I attended my first New York audition when I was 17. A friend and I set our alarms for an excruciatingly early hour, dragged ourselves up to Midtown, and got to the Eighth Avenue building at about 6:30am. We put our names on the unofficial, non-union list and for the next couple of hours, took turns running to the coffeeshop around the corner to warm up. Remarkably, we were both seen that day. I remember the experience with painful precision: narrow hallways lined with beautiful, limber, strong actors. Lots of cheekbones and jawlines, lashes and lips. I was in over my head. When they called my name, I walked into the room with unease, sang my 16 bars, and scurried out. That was it. Hours of prep, nerves, waiting in the cold, and then a 45-second interaction with people who were never going to cast me in a million years. I wanted to vomit—but I also wanted to do it again. And again. Forever.

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Alexander Perez captures this push and pull of life in the theatre, with all of its absurdity, gravitas, humor, hope, and heartache. It’s a ridiculous business we’ve sashayed into—but one taken ridiculously seriously by the people involved. Perez’s zany depiction bubbles with non-sequiturs, surreal stage directions, and bizarre motifs, alongside biting critique of the professional theatre world. His characters try to accomplish something that very few ever will: to get through the gates of the powerholders and do the thing that they know they were meant to do. Booked and Blessed…OR BUST! encourages us to broaden our definition
of success beyond glittering marquees and Broadway debuts.

At a moment when numerous, compounding crises demand our attention, I feel renewed gratitude for the privilege of getting to play. These talented student-artists have welcomed the wackiness with waggish spirit. We invite you to settle into our little corner of New York-in-DeKalb, embrace the belly laugh, and celebrate our successes—nearly a thousand miles from Broadway but ‘blessed’ nonetheless.
 

--Frankie DiCiaccio, DeKalb, IL, 2024