A gay story: The Audition Room Pt. 01 When I had been offered the opportunity for directing a musical for the company, initially I was just excited about the opportunity to help bring in some fresh talent for the program and to direct for them. When I found out what show we were doing however my excitement grew. The show I had been tapped to direct was the play version of “The Full Monty”.
Because of this, auditions were a little bit different than the standard I had been used to. Not only would those auditioning have to perform a monologue and a scene from the show per usual, but those going for the main roles would have to strip down naked in order to show they’d be comfortable doing so onstage for the role.
Although the audience would not see the full frontal nudity of the men (due to a special lighting trick to conceal them) those involved in the production would see all of them. Due to this it was incredibly important to make sure that cast members were comfortable being naked in front of others while performing, because if they weren’t there was no way they’d make it through this production in those roles. Those not comfortable were more than welcome to audition for the roles not a part of the group of strippers.
Due to the prospect of nudity I was expecting sign-ups to be a little lighter than normal, I couldn’t have been more wrong. I was shocked to see that there were dozens of men that had signed up to audition for one of the main roles. I eventually found out that talent scouts were coming to that production, hence why so many people were interested.
The first up to audition was Jackson Andrews. Jackson was someone I was hoping to see at the audition, he is a star of this company and had gotten lead roles in dozens of shows over the past few years including Equus as Alan Strang. That character has a nude scene, which meant he wasn’t foreign to appearing naked on stage. In fact he is the only person auditioning that isn’t. That meant that he was someone I could completely count on being comfortable for the show, as he’s showing less skin to the audience than he has before.
He walked in wearing only a robe and I immediately knew I was in for an easy audition. His monologue was a standard one from Thornton Wilder’s Our Town. He performed it exceptionally per usual, but it wasn’t a risky choice at all. Now for the fun part of the audition. When discussing the parameters of the audition format we had all agreed just having them strip would be a little bit awkward. So we thought it would be best to ask them to disrobe to perform the scene we give them from the show. That way we can test them to see how comfortable they are being naked in front of people but also focus on the material so we wouldn’t just be awkwardly staring at their bodies.
“Alright Jackson in order to test your comfort with being undressed on stage, we would like to ask that you remove all of your clothes for the reading of the scene”, without even stuttering he removed his robe and asked for a script. Although I had seen him nude before I still took pleasure in looking at his body. He was 5’6″ and in decent shape, he had abs but they were the kind were they were there moreso because he was thin than because he worked out. His lower half was his star. His penis was 4 inches long and thick when flaccid, which although not unheard of looked utterly massive on his small frame. He also had much more muscle definition in his legs.
While he was reading I noticed how calm he seemed, it was as if being naked had no effect on him whatsoever. “Do you have a preference on what role you’d want to receive if offered” I asked after he had finished his reading. “I would like to be considered for the role of Gaz” Jackson said. Although this wasn’t shocking as he is used to portraying the lead he seemed much more fit to me to portray Guy. Jackson is openly bisexual and as I’ve discussed before is well-endowed, so in both of those aspects he fits the description of that character perfectly.
As he left I began pondering whether I should honor his wishes or go with my initial thought process. I only wondered that for a few moments though, as I thought it silly to discuss this when I had a number of auditions to be held.
The next to come in was a newcomer named Greg Johnson. he had joined the company about a month ago but had yet to audition for a production. Greg was fresh out of college, although he looked as if he were only 12 years old. Greg performed an original monologue that he had written about a character who was accepting an award for a song he didn’t write. It was very comedic and inventive. I was impressed.
Unlike Jackson, Greg was much more apprehensive when told to strip down. So much so that I stopped him when he got down to just his underwear because of how much he was shaking. “Greg you getting nude isn’t necessary, I have a proposition for you.”, he looked at me slightly relieved but confused. I explained “You’re the exact kind of person I was looking for to play Nathan in the production. You look far younger than your age, and because of the nudity in the production I was hoping to cast an adult who could pull off portraying a child in that role. You’d get to remain fully dressed throughout.” with that he began to thank me. It was clear to me that he was there for the talent scouts but the idea of stripping was too much for him to handle, which is perfectly fine with me. Having someone wanting to play one of the non-leads will make my casting decisions much easier.
