Finalized

It's no longer tentative. The producer of Anton in Show Business posted an audition call to cast the final role. The decision has been made. The call is out there. And I'm in.

The call is for a black actress to play T-Anne; but the very white "Kelly Lypenski" has been cast in other roles. Yep, my friends and dear readers, the role of Actress 2 has been cast and "Kelly Lapenski" will be playing Ralph, Wikèwitch, and Joe Bob -- performing these delicious male roles in, respectively, British, Russian, and Southern accents.

Ein minuten bitter! Male roles?

Yes. Part of the subversive "behind the curtain of REAL THEATRE" nature of this show is to have all the parts played by women. As the character Kate explains to the metanarrative character Joby, "eighty percent of the roles in the American theater are played by men, and 90 percent of the directors are men. The point of having a male director played by a woman is to redress the former and satirize the latter."

Maybe. For my own part, I'll consider that I've made a dent in REAL THEATRE when I have redressed the spelling of my poor Polish name.

Did You Say FIVE Shows?

Yes, I did. The results of my second callback are in and I'm cast. Again. Amazing. Remember, I did MONOLOGUES at these auditions. Woo-Hoo!

Okay, that's somewhat tentative right now, but looking good. The director wants me but (as you might imagine) I have beaucoup conflicts in October which the producer must agree to work around. If he does, that'll be the fifth show on my radar next month. While not quite as incredible as my being cast from a monologue in the first place, the resulting rehearsal schedule is somewhat remarkable.

The first show to open, in which I am cast, is A Terminal Affair, directed by Orrick -- October 12 and 13; on the following weekend (October 18 and 19) Among the Missing, which I am directing, will open. Two weekends after that (November 2 and 3) The Last Supper, another show I'm directing, opens; and on the weekend following -- November 9th -- The O'Conner Girls, in which I am cast, opens.

The first three shows, each running only one weekend and each having a Thursday tech rehearsal, created a conflict for The O'Conner Girls, which will run for 5 weeks. Nevertheless I was cast. Now The O'Conner Girls is creating a conflict for Anton in Show Business, which will open in January and run for 8 weeks. Unfortunately, it goes into rehearsal in October. Fortunately, that early start allows some wiggle room for my joining the cast late. And, in the meantime, on Sundays.

This friends, makes for one schizo calendar!


But it's nice to be in demand.

:)

Potty Breaks

After hearing about my multiple shows, a friend jokingly asked if I'd scheduled potty breaks for myself in my busy schedule. It was a teasing remark, taken lightly; but it wasn't far from being a darned good question!

Because my mother also asked about Thanksgiving conflicts, I will risk being repetitive in telling you where all my endeavors stand so far.

I had had no plans to audition for anything for a while. I saw nothing of interest on the acting horizon, so I dove headfirst into my first two directing gigs at the North Park Playwrights Festival. I've cast both shows and we are in the midst of rehearsals.

However, when Orrick followed me to North Park to read scripts he also submitted to direct and took on another two scripts, casting me in both and assuring that I would be involved in all four weekends of the Festival: his shows on the 1st and 3rd weekend; my shows on the second and fourth.

With those conflicts, I had decided not to audition for a full-length show at another theatre but was swayed when the Artistic Director called me in. The four Thursday rehearsals I would necessarily miss while in tech for each weekend's new North Park program seemed and insurmountable conflict, but I chose to let the director make that decision himself.

Meanwhile, I read the notice for a concurrent audition for a show that would open in January, 6th@Penn Theatre's Anton in Show Business. I knew the director; in fact, I had expected to hear from her about another piece being performed at 6th@Penn, a Challenge Theatre production written by a local reviewer who had offered me the "role of a lifetime" in his script. Because I had heard nothing about the fate of that show I thought it prudent to put myself where Carla would be. I was called back for a role.

That callback is scheduled for this Saturday. In the meantime, I have accepted the role of Martha O'Conner at Scripps Ranch, full of curiosity to see who will be playing fraternal twin sister to my Slavic features.

While all of this is going on and I'm juggling four pieces at North Park, four becomes three. For a number of reasons, Orrick decided to let one of his two pieces go, which meant I would no longer be performing it. This, in the end, is good news for the Scripps show as it is one less Thursday conflict for me. The show will open on the weekend following the end of the Playwright's Festival.

But juggling three short shows, one full-length production, and a callback are merely background noise to the call of producing a new summer theatre festival. After 17 consecutive years, the Actors Alliance has decided to suspend its Actors Festival for a year and I am a key player in an attempt to organize an actors showcase to fill the void.

First, our group met with the Alliance to try to find out how the $20,000 income was too little to avoid a loss for the production. The meeting was amiable enough and contained gems of truth but was not wholly satisfying. With none of the monies paid to actors, there is still a large chunk of change not accounted for.

Then our group met with the professional company Vantage Theatre to discuss a symbiotic relationship in this festival: for the opportunity to produce under their insured umbrella, we would provide them 10% of the house and put their name on everything. However, we had hoped that when they offered to add the production to their upcoming season that they were offering something more. We have been left with a great deal of work to do, decisions to make, deadlines to create and meet, while operating on our free time. Luckily, we all seem to have a bit of it.

And I haven't even mentioned the whole fiasco with building the Vantage Theatre website only to be told to dismantle it.

