Mending Fences, Mounting Fests

I have cast the two shows I am directing at North Park and something stands out: I have cast one actor from every ACT-San Diego show I've done.

In Among the Missing, I cast The Odd Couple's original Florence Unger (who dropped that show one week before opening); Move Over, Mrs. Markham's Philip Markham; and The Importance of Being Earnest's Jack/John/Earnest Worthing.

In The Last Supper, I cast Boy Gets Girl's Mercer Stevens; Caught in the Net's director; and... a gentleman who actually auditioned.

On the other side of the theatrical coin, the Actors Alliance of San Diego is facing some financial difficulties and has decided to fire its Program Director and suspend all actor programs, including the Actors Festival. This has created no shortage of uproar among a certain group of actors who will not be paid their stipends and want to know just how, exactly, the Festival managed to raise more than $20,000 yet report a loss. We've priced the venue and the programs, we've projected the total cost of stipends (a meaningless gesture in the end) and we are still are unable to account for more than $8,000 -- $14,000 if stipends are not paid. Where did the money go? And why, when the Alliance is willing to put $7,500 into a new website (in the works) isn't it willing to save the programs which actually showcase its actors?

A sub-alliance has formed in an attempt to host our own festival next year where the AASD will not. With or without the endorsement of the AASD (which will not come) we plan to do everything we can to provide actors with the important exposure of this large-scale showcase. Whether, in the end, we can raise an adequate amount of money for an appropriate venue and agree on how it should be used remains to be seen; but as always, I'm right in the thick of it!

Could be fun.