Guest Post – Week 4 – so much to do!

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This week’s continuing guest post series from Shanna Sartori and Katelin Dickson as they become first-time Theatrepreneurs in the Big Apple.

 sartori headshot           This week began the fourth week or rehearsals. I don’t know where the month of February went! The rehearsals have steadily been getting longer, and more demanding. Loring has been pushing the actors to make these characters ours. With a show as popular as Earnest, it’s very easy to play the characters as they have been played for the past century. We are making these characters our own and that includes making decisions that may not be the most traditional or logical. With this being said, we know we have to stay true to the period so we are finding that balance.

            I have tried to focus the last two weeks on being an actor and let the producing responsibilities take a back seat for a little bit. Loring believes that Cecily is the most complex character in the show. We have been discovering she has many levels. At times she is sweet and kind and other instances she is a complete brat who can be ever so slightly manipulative. This is one of the reasons I love Cecily so much, she is incredibly real. Act II takes place in the garden of her residence. Cecily spends most of her time there, either alone or with her tutor Miss Prism. Because of this she has developed and amazing imagination. I view the garden as Cecily’s own world where she believes anything can happen. Act II is my favorite because suddenly everything Cecily has ever dreamt of and imagined is coming true. As a cast, we love rehearsing this act.

            Act III on the other hand is proving to be more difficult. It’s a scene essentially between two actors and yet every actor is on stage almost throughout the entirety. Nothing and yet everything is happening. It is very difficult, at least for myself, to listen for nearly 20 pages with very little dialogue and still appear alert and interested. Last night we rehearsed this act for almost three hours and we were all exhausted after. It’s funny how tiring just sitting can be.

            Tickets go on sale March 1st through Brown Paper Bag Tickets. This week we begin our hunt for set and prop pieces. We also have to begin advertising and get our postcards ordered, printed, and distributed. These are things that I will be focusing on over the next week or two. We have come a long way in the past month and still have a lot more to do in the next.

Guest Post: Acting and Accents and Costumes, Oh, My!

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This week’s continuing guest post series from Shanna Sartori and Katelin Dickson as they become first-time Theatrepreneurs in the Big Apple.

 sartori headshot           Our Indie Gogo Campaign ended this week, and we far exceeded our goal of $3,000. In the end we raised $3,545 through the site. That number doesn’t include all of the private donations we received as well. The process of fundraising proved very rewarding and I was genuinely touched by how generous people were. If not for all of our lovely family and friends, this show wouldn’t be possible.

             Week two of rehearsals has come to a close. To save money we have been alternating rehearsals between my apartment and The Producer’s Club. Our costumes have been ordered. We are using a place called The Costumer, located in upstate New York.

            Kate and I have been finding it difficult sometimes to focus during rehearsals. Our minds have been in a million places, costumes, fundraising, and stage manager duties to name only a few. We were both leaving rehearsal feeling like we weren’t making the best use of our time. To resolve this issue, we gave our director Loring more of the stage manager’s responsibility until we have someone for that role. During rehearsal, that means we don’t have to worry about staying on schedule, ect. As a cast, we also began doing group warm ups. This not only helps build ensemble, but it also helps Kate and I leave the rest of the shows duties at the door and focus on the next three hours as actors only.Katelin_Dickson

            I realized that doing a British period piece is a big undertaking, especially when it’s the company’s first show. With a contemporary piece, accents, movement, costumes, set, would most likely not be quite as big of a focus. Since we decided to perform Earnest true to the script and time, we have a lot to work on as actors. It’s proving challenging, but also exciting. I don’t mind putting countless hours into all aspects of this show because I love the play so much and am so passionate about our production. I know after all is said and done, I will leave this experience feeling very proud.

algernon and cecily

     castmiss prismlady bracknell and algernon

 

Casting Week!

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Guest post from budding theatrepreneurs, Shanna Sartori & Katelin Dickson.
Their journey continues


The First Steps

sartori headshotAfter Kate, Loring, and I committed to the idea of producing The Importance of Being Earnest, our next task was to find our cast.  My roommate Jill Pettigrew, another Keene State College alumnae, currently works in the casting world, so when she offered to cast our production we leapt at the opportunity.  A very early lesson that Kate and I have learned thus far is that if people offer you something when you are starting with nothing, you should accept it graciously!  We kept the casting session small and booked a room at Ripley Greer Studios on the Upper West Side.  As our actors arrived, so did our first hurdle… Several opera singers began to filter in to our modest waiting room and they just so happened to be rehearsing in the room next door.  Opera is a beautiful art that fills places such as The Met, if you can imagine cramming all of that talent into a 10×12 foot room than you can understand what we were up against.  Thankfully our talented cast not only impressed us at this challenging audition, but we like to think they left having a deeper appreciation for the many arias that became their scene partner.  Perhaps their cast gift should be a recording of “Ave Maria”?  Or, perhaps not…  

Katelin_DicksonWith our actors on board we swiftly planned our first rehearsal.  We gathered at Loring’s apartment in Astoria and over some wine, had our first read through.  Those two or so hours Kate and I were in a complete state of bliss.  We knew the characters we were playing would bring us joy, but what was even more fulfilling was realizing that our idea to produce this show meant we are able to share this great play with so many other people we care about in our lives. 

With a rehearsal schedule made, things seemed to be running very smoothly.  Our fundraising was going exceptionally well, and I booked our theatre at The Producer’s Club for our run.  My boss was able to introduce me to his friend, who is the owner of The Producer’s Club, so we enthusiastically accepted a discount on the space.  (Another example of an outside source offering help which we certainly accepted).  Kate had also secured a meeting with a Broadway producer named Sean Cercone who mentored us for an afternoon on producing our first show and how to start a theatre company.  All of our cards were falling into place, or so we thought…

Then, two days before our first rehearsal, I received a phone call from our Algernon.  He told me he felt he had bitten off more than he could chew and decided to drop out.  We had no Algernon, and because I offered him the role before our casting session, we hadn’t auditioned anyone.  We scrambled to pull actors together to audition on Saturday, including making a few ‘house calls’. We wound up casting Matt Braunsdorf as our new Algernon, who just so happens to be another KSC alumnae.  

This week we begin rehearsals, and it feels good to finally get things moving.  In addition to beginning rehearsals, we will be wrapping up our fundraising in ten days.  Our “to-do list” includes hunting for set pieces, props and measuring our actors for costumes.  With everything going on we sometimes forget we’re even in the show, but these mixed feelings of anxiety and excitement are a reminder that this is real and we are making it happen. 

[Katelin and Shanna are only $350 away from their Indiegogo goal and they still have a week to go! If you would like to check it out, here’s the link]