For someone as direly underemployed as myself, it has been an amazingly busy week. And it's only just beginning. Auditions, meetings, callbacks, rehearsals, readings and all manner of who knows what else are piled one atop the other in the scheduling book of my brain. Yet through it all, so far, I've still managed the occasional tinkle.

Thanks for asking.

Conflicting Information

Some things I will never understand. For example, the audition process.

For a local audition, I had to make an appointment with the producer and email her a number of things, one of which was a list of my conflicts. Despite my conflicts, the audition appointment was made.

I arrived at the audition with the standard audition form, filled in completely with my list of conflicts. Despite my conflicts, I performed my monologue.

At the audition site, I filled in another form on which I yet again listed my conflicts. Despite those conflicts, I was called back.

After a long night of callbacks the director indicated the stack of papers in front of him and said "I haven't looked at these. Do you have any conflicts?"

Logue for One, Please

I must be getting better at it. Either that, or theatres are more desperate these days. This week I performed two monologue auditions. You, loyal reader, know that I would rather jump naked on a huge pile of thumbtacks than give a monologue, but those who would (or would not) hire me have not asked and do not care -- a monologue is what they want! Tyrant bastard people. So, in the hope of earning a few ducats, I go and do the very thing that makes ripping my intestines out with a fork seem the better option for a fun-filled afternoon.

Twice.

And lo and behold... I've been called back.

Twice.

In the next round, I get to do the much preferred cold reading audition, in the hope of being "matched up" physically with folks who would play my friends, lovers, or relatives. Thankfully, no more painful imagery will be needed for this round. Thanks, Weird Al. Take five.

Write After Labor Day

With the final applause for Friday night's Hamlet, so too our summer subscription to The Old Globe came to an end. This year's summer season also included Two Gentlemen of Verona and Measure for Measure, as well as the non-Shakespeare offerings of Hay Fever, Avenue Q, and Bell, Book, and Candle -- but it was Hamlet I was eager to see staged. I was not disappointed. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for never being in San Diego on your ticketed dates. Orrick and I enjoyed our evenings out immensely. Now our attentions turn to other shows, ones we are directing and ones we are in.

Rehearsals have begun for both of the short shows I am directing. Blocking has been given and now it is a matter of repetition and memorization for the actors who, even rehearsing only once a week, will probably tire of their scripts well before the shows open.

The North Park Playwrights Festival opens October 12. The opening weekend includes A Terminal Affair, directed by Orrick. He and I are playing the two roles: a married couple attempting to spice up their relationship with role-play at the airport. Of the four plays we're directing, this is the only one that "self-contained" -- limited to the two of us.

The second weekend will bring Among the Missing (directed by me) to the stage. Weekend three will feature the Orrick-directed Cut, for which Orrick's friend Dave and I will supply voiceovers. Weekend four will see The Last Supper produced, with Les Payne in the lead role and Orrick in one of the two supporting roles.

Now you'd think this would be enough for October, but no; it doesn't stop there.

I believe I've mentioned some time ago that a local writer contacted me to offer "the role of a lifetime!" I read Kish's script and prepared myself, scheduling my North Park rehearsals in the daytime so that I would be available for evening performances of that 20-page monologue on off-nights at 6th@Penn Theatre. As it happens, though, the theatre does not allow the writer to direct his own piece. My name has been forwarded to the woman who will direct the piece, but so far I have heard nothing official regarding the part and have begun to book other auditions.

This afternoon I will audition for another 6th@Penn production, Jane Martin's Anton in Show Business. Interestingly, this piece is to be directed by the same woman who, last I heard, would be directing Kish's Challenge Theatre piece. As it happens, I know Carla from my recent stint as Stage Manager to her production of George Soete's Nest, but whether this helps or hurts I do not know. She likes me but has never seen me on stage; her first taste of my acting will be the dread monologue I deliver today. I may know my fate regarding both pieces -- Kish's and Martin's -- very soon.

Tomorrow I will audition for a show at Scripps Ranch, Kate Forgette's The O'Conner Girls. Given my already full plate, I had no intention of pursuing this piece until the theatre's Artistic Director called me at home to invite me to the audition. Rather than dismiss myself, I decided to let the director decide whether my four consecutive Thursday tech rehearsals at North Park prove too great a conflict.

Both 6th@Penn and Scripps Ranch pay small stipends.

With consideration up in the air for three shows, two shows confirmed, and another two I'm directing, October will prove a busy month. And that's without mention so far of the progress we're making to mount a new Actors Festival.

The AASD lost money (despite a $20,000 income) on the Actors Festival this year and "temporarily suspended" the program. After 17 years, there will be no AASD Festival in 2008. Baffled, a group of a dozen or so of us decided that we would put on next year's festival ourselves and have made strides toward that end. Next week we will be meeting first with AASD (as members) to find out where the money went. If we can't secure their endorsement, we can at least avoid making their mistakes. Then we will meet with Vantage/New Works theatre, which is interested in producing our new venture.

And finally, I have been a busy bee online as well. You can now find me on MySpace (which doesn't allow links back to Blogger, we've discovered!), on another Blogger site (a John From Cincinnati photo tour of Imperial Beach), and as a self-named dot com!

Perhaps soon I should begin looking at some lines.... ;)