September 12, 2026 · daily scene
The Callback List
Given circumstances
- Character
- Assistant Director
- Setting
- Backstage hallway, house lights still up, clipboard in your hand
- The moment before
- They asked if they got it. You looked down at the list and their name wasn't there.
- Scene partner
- An actor who just auditioned, standing too close
Direction
Start kind. The shift happens when kindness stops working. Don't perform cruelty—let necessity do it.
Script
You were really good in there. I mean that.
It's not about good. You know that. It's—there are things we're looking for that aren't in the room when someone auditions.
(listening)
No. I can't tell you what to fix, because there's nothing to fix.
This is what I'm trying to say—you're asking me to give you a map, and I'm telling you there isn't one. Some people have it. You don't. And calling me twice a day isn't going to change that.
Written for Act It Up. Free to rehearse and perform for practice, classes and self-tapes.
Record this scene with a teleprompter and a scene partner who reads the other lines.
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