For all applicants:
Please audio record yourself performing one of the two selections of text in bold below.
We ask that this be un-edited for sound quality, though you are welcome to cut it to eliminate errors. To that point, it is possible you may record an episode in your recording space as schedules, quality, proximity and preference determine. We want to establish the sound quality of audio files we could expect to receive if you were to record with your own equipment in your own space.
Keep in mind you are submitting for consideration for a variety of performance pieces. The "audition piece" should be clear, confident and connected to the content. Read it a few times before recording to consider the inflection, pace and emotion behind it. We suggest considering doing more than one recording and selecting the one you like best, but if you nail it on your first go - go with your gut!
Applicants choosing to submit a personal demo in addition to the audition piece, please consider the following:
1. Feel free to submit an edited demo, but do not edit the cold read.
2. Please submit the demo and cold read as two separate files, but submit no more than two files.
3. You are welcome to submit any recording you feel best exemplifies your talent, range, and versatility. This may be accomplished with one piece being performed. This may be accomplished with multiple pieces being performed on the demo. Either is acceptable.
4. If performing multiple reads on your demo, please provide some form of distinction between pieces (introducing each piece, or a chime or beep, etc).
5 Demos should be no more than 5 minutes.
Audition Piece 1
He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of revelers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he is acting for the best.
“You have a grand gift of silence, Watson,” said he. “It makes you quite invaluable as a companion. ’Pon my word, it is a great thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear little woman to-night when she meets me at the door.”
“You forget that I know nothing about it.”
“I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can get nothing to go upon. There’s plenty of thread, no doubt, but I can’t get the end of it into my hand. Now, I’ll state the case clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a spark where all is dark to me.”
“Proceed, then.”
“Some years ago—to be definite, in May, 1884—there came to Lee a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far as we have been able to ascertain, amount to £88 10s., while he has £220 standing to his credit in the Capital and Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money troubles have been weighing upon his mind.
“Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up in your London, you will know that the office of the company is in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company’s office, got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me so far?”
“It is very clear.”
“If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town in, he had on neither collar nor necktie.
Audition Piece 2
There is a worm ninety feet long. It is the giant of a family of white, red, yellow, green, purple, and violet worms whose habitat ranges from sea bottoms to jungle treetops. The worms shoot poison-tipped harpoons out of their brains. Most can shrink at will to less than a third of their ordinary length. They always shrink when they die. Some can break up into hundreds of fragments, each of which will grow into a complete new worm. They tie themselves into inextricable knots. They build their houses from the slime of their own bodies.
This class is that of the ribbon worms or nemertina. There are about five hundred known species—perhaps as many more are unknown. Still near the bottom of animal life, they represent revolutionary advances from the lowest of worms, the planarians, with which they share many characteristics. They have evolved integrated brains and nervous systems. They have, for the most part, taken on a true worm shape. They have acquired weapons and, in some cases, arsenals of weapons. They have eyes that see. They have a digestive system, a mouth near the front of the body, and closed blood system through which flows a liquid which usually is colorless as water. Perhaps they hear. At the top of the head in certain species there is a group of cells with hairs and bristles which may constitute an organ of taste. Along the way of achieving these advances they have given up a little freedom and a little immortality for a little more efficiency.
Those best-known are inhabitants of sea shores, especially the Atlantic coasts of North America and Europe. They live under rocks, in abandoned mollusk shells, in windrowed masses of sea weed, in thin, parchment-like tubes which they secrete from their own skin. Their general appearance is that of a tangled mass of slimy string, but some members of the family have among the most brilliant color patterns known in nature.
The most conspicuous organ of these primitive worms is the proboscis,[Pg 23] a hollow string which is shot out with great speed and force from the front end of the usually cylindrical body. At the end of the string, in several groups, is a sharp-pointed, barbed spear-like stylet with which the prey, usually some minute water animal, is speared. The victim then is drawn back into the mouth by the attached hollow thread. Some groups have no stylets. The thread, upon which is a mucilage-like mucous, is used like a lassoo and coiled tightly around the prey.
The proboscis is associated so closely with the brain that, like the retina of the eye, it has sometimes been considered an extension of it. The thread often is as long as the worm itself. It is shot out with such force that is frequently breaks off and continues to lead an independent life for a few hours. A new proboscis always develops.
When coiled, the proboscis rests in the center of the two-lobed brain. It is continuously shot out and pulled in and probes the water around it. Presumably at first it was an extremely sensitive sensory organ by which the brain was kept aware of its surroundings. The attached stylet, an offensive weapon, was a later development.
In a few cases the thread carries a multitude of unattached barbed points, a sort of machine-gun arrangement, which can be hurled in all directions in the hope of hitting something. It also carries tiny hooks by which it can be attached to some object. By means of the attached line the worm pulls itself forward over beach or sea bottom, its ordinary means of locomotion. It is also able, however, to glide like a planarian and to swim.
Nemertinea breath through the walls of the oesophagus, or gullet. When the tide comes in, shore-dwelling species rapidly swallow and eject mouthfuls of salt water. Oxygen to purify the blood is obtained from the water. The blood circulates in two or three vessels. It is a colorless plasma in which float both green and red corpuscles.
There is little knowledge as to the precise nature of the nemertinean sensory organs. There are, however, nerve cells in all parts of the body and the animal is quick to respond to any irritation, especially to any chemical change in the water. With an intense stimulus the body is contracted violently, twisted, and even torn apart. Even a headless specimen will move toward food placed nearby. A severed head may continue to creep restlessly for several hours. The headless body moves only when stimulated. With most mud-dwelling species it is difficult to secure an entire specimen. The slender, fragile body is likely to break into many fragments when disturbed. Quite commonly, even without any particular disturbance, a large worm will break up into a dozen or more pieces. Each becomes a small, new animal. Some regenerating fragments secrete disks of mucous and form cradles, in which they may remain for months while new organs are being formed. Eventually the disk ruptures and the[Pg 24] new worm emerges. There is a specific tendency in some species thus to reproduce during warm weather, with a brief period of sexual reproduction during the cold months.
These worms are extremely tenacious of life. Even without food they may live as long as a year in the proper environment. Ordinarily they are quite voracious animals. They eat earthworms, other sea worms, small mollusks—almost anything soft-bodied which the eternally active proboscis can bring to the mouth. There it is sucked into the digestive tract. The digestive process is very rapid. Some species have distensible mouths. Like snakes, they can devour animals bigger than themselves. Some are cannibals. When times are hard they can, like planarians, absorb themselves. A case has been known where a nemertean digested all but a twentieth of its own body in a few months, apparently without any ill effects. The lost tissues were restored as soon as food again was available.