In a pivotal moment, with agents and talent scouts watching, Aaron's mind suddenly goes blank during one of the most crucial performances of his life. Will he manage to recover? What unexpected lesson will he learn along the way?
Art by Pete Whitehead
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Story created & performed by: Aaron Calafato
Senior Audio Engineer: Ken Wendt
Additional vocals: Cori Birce
Art: Pete Whitehead
Original Music: thomas j. duke
Transcript
Aaron Calafato:
Imagine you're a young, passionate actor in New York City. You've put a lot of time in for this moment. It's been rough years, a lot of ramen, but it's all culminated in one performance where you have the opening scene, a really meaty scene to showcase your talent in a black box theater in Manhattan with an audience full of agents and managers. This could change your entire life. This performance could be the launching pad for your dreams. And then, as the play starts, you forget your opening line. Well, you don't have to imagine because this is my story. And, yes, friends, this is going to be a journey. So please, take this journey with me right after the music.
Cori Birce:
You're listening to 7 Minute Stories with Aaron Calafato. This is Season 4.
Aaron Calafato:
So, this was the final showcase play at the Michael Howard Studio in New York City. It was a great group of artists and actors, many of whom I'm still friends with to this day. And this was the end of the year culmination where we got to perform, and different people from the industry were invited to this performance. Now, the play was called "The Maserati" by Richard Greenberg. It opens with just two characters on the stage. It's myself, I believe I was a writer, or the character was a writer, a lazy writer trying to get his life together, and his girlfriend who's a lot more motivated, and they're crammed in this New York City apartment, but they had this great domestic scene. And the key thing here is it leaves a lasting impression on the people watching because as an actor in the opening scene, I could set the tone. And right away, I could imprint my performance on people's memories, especially with agents and managers in the crowd. So knowing all this, I got a little bit too much into my head. A lot of ego and too much looking into like Marlon Brando and James Dean and trying to impersonate them—the whole method acting thing—because I got stuck in this thing where in the scene, I start off in bed waking up in the morning. And I thought, why not just make this as real as possible? I think in my brain at that time, if I can just portray a person just really waking up in the morning, I can really show them how deep into this experience I can get. So I'm writhing around in bed, waking up, and getting really just self-indulgent. And in the midst of this strange performance art, people are just sitting in this cringe moment for probably over a minute and a half. I forget my opening line in the process. Then I start to panic. I hear people rustling around in the audience. I hear the actress trying to get me going. The director's probably like, oh my god. And I don't know the line. Now here's the thing. This is one of those lines where if you don't say it correctly or say it at all, the rest of the scene has a hard time taking off. Basically, a lot was contingent on this first line. And to this day, I can't remember what it is, but here's what I ended up doing. I had 2 choices. My first option, which I thought was the best option, was that I would pretend that I passed out. I'm saying in real life. And so that I couldn't be accused of forgetting my line because they would have to call the ambulance. What happened, Aaron? He's passed out in the bed. I don't know what I was thinking. So I can't pretend to pass out. Well, then the only other thing would be it is just to make up a line. The only thing I could think of was to sit up as quick as I could and shout out to the girlfriend in the scene and the actress. Shout out. Tell me about our lives. So you can imagine if you're in the audience just watching this for a minute, a man riding around in bed and then sitting straight up like a bat out of hell saying, tell me about our lives. Listen, I thought it was over. I thought my moment was over. That was it. Screwed up the whole thing, but something happened. The actress picked up on this, and she hit her next line. And then I hit my next line. And then eventually, all was forgotten. And the scene was really moving along and chugging along, and we got into a rhythm. I kinda dropped in, got lost in the scene. And I think we created something special out of what I thought was literally a certain disaster. And guess what? Someone else thought I did really well too because in my email inbox after the long train ride from Manhattan to my apartment in New Jersey. I get an email from GB Management who claimed that they represented some of the best young actors in the business and they actually invited me in to read some sides because they were considering representing me. I freaking did it. All I have to do now is show up to this meeting, crush this audition. Hell, if I could get through what I got through that night, I could get through anything. I'm on the precipice of being a star actor. I'm moments away from co-starring with Leonardo DiCaprio or Colin Farrell. So the next day, I take the train back into Manhattan. I go to the upper west side And I got the address to GB Management. And as I get to the location, I'm expecting, like, a really cool building, but it ended up being, and I double-checked the address, such as this like dingy apartment, and I just took the stairs. When I walked up, it was kind of this weird hallway. There was a couple of kids running back and forth. Anyways, as I got to the door and knocked, I recognized the woman that answered. She was at the performance. She was g, And B was her roommate. And they both lived in this small apartment. And apparently that was their office, which I'm like, that's cool. So I walk in there and I'm just surrounded by plants and they have me sit down on this old couch and they give me the Beel. And I'm looking at the walls, and I see these old school headshots of, like, actors that were once on Nickelodeon shows and you no longer saw anymore. Anyways, they look back at me and they complimented my performance. And they said, now it's time for you to audition and read your sides. And I did, and I thought I killed it. And right after I performed, they both kinda chuckled and laughed. And they said, well, we know there's some talent in there. But you're really difficult to cast because you don't have anything unique to offer. Where are you from? And I said, I'm from Ohio. I'm from Northeast Ohio. And she goes, yeah. You're kind of bland like that part of the country. And I was like, oh, and she goes, maybe next year, you can come by. And you'll have more of a calling card with your look and your style. Maybe it was because I was young in my twenties, or I thought they had some power in the or something, but I sort of just walked away. Didn't stand up for myself and just left a long train ride back to New Jersey. And I thought about that opening line from the play, the Maserati that I made up. Tell me about our lives. And in that moment, I made a promise to myself that I would never again let anybody tell me about my life. That it's my life and my story to tell. I sometimes wonder if you're listening GB management, maybe one of you, maybe both of you. If you are, I hope you're doing well. And if you find yourself traveling across the country, please don't trouble yourselves and visit me in Northeast Ohio. It's just too bland of a place for such cultured and kind people. Like you.
Cori Birce:
7 Minute Stories is created and performed by Aaron Calafato. Our senior engineer is Ken Went. Our resident artist is Pete Whitehead, original music by TJ Duke. If you or your company needs help starting a podcast, Aaron and Ken's company Valley View does just that. Reach out to them at ValleyView.fm. Special thanks to our partners at Evergreen Podcasts, and I'm Cori Birce. Make sure to tune in next week for another story.
