The frazzled stage manager hurried past me with his clipboard. “Joanna Kitt,” he called down the line of people auditioning.
I shot my hand up. “Here, I’m right here.”
“What are you reading for us today?”
“Juliet’s monologue from Act Three Scene One of Romeo and Juliet.”
He jotted my answer down on his clipboard and told me I was up next before continuing down the line.
I opened up the play and ran my finger down to the highlighted passage. I closed my eyes and recited the monologue start to finish in my head one last time before I heard my name being called from inside the theater. I set the book down on the ground, took a deep breath and stepped out onto the stage.
Gerald Mason the Artistic Director for the Topsail Little Theater was sitting in the first row with a small team.
“Joanna,” he called up to the stage. “I could hardly believe it when I saw your name on the audition sheet, but I’m very glad you’re here.”
“Like you said, it’s never too late, right?”
“Never.” He pushed his glasses down to the bridge of his nose. “I see you’re auditioning for Viola, what did you prepare for us?”
“I’ll be performing Juliet’s monologue from Act Three, Scene One of Romeo and Juliet.”
The first rule of auditioning was never to sing or read a monologue for the part you’re auditioning for unless specifically asked to. Directors usually have very specific ideas about how they want lines performed and if you don’t live up to those expectations the first time around, you may never be given another chance.
“The stage is yours when you’re ready,” Gerald said.
I took a few steps into the center spotlight, adrenaline coursing through my body. It’d been eight years since I last stepped foot on a stage, but like well-formed muscle memory, I jumped right back in. When I finished the scene, I looked up and saw Gerald conferring with his team.
“Thanks Joanna, nice job.” he said. “If you could grab the Twelfth Night sides from the stage manager, work on those, and then we’ll call you back out here in a bit to perform them.”
I nodded and exited stage right. Being asked to read scenes from the actual show was a very good sign, but I didn’t want to get too excited, at least not yet. The stage manager handed me the Viola packet of sides and suggested I go outside to read through them.
I sat down on one of the benches in the amphitheater and skimmed through the scenes, some of the lines from my Williamstown audition even coming back to me. I turned the pages to Act Five and recited some of the dialogue out loud.
“After him I love. More than I love these eyes, more than my life, More, by all mores, than e'er I shall love wife. If I do feign, you witness above. Punish my life for tainting of my love!” I shouted into the treetops.
“That’s a little harsh, isn’t it?” a voice said from behind me.
I spun around to find Todd standing beside the Canterbury Theater sign. I had no idea how long he’d been watching me.
I set down the script. “How’d you know I’d be here?”
He took a few tenuous steps forward. “I had to promise I wouldn’t tell you.”
“Then you have told me. What did Zosia say to you exactly?”
“That you were coming back to Topsail to audition for Twelfth Night, and if I knew what was good for me, I’d be here waiting for you.”
I shook my head disapprovingly. “Only she would do that.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were coming back?”
“If I don’t get the part, I may not be in town for very long. Besides, I haven’t heard from you since I left the island. I figured you moved on.”
“You made it clear you didn’t want to take things any further, and I tried to respect your wishes. I’ll be honest though, it hasn’t been easy to stay away.”
“For me either.”
“Is that really true?” he asked.
The stage manager stepped outside and called my name.
I picked the script up off the ground and hugged it close to my body. “I should head back. The auditions are still going on inside.”
“When they’re over, come to the Retreat House. I’ll wait for you by the surf shed.”
“I don’t know how long this going to take.”
“It doesn’t matter, take your time. I’ll be there.”
I nodded.
“Hey Joanna, break a leg. Or, in our case, maybe it’s more apropos to say, break an ankle,” he said, with a sweet grin.
I made my way over the sand dunes and spotted Todd adding twigs and branches to a small bonfire he’d built on the beach.
“I’m sorry I’m so late,” I said.
“If it means you got the part, it’d be well worth the wait.”
A large smile erupted across my face. “I got the part.”
Todd threw the branches down onto the sand and ran towards me. He picked me up off the ground and spun me around. “I knew it,” he said setting me back down.
“I can’t believe it. I start rehearsals on Monday.”
“So, does that mean you’re staying in Topsail?”
“It’s a two-week rehearsal and then a three-week run, so I’ll be here for at least the next month or so.”
“This news calls for some champagne.” He walked back over to a large cooler and pulled out a bottle. “I hope you’re okay if I pop the top, no machete this time. Less impressive but it’ll get the job done.” He yanked off the cork, the champagne bubbling over the sides of the bottle and into the two glasses he had handed me.
“Todd, do you remember when you told me the first and most important rule of cooking is cleaning up before moving on?”
He nodded and set the bottle down on the cooler.
“Well, I had an awful lot to clean up in my life, more than I ever let on.”
He caressed the side of my face. “We both did. Jo, I don’t want to rush things. We have a month to really get to know each other and see where this goes. I want to give it a real shot, I hope you do too? Please say you do.”
I reached out and held his face in my hands and stared into those same light blue-grey eyes that reminded me so much of the Atlantic Ocean when I first arrived in Topsail. I pressed my lips to his and gave him my answer.