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."
