The next day Leah and I drove to the YA Studio to practice while I sent emails, copied sides, and checked in the morning class.
I walked downstairs to the cafe to pick up lunch for Karen and grabbed a salad to split with Leah. After lunch, Leah and I waited on stage in the studio classroom for the HBO production meeting.
Five chairs on the stage. Leah and I sat in the first two, Carrie and Andrew filled the other two, leaving the fifth empty. Lowe, Karen, Grey Suit, Dani, and Jared walked in.
Gray Suit, an HBO executive. Dan and Jared, the casting team for the docu-series.
Lowe announced that the fifth cast member would be Simon Fox.
"From Silent Road?" Leah asked.
"The one and only," Lowe said smiling. " Simon is set to play Brian the nerd, and a table read is scheduled for Friday night."
Lowe asked me to read the jock role and Andrew the rebel.
"We are very excited to bring Simon on board, and I am confident you guys will make him feel welcome," Lowe said, dismissing the HBO team, and ending the meeting. Everyone exited the studio, except Karen, Leah, and myself.
Leah and Karen began coaching on the three roles Leah planned to audition for, while I sat next to Leah on stage waiting for Karen to prompt me with a section of the script. Every few minutes she would call out, " Page twenty-five, Claire's first line."
"Not academic clubs, other clubs," I said
"Good."
Leah switched to the role of Allison, the freak, and they began the scene with Andrew the jock on page eighty Both of us nailed the lines down perfect, and Karen asked us to read it a few times, changing the actions behind some of our lines.
"Leah, you are giving Allison that nervous quality she needs, but in this scene, she really wants to open up, and I want to feel a confidence underneath the character you've crafted for her. Try it again."
We read the scene again.
"Better." Karen pointed to me, " Page one-hundred and three, John's second line."
"She's only a tease if what she does gets you hot," I answered.
"Yes, good."
Karen coached Leah on her scenes playing Brian the nerd next.
"Now just because we know you're not playing this role because its male, and already cast doesn't make it less important. This will be the last role you read for at the auditions, and you will be returning to read for the role along with the group of male actors being filmed for the docu-series."
"This is my chance to show versatility, personality, and to stand out," Leah said, reciting the words Karen already drilled into her brain.
Twenty minutes of Leah reading the nerd, and Karen threw one last cue my direction.
"Janitor Carl's last line, followed by written directions."
"You bet! Ext. Parking Lot-Day. Cut To: Brian gets into his dad's car and leaves. Andrew and Allison kiss, Allison rips a patch off Andrew's jacket and gets into the car. Andrew's dad arrives and looks at Allison. Andrew gets into the car and they drive off. We see Claire take out one of her diamond earrings and put it into Bender's hand. They kiss and she gets into her car. She leaves. We see Bender put the earring in his ear." I recited robotically.
