[b]Leiko Hamada: Auditorium- Judging Panel[/b]

Leiko continued to scrawl idly on her notebook as she glanced over at the audition sheet before her. The next name, like so many others, was unfamiliar to her. "Sato Hashimoto", she announced clearly, ceasing her writing for a moment as she rested her pen on the desk, propping her chin on the palms of her hands as her eyes cast forward to the stage.

A lean, fair-skinned male walked towards the centre of the stage, a few murmurs of recognition following him as he looked ahead at the audience with a sense of unease. Leiko could feel the nervous energy radiate from him, her own stomach knotting from the tension as she watched on silently. She hated watching people fall apart from stage fright, and she really hoped she wasn't about to witness it now.

The spotlight illuminated his slight figure, and with a deep breath, the male began to recite his words.

The initial delivery was sketchy at best. The male's voice shook slightly with nerves, but he was quick to recover, Leiko noted as his voice grew in power and confidence the deeper he delved into his role. His body started to relax along with his words, adopting a more natural stance as he recited the wonders of heaven and earth in a distant and somewhat melancholic way. He had chosen to focus on the emotion underlying the words in the script, an approach that a surprising amount of auditionees had [i]not[/i] attempted, and Leiko couldn't help but feel impressed with his candour.

Briefly writing something down, Leiko's eyes flickered to the page and back again to see the male raising a hand with his palm facing upwards in some sort of strange gesture as he delivered his final line. Was he trying to shield his eyes from the spotlight? Leiko raised the end of her pen to her lips and tapped her bottom lip as she tried to work out the reason for the hand movement. The best she could conclude was that he was taking the 'bright things' mentioned in his final line literally, as if the spotlight itself was a factor in his performance. Perhaps he was attempting a form of meta-theatre in his delivery? Unsure of his true intention, Leiko dotted a question mark next to 'hand gesture' by Sato's name, whilst allowing the applause to thunder across the room.

Clearing her throat, Leiko's eyes roved her notes once more before levelling with Sato's brown ones. "You had somewhat of a shaky start," she began carefully, approaching her words like she was walking on eggshells whilst speaking to the unfamiliar male. She had never spoken to the student before, so it was difficult to gauge his temperament just from a short audition. "Which is understandable. Standing on that stage on your own with so many people watching can be terrifying. What matters, is that you held it together, and grew into your role the more you progressed." She stopped for a moment so that the male could consider her words before continuing her critique. "Your approach towards the script was excellent. I could sense that you put serious consideration towards the emotions behind the words, and I could honestly feel it resonate with the audience as well. Overall, a really good performance...umm..." Leiko blanched as his name slipped from her mind, quickly casting her eyes down before glancing back up at him again. "Hashimoto-san." With a quick murmur of agreement with the other judges, Leiko glanced at him with a pleased expression. "I look forward to us working together."

Leaving at that, Leiko allowed Sato to let himself leave the stage whilst she reviewed her notes once more. She really wanted to ask him what his intention had been with that sudden hand gesture of his, but she decided against it for now, in case the inquiry took him off guard and flustered him in front of his audience. Instead, she would find an opportunity to speak to him at a later date and ask him then.

Tossing her long hair behind her shoulder, Leiko noted that they were reaching closer to the end of the audition process. Overall, she was very pleased with the diversity in skill that the auditionees had shown thus far, and with that optimism pushing her forward, she announced the name of the next auditionee.