The next few we had were mostly uneventful. Unimpressive monologues, timid when stripping, not really worth considering for this smaller cast.
Then when I called in the next name, I was taken by great surprise. His name was Logan Masters, and I had known him since I was a child. A family friend of mine that was a few years older than I. I had developed a slight crush on him when I was a boy, which had helped me accept my sexuality. He was never made aware of this, in fact no one was. I was confused to see him here as he had never acted in a professional production before (he had helped out from time to time), and even when in high school he never went for the big roles.
“Logan, what do I owe the pleasure?”, “to be completely honest with you, there is someone involved in this production that I wanted an excuse to get closer with.” My heart dropped slightly, I had never received any indication that he wasn’t straight but in my naive mind that had my crush peaking its way back in he could’ve been hinting to me. When I asked however he responded “your stage manager Abby. I’ve had a crush on her for a while but she never seemed to notice me backstage I thought I’d take a chance and sign up for this show since she was going to be a part of it”.
I should’ve seen this coming. Oh well, at least I’ll still get to see him naked. I asked him to do his monologue and he performed the famous soliloquy from Hamlet. It was shockingly moving for someone with as little experience as Logan had. After he finished I felt myself getting excited in anticipation in more ways than one. “alright Logan to ensure you’re comfortable with being naked on stage, we would like to ask that you to take off all of your clothes for the reading of the scene”. He looked at me confused, “no one mentioned anything about being naked” he said and I could see him starting to blush.
It hit me. In his mind he signed up to audition for a lead role in a play his crush was assisting in, he didn’t even bother to learn what play it was. “The play we are doing is The Full Monty, which means that people portraying the main roles will be naked on stage”. I could see his face drop. He wanted to make sure Abby saw him, but I’m sure this wasn’t exactly what he had in mind. “Do I have to?” he asked. I decided to go a little easy on him. “How about this Logan, I will turn around and you will take off all of your clothes. When you’re naked tell me and I will turn around and look you in the eyes the whole time. I won’t look at your body, that way we can test your comfort at being naked on stage but you don’t have to feel so exposed immediately.”
He debated for a few seconds then nodded and asked me to turn around. He must’ve come to the conclusion that there was no way he was getting a main role unless he got naked, and that at least with this way he’d be at least a little covered up. I heard his shirt hit the stage floor, then his pants, then nothing. “Logan I have a lot of people to see”, after that I heard the last article of clothing hit the stage floor. I turned around and I kept my promise of looking him in the eyes for his reading. At first Logan was completely nervous, but by the end of the scene he seemed to be fully in it. At one point he got so into the scene that he closed his eyes and I took that as my opportunity to sneak a glance at the naked body I had been imagining for years.
His penis was of average length, but was thin. This wasn’t that shocking as the rest of him was thin. He had somewhat hairy legs, but they looked well defined. He didn’t have hair anywhere else on his body. He had a runner’s upper body. As much as I was enjoying the view I knew if I didn’t look up quickly he’d notice and that would completely throw him off. He finished the scene and had done very well at connecting to the scene emotionally.
Immediately I thought he’d play a good Lomper, but I did question if he would be able to convincingly portray a romantic connection with another man. As the scene finished he seemed to have gotten somewhat comfortable with the nudity, however when I said he could get dressed now he rushed to it very quickly. Before he left he said to me “I know there’s a lot of talent out there, but I’d really appreciate this opportunity. You know I’m new at this, but you also know that when I’m committed to something I will go all in on doing so. Either way I still love you man and I’ll help out backstage if I don’t get a part.”
I nodded and thanked him. He’s green but he has talent, and my soft spot for him definitely won’t hurt him. I promised I wouldn’t let personal feelings get in the way of my decision-making, and I won’t. I think he’ll get a part though. Him and Jackson would make an interesting duo that’s for sure.
I took a few moments to let myself relive what I just witnessed. While doing so I received a call from Carson Nichols who wasn’t able to attend today but sent me a monologue. I listened to it and then I called in the next guy.
His name was Adam Anderson. He was kinda known around the company as a bit of a pervert. Immediately I knew when he walked in that I wasn’t casting him. This was the biggest production I had been trusted with and I wasn’t going to have someone make my entire cast uncomfortable. I let him read his monologue and told him I didn’t need to see any more.
