Jen was in a musical once when she was 12-years-old. I was in the ensemble of “Annie Jr.” and I was told I had great facial expressions, but I couldn’t sing or dance (little did my director know, 10 years later, I would try bachata and crush it).

This week, I decided to try auditioning for a play. With my extremely limited acting credentials and great facial expressions, I thought it might be time to give it a go.

I auditioned for “A Table for One,” a play written by Jack Finegold ‘28 for Lafayette’s Fringe Festival that explores how men’s mental health is often underrepresented.

I asked Jack if this was going to be difficult.

“It’s not something that’s impossible to try,” he said. “Anyone can jump into it and do a fantastic job.”

There are three characters in the play: Sam, a 65-year-old man and retired university professor, David, an 18-year-old boy and senior in high school and the waitress, a 25-year-old Southern belle working her last hour of the day. Obviously, I was going to audition for the waitress, but I’m here to step out of my comfort zone, so I also decided to read the monologue for David. 

The day of the audition was rapidly approaching, and I had not looked at the script. It was time to lock in, make my acting choices and rehearse. 

I practiced in front of the newsroom staff, and no one was taking me seriously. It was bad. But it was time to audition — there was no going back. 

My hands were trembling so much as I walked to the front of the room that you could see my script shaking. It had been 10 years since I was on stage, so I was nervous. 

Although my lines were not memorized, I felt confident in how I was going to deliver them. I felt like I had nailed down how to convey the meaning of the monologue and the essence of being a Southern belle. 

I made the choice for the waitress to be bubbly and fun. That was incorrect, apparently. Jack asked me to redo my lines, but more sarcastically. I had to completely change my mindset. 

Then, I read the monologue for David. It was depressing, and I delivered it sadly — but not dynamically. 

“I would like to see a change of emotions throughout each monologue or each scene,” Jack told me after my audition. “But I felt like you really nailed down what the scenes or monologues were about, and played to that, which I think a lot of people don’t do.”

Needless to say, I did not get a role in “A Table for One.” Honestly, I think that’s for the greater good of the play. I am excited to watch it on April 26 at 2 p.m. in the studio theater at 248 N. Third Street, and more importantly, see who got the role of the waitress.