Casting Woes

So this is the inaugural season at The Strand Theater in Baltimore and I was chosen to direct the 2nd show in the season, Watch, A Haunting by Molly Rice. It is the very interesting and innovative script. Here is the description from The Strand's website:

Watch, A Haunting, centers around a young girl named VI living with her neurotic mother and elderly grandmother. Never fitting in, VI spends most of her time in her room or supplementing her lack of friends with food. VI does have a special talent, a talent of seeing people that others cannot. When she befriends a girl that no one else can see, her mother quickly makes an appointment with a PHD who may be after a Pulitzer, rather than providing any real help. Is VI crazy? Or is she simply able to “see dead people…?”

So we held auditions this past Sunday. There was a pretty good turn out, we even had a 10-year old show up (which I really wasn't expecting). I found my lead and found a bunch of talented actresses and one actor that I think would round out the cast nicely.

On a side note - when auditioning, please remove your purse, especially if it has keys that jingle during the entire audition. It does nothing for you or the person you are auditioning with.

Well the Artistic Director sent out notices asking the people I cast if they would like to do the show, sent them a script, etc. I believe pretty much everyone accepted, except there are a few scheduling conflicts which made people have to drop out. Well with the age ranges I have in the show, I have now had to skew all the casting younger. Luckily the woman I cast as the 10-year old girl can look super super young, so I think I can get away with having a 30-year old mom. Then there is the issue of the grandmother. I have someone that is in the next age bracket up from the woman I cast as the mom, but 1. I don't want to insult her by casting her as the grandmother (she really is more of a mom age) and 2. I'm going to have to age her a bit to help make the age gap look wider than it is.

We'll see what happens, if everyone accepts and what not. If not, back to the drawing board...

P.S. I also signed up for the Actor's Center conference in D.C. in mid-late September. I'm kind of excited to get back on my feet and awaken some of those skills that are collecting dust on the shelf. I start the day with a yoga session (always a must have for me), then an improv class (much needed), voice-over, stage combat and then finally a chekov class. I'll let you know how it goes.