At about 6:30, I caught first wind of the line being cut off and people being turned away. Two that were told to go home were John Leopardo and Corey Thomas, a couple of aspiring actors living in the south suburbs. They got in line around 5:20, and then spent an hour waiting before being told they were wasting their time.
“The security guard at first said if we got in line before 6 we were fine,” Leopardo said. “Everybody would get in there. But we didn’t even get halfway there and they cut the line off way ahead of us.”
“They took our headshots and resumes,” said Thomas. “They said we could apply online, but of course, I wanted to do an in-person interview.”
Both Thomas and Leopardo, 18 and 19 respectively, have taken steps past in recent years to further their career, but were only able to show up after 5 due to commitments to their day jobs. Thomas is a theater major attending Columbia College in the fall, and Leopardo has spent multiple terms studying at Second City. Still, not being willing to get fired from a paying job for an extremely slim chance meant that they weren’t able to actually meet the casting director.
The same was true for Aubry Wood. The 22-year-old recruiter living in Chicago graduated from Indiana University in May with an acting degree. She spent a full day at work downtown before rushing to the north side for the auditions. Unlike some who waited for hours before being turned away, she was instantly told the line had been cut off, but that didn’t diminish her disappointment, nor did my explanation of the fact it wasn’t really an audition at all.
“They’re lucky because they’ve been in to see the casting directors,” Wood said of those ahead of her. When I asked her about those who showed up at 2:00 AM, she assured me she would’ve been there if she could’ve.
