Should have kept my mouth shut, although it'd be hard to say my lines

Once again, my big mouth has gotten me into trouble.

It started with me good-naturedly teasing my former coffee shop colleague, Maxine, who is an actress enrolled in the American Musical & Dramatic Academy (AMDA) for acting.

“So instead of English and math class, you go to classes with names like ‘Improve 101: Make Stuff Up As You Go Along’ and ‘Pantomiming Like Someone Believes You’re Really Saying Something?’” I would say to her, and then she’d laugh and try and defend herself.

I have to admit that I would often bring up Maxine’s acting because I was actually interested to hear about the types of things she was learning. I’ve never really done any acting before, and Maxine has dedicated her college career to it, so I very much enjoyed hearing about something someone else is so passionate about.

She told me that in one of her classes, each student had to stand up in front of his or her peers and tell a story. The moment it became boring, each student was instructed to get up and leave the room, which teaches the students how to remain engaging and keep people’s attention. She also told me about the time they were told to do a monologue while pretending to be some type of animal, like a tiger or monkey.

But nothing she said really convinced me that acting was difficult. You essentially memorize some lines and then pretend to be someone else, and I remember telling this to Maxine a number of times in the year or so that I’ve known her… which I regretted immediately after getting her phone call yesterday evening.

“Hey, Erika! You know how you always say that acting is easy?” she asked me. “Well, I just was cast in this play that I think has the perfect part for you, and I think you should read for it.”

“I have just one question. Is this part the lead? Because I would only consider trying out for a lead role,” I joked.

“Well… kind of,” she replied. “I thought the playwright was going to play her, but I guess not.”

“Wait, you think I should try out for the lead?” I asked her. “Are you crazy? All joking aside, you know I have no experience with acting!”

“Yeah, I know but the character is a teacher who teaches poetry, and I know that you like poetry,” she replied. “Plus, the other parts are teenagers and we need someone older – not that you’re old or anything…”

“Thanks for clarifying,” I said sarcastically.

“You know what I mean!” she replied. “Anyway, we need someone who looks older who can play the part. And why not? Acting is easy, right?”

Crap, I thought. I mean I can’t not go or that would be pretty hypocritical.

“Right,” I said, sighing, trying to come up with a way out without having to admit that there just might be some skill to this whole acting thing. “It sounds interesting but, come on, do you really think the playwright would even want someone with no experience?”

“If you’re good,” she said. “Meet me at the coffee shop on Friday and I’ll go with you to the audition.”

“OK, fine,” I said hesitantly, then hung up.

This will be interesting.