Be Careful What You Wish For . . .

I've done acting auditions before: you go in, act out your prepared monologues (one comic, one dramatic) and then at callbacks you do cold reads from the script. I've never done a writing audition. Until now.

This software place I applied to is working on a reading comprehension game for children in grades 3-8, or something like that. For my audition, I have to write three passages of 100-400 words, the multiple-choice questions the kids will answer, and the connecting dialogue the program will speak between questions, when the kids get the answers right. There's a basic format I'm supposed to follow, so the questions aren't the challenging part. The challenge is writing something age-appropriate, skill-appropriate, and, above all, FUNNY, in less than 500 words. These are the kinds of writing assignments I would have to complete from now until the end of July, assuming I land the gig. I've been working on my audition piece since I got home from the interview, around 3:30 or so. It's a challenge, and kind of scary, but then again, I like a challenge.