By Mary Jo Curtis T he petite brunette hung on her boyfriend's arm, bouncing in place and gazing at him adoringly as he introduced her to his friend Emma. Student playwright Stephen Karam '02 tackled the project last winter as an independent study, writing the book, music and lyrics for the musical. As Karam gathered in a small Wilson Hall classroom last week with director Darius Pierce '01 and musical directors Emma Borosin '03 and Jaemi Loeb '03, students filled the hallway outside, waiting for the chance to appear before them and compete for the show's 16 parts. Stage manager Jen Beckmann corralled the actors as they came in, giving them directions and answering an unending stream of questions. They're mostly nerve-inspired questions.
Butterflies are good.
As it turned out, King's was the first audition of the evening. Assuming the role of Emma, she played a brief scene with Karam. Groups of two and three students followed, one after another, filing in and out of the audition room, their faces eager on the way in and wearing mixed expressions as they exited. Serio was philosophical as she waited for her turn in the audition room. I've learned you have to just not care.