Words and Auditions

Alright Day two.

I'm gonna share two interesting things I learned today.

Thing One

I really dislike the Message Bible. I'm a firm believer in words being beautiful and having specific purposes and if you lack the intelligence to read them or the desire to learn what they are, you shouldn't complain about being unable to read them. I apply this belief to many areas of my life including theatre, books, conversations and yes, the Bible. This argument often leads me to criticize efforts of people like the authors of the Message Bible for what I think is a dumbing down of words that, while they take a while longer to understand, are beautiful and should be learned and appreciated.

But today that argument got flung in my face. I notice that happens a lot when I try to impose my thoughts or act knowledgeable on or about the Bible. I read today that some devout Israelites and followers of God pray a prayer every morning. The book I was reading used The Message translation of the prayer from Deuteronomy like this,

"Attention Israel,
God, our God. God, the one and only,
Love God, your God, with all of your heart, love him with all that you have, love him with all you've got."

Now part of me still writhes at that translation and wishes it was the traditional "Love the Lord your God with all you hear and soul and etc..." But there is something really beautiful about the reckless abandon in the phrase, "Love him with all you've got." I think it's something to aspire to... even if I have to be wrong about the Message to have it be so.

Thing Two.

I love auditions at Northwestern College. I've been to other environments where the pressure of an audition or a performance of a monologue wrecks the entire event and turns it into a nightmare of self loathing and sometimes in the worst scenarios forgetfulness. But it's not so here. I know at least for me auditions here are so much fun. Often times we get to cheer on our fellow actors and watch what they do. This might be unique to our department and if it is the rest of the theatre world is missing out. It's so good to look out on the audience of your peers during an audition and see in their eyes that they want to hear what you are saying and they are entertained by what you're doing.

The long and short of it is, I have no idea how my audition went tonight, but I am so grateful to all my friends in there who put great work into their monologues, allowed me and others to watch them, and then in turn watched what each other had to offer. Whatever the outcome of tonight winds up being, thank all of you who are reading this and even those who don't for a terrific evening.

And now... HAVE A QUOTE!

"The good die young but not always. The wicked prevail but not consistently. I am confused by life, and I feel safe in the confines of the theatre."

-Helen Hayes