Featured photo by Emily Miller.
Lights are blazing. Fellow students are watching, and all eyes focus center stage.
One student stands alone, getting ready to speak.
That student is Eliseo “Eli” Espinosa, and he’s practicing his 2-minute monologue for an upcoming audition.
“This is for my TXETA audition,” he says, “where I’ll be going to Dallas and go audition for around 40 schools, 40-50 schools, and this is a way where I can get scholarships and get accepted into four-year programs right after I leave SPC.”
There’s a lot at stake. The TXETA is the Texas Educational Theater Association. According to the TXETA website, the organization gives away $32,000 in seven different scholarships each year.
Espinosa’s monologue includes two different pieces he chose himself to best show his skills.
One selection is from William Shakespeare’s “Richard III”. The other selection, the one he is
practicing today, is from “Feiffer’s People” by Jules Feiffer.
SPC Instructor and Director of Theater April Langehennig says it is typical for drama students to audition for scholarships.
“They audition for scholarships and to be a major in most departments,” she says. Langehennig says she critiques students during practice for “truthfulness, pacing, easy and cool transitions, and clarity”.
“So as an actor,” Espinosa says, “I’ll be using, I have to use from my toes to my head and make every movement matter.”
Espinosa’s actual audition is Friday. Break a leg Eli!
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