The next few guys after Adam didn’t make it through the entire audition either. Otis Michaelson had a phenomenal audition but was shaking when I asked him to strip, Jamie Hamilton refused to strip when asked (had a solid audition though and asked to be considered for the non-stripper roles), and Damian Glasscock who let it be known before we even started that he’d only do the monologue. I was beginning to think that the efficient auditions were behind me.
Then Lawrence Winston walked in. Lawrence was a former college football player turned accountant who had joined our company about a week ago. He was in his 50’s but still looked to be in good shape. I looked at his resume and was impressed to see that on top of his football years he was also trained in ballet. That meant picking up the choreography would be rather easy for him.
The monologue he performed was a little unorthodox, it was the speech Hugh Grant gives during the press conference in Love, Actually. When I asked Lawrence to strip he did so very quickly. He still had abs despite his age, but they happened to be covered in light grey hair. His pubes looked like they hadn’t been trimmed in years. His penis was uncircumcised and only about two inches, but was very thick.
He was very confident when reading the scene. Casting the older black man with dancing experience as Horse did seem a little on the nose, but as of this point Lawrence was the only person I could think of for the role this far.
After Lawrence I had about twenty auditions in a row that all sort of mulled together. Nothing terrible, nothing memorable.
The next to audition was an Asian man named Noor Cho. Noor is someone I had never met, he must be new to the company. He had an air of swagger around him that I hadn’t seen much of today. Most men aren’t necessarily acting “cool” when they’re having to strip naked on stage in front of another guy.
His monologue choice was Biff’s monologue from Death of a Salesman. It was the best I had heard all day. Even better than Jackson’s.
“Alright Noor for the next part to make sure you’re comfortable being undressed onstage I would like you to be naked while reading the scene” he nodded still giving off that swagger. He stripped off his tight t-shirt, dress pants, and boxers. I looked him up and down.
He was absolutely gorgeous from head to toe. He was in amazing shape. He was clean shaven, and his body looked like it had been sculpted by Michelangelo. One thing that stood out about him was that after he had stripped he had gotten an erection. The first to do so today. I got to see him at full mast which was a thick seven inches.
I was gawking so long I had forgotten to tell him to go along with the scene. As he performed the scene his dick began to lose its excitement. I noticed that when soft his dick stayed as thick but shrunk about half its size in length. He was an untraditional choice for Gaz but his delivery on his monologue and his scene came off very paternal. I knew casting someone other than Jackson was a risk, but I was definitely wanting to see more of Noor.
The very next guy to come in was named Brandon Giappetti. He was someone who had done shows with the production since he was in high school. Now in his 40’s he was just as eager to participate. His naked body was nothing to write home about but his comedic acting was for sure.
Brandon was someone I knew I could 100% count on, and I couldn’t say that for very many people. He wanted the role of Pete and I feel like he fit it very well.
The rest of the day seemed to have gone by quick. I felt like I knew who I wanted for every role except for Gerald. I go to call in the last person to audition and I am shocked to see my exes name.
Joseph Mariano walks in and I can see the nerves on his face. He had purposely avoided doing productions I was a part of since I broke up with him for cheating on me. I guess the prospect of talent scouts was enough for him to take the plunge. His monologue was the Leonardo DiCaprio speech from the Wolf of Wall Street. As much as I hated to admit it he did a good job at rearranging the piece to be more comedic. When I asked him to strip it was extremely awkward for us both. Seeing his naked body felt so foreign, even though it was far from a new sight. Skinny but not muscular at all all over, and his penis was average in length and in width.
I looked at the body I used to find irresistible and feel absolutely nothing. He read his scene extremely well. Much to my chagrin I felt like I knew I had to cast him. After deliberating for a while I posted the cast list for the male cast (the female cast was chosen separately since they didn’t need an untraditional audition).
Gaz- Noor Cho
Dave- Brandon Giappetti
Gerald- Joseph Mariano
Lomper- Logan Masters
Horse- Lawrence Winston
Guy- Jackson Andrews
Nathan- Greg Johnson
Barry- Otis Michaelson
Alan- Jamie Hamilton
Reg- Damian Glasscock
Terry- Carson Nichols