Casting Week!

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

The First Steps

After 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…  

With 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]