Doomsday Episode 2 - "Auditions"

So we've been in the process of auditions for the last couple of weeks. Whenever we get ready for the audition process, Cathy throws out a blanket e-mail to our regulars (those that have acted in our shows in the past) and I'll set up an announcement on Nowcasting. Between the two, we usually are able to fill most the roles. Lately, however, because of gas prices (I surmise), I haven't got a lot of submissions from Nowcasting. A lot of actors that use that service are located in the L.A. area and, because rehearsals are held in Agoura, it's quite a drive for people out there. One of these days we need to move our operation to NoHo, or maybe Hollywood itself, but money is tight, and The Christian Church of the Hills is gracious enough to give us a break on rehearsal space, so Agoura it is.

Our last show, Cotton Alley, written by Olivia Gowan has just wrapped. An amazing show! My buddy Josh Latzer played one of the leads, JT for most of the run but was cast in a game show, Millionaire Password, this last weekend so I had the privilege of standing in for him. What a blast! The character is a guy who was engaged to a woman 20 years before who had an affair with another guy and got pregnant. Her daughter, Avery, is the main character of the story. JT, though not her father by blood or law, took Avery under his wing and, really, was her true father. The role always makes me emotional because it reflects my relationship with Lainee, our daughter of 4 years now. Weird how God works, but that little girl is every bit my little girl and we can't imagine our lives without her. So I really bonded with that role and am so thankful Livy trusted me to stand in for Josh to play JT. But I digress.

So we went through auditions for Doomsday. Not a lot of actors auditioned, but what we did have were quite amazing and it was very difficult to settle on a final cast. And, there were some actors I would have LOVED to have arm-twisted into the show, but I know it's a huge commitment and I know they are quite busy with other commitments (nudge, nudge -- Derek, Lainee, Ang, Cy -- I will get you for Christmas however!). Again, though, we did have some wonderful actors audition. Of those we have decided on for sure: Kay Dease for the part of Rose (always a great actress -- has done character stuff and comedy relief in the past, but now has a good emotional role to sink her teeth into), Olivia for the part of Alice (she does it all, write, direct AND act, and she's really great at all three), Trista Robinson for the part of Gigi (after the lead in Cotton Alley where she had to bring on the emotion every night, I think the part of Gigi, our little dancing muse, will be a nice change of pace for her), Liv's friend Kayla for the part of Tru ( she auditioned feeling ill, and I don't know if that helped, but her read for the tough woman cop who carries herself like a dude was spot on!), Cy's (who played Ginger in Cotton Alley) friend Brendan for the part of Pete ( the cop who is injured, thinking he is about to die and confessing all of his sins throughout the show much to everyone's annoyance -- he was the only one who got the comedy of the character), and Herve Ambwa for the part of Jay (a Nowcasting submission and, wow! what a presence this young man has -- he's going to be a stand out in many ways). Of course, the part of Frank will be played by yours truly. I know what you're thinking. Does he just write plays so he can act in them? Well -- yes. I have to work somehow, dammit! But I did tell Cathy I don't mind taking a backseat if she wanted someone else in the part. She quickly dismissed the idea, which convinced me she's on crack.

The parts of Joe, Ace & Mo are still being deliberated, although we have a pretty good idea who will play those parts. Now comes the big test. Finishing the 2nd draft of the script! Yep, still working on it. And we start rehearsals on Thursday! Okay, granted I always seem to do this. I come up with an idea for a story, pitch it to Cathy, she likes it and immediately enters it onto the schedule for the First Light Players season, she reserves the play dates and rehearsal times, we audition the roles and -- then I have to write the script. What's wrong with this picture? I AM a procrastinator, yes, I get that. But how loose is the screw in my head that leads me to put this HUGE pressure on myself to write a 2 hour play AFTER we actually schedule to show it????

My new rule of thumb? Keep my BIG MOUTH shut, until I have a solid 1st draft. But then, would I even write anything if I didn't have that kind of pressure. I look back on all twelve plays I've penned, and I don't think there was one that I didn't have that kind of deadline on. Crap! I guess it's my lot in life.

And finally, in my previous blog, I may have inferred that I was upset with Cathy's criticism of the 1st draft of the script. That is absolutely NOT the case. True, I think she was having difficulty envisioning the story and some of the characters. But I didn't have a problem with that. Cathy is a "big picture" director, so when she communicates, for the most part it's in generalities. She's looking at the big picture and how that wull play to an audience. The problem with writers and with actors is they look at the specifics and nuances of the story or the character. To say to a writer "you have just scratched the surface with these characters, you need to go deeper" says to them "the script is good but needs a helluva lot more work before we can stage it". So my frustration with the criticism stemmed from that. What was good, was getting Cathy and others to be specific, because then I had a handle on what parts of the story or the characters needed work. And now I don't feel all is lost.

Let me say something about Cathy, however. Apart from my wife and my mom, I have never had someone in my life who so believed in my talent and abilities that she was willing to spend money, spend time and spend her talent in bringing something I wrote to life. I owe a WHOLE lot to Cathy because she didn't just do that for me once, she's done it for me 12 times! Cathy (& Bill) is family. She's my sister in every sense of the word. She's that close to my heart and will ALWAYS be. I can be frustrated with her only because I want to please her because she means the world to me. I just want to be clear on that. I hope she knows I believe in her just as much as she believes in me -- and that's A LOT!

So the saga continues. I hope this is remotely interesting to you. But even if it isn't, I'm going to keep writing. Very cathartic. Take care, guys. Until next time!