward the talking head scene - and very few characters appeared (especially concerning actors varying their physicality … voices might change a bit, but often it was the actor up there playing a verbal ping pong match – which a lot of performers get away with up here, but isn’t my favorite type of improv to do).

Finally my group got up – before we started I gave myself two goals: first start right away, the moment my name was called, or my foot stepped out to enter a scene I was to snap into something (emotion or physicality etc) – and second vary up my physicality*

It was a ton of fun playing up there – I felt very laid back the entire time (basically just like I was in class – which btw all my time doing this sort of thing at the Annoyance, I’m sure helped).
Our group had some good scenes, some meh scenes, probably a great/terrible scene or two – I wasn’t really paying attention to the quality – just watching the other players play and have fun doing it.

Afterwards I stuck around to watch the final group go – they were a little bigger than the other groups as a few latecomers got tacked on to them. I think all the waiting and watching must’ve gotten to a few of them – as there were a few rough moments (one or two instances of people judging their scene before it was even over … one poor girl was basically silent her first time out – just mime writing – and you could see on her face she wasn’t happy with that choice).
My favorite initiation of the audition was from this group though: “Yeah, so I’m a Satanist, let’s just get on with our exploration of the Mars Surface.”

After it was all over – the Director thanked those of us still around for making it such a touch decision for them. As I headed to grab some food (the whole process lasted about 2 hours) I really had no idea what my chances were (well 1 out of 5, but besides that) or exactly when I would hear back (I figured sometime in the next 24 hrs). It’s usually a good sign when you can’t recall your performance (unless you were black out drunk), but I had laughed a lot in that audition. Though I had fun, which is always a huge plus at an audition* though I have a number of evening conflicts.

Anyway I grabbed some food and afterwards went home to my apartment – as I was walking in the door, my phone started ringing. Long story short it was the Director telling me I was in (this was a little over an hour after it had ended) – booyah.
So I am now officially a member of a CIC sponsored team – we start rehearsing in Jan, and performing either late Jan, early Feb – the new year is already looking up.


* Really I think the reason I did well in this audition and felt so relaxed was because I really focused on the idea that I was just there for fun going in. I mean sure I definitely wanted to make the team, and get a chance to start performing, but I continually reminded myself – that if I didn’t make it, there were other auditions (in fact I’m already signed up for Second City general auditions come Jan – I can’t possibly get it, though I’m looking forward to the experience – and just yesterday I found out about another theater holding auditions which I would’ve signed up for the moment I found out this didn’t work out – hell if I had more time I’d do it anyway, but already my plate is getting rather full) or worst case I start up a practice group come Jan. and perhaps start performing with them (this I might still do).
But I went in to this with the goal of it being for the experience and for fun – and it was … bonus was I got it.