ARSENIC AND OLD LACE

Date of Run: September 13-29, 2019
ROLE: Mortimer Brewster

I almost lost my chance for this role because of a mistake made on my email address when they tried to contact me.

After the previous season with the Raven Players, I felt very strongly that I would get a role in something this season. After all, everyone who went to the general auditions seemed to get something the previous year. And this year there were two shows with roles I wanted desperately. One was this show; the other was Barefoot in the Park. After doing my audition they reiterated the process from last year, that they'd try to cast as much of the season as possible from the general auditions with possible callbacks later, and that I would know shortly.

Two weeks went by that stretched into three, then four and I heard nothing. I had hoped to hear something before my three week vacation to Europe, but still nothing. Then on the second day of my trip I only found out the shows were cast, only because I saw a friend's Facebook post announcing his role in this show. I asked him if they'd sent out an email with the lists of all the season's show casts and it turned out that I was on the list for callbacks, but I never showed up.

As luck would have it, the role I was called back for was not cast, but it was at the worst possible time for me to find out because I was at the beginning of my European vacation, and I wouldn't be back for nearly three weeks. All I could do then was hope that they would wait long enough and give me a chance. When I got back, I had to wait a little longer because the director went out of town for a week. Finally, I got to come in and read the role. Even if they hadn't cast me, I wouldn't have minded so much, since they did allow me my chance.

And I got the part! After ten years and twenty-five productions, I finally had a leading role!

As Mortimer Brewster

The rest of the cast included Rebecca Allington, Priscilla Locke, Michael Romero, Steve Cannon, Robert Bauer, Sophia Ferar, ERic Yanez, Paul McKinnon, Dale Harriman, Frank DeMartino, John Green, and Danny Bullington.



Cast Photo

The Brewster Brothers
(L to R: Steve Cannon, Michael Romero and Me)

Rehearsals for the show began in late July, occurring Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights. Since I was in many of the scenes in each of the three acts I was called each night. We did not have Priscilla for the first to weeks after the first read through and then no sooner did she return then Kerry, the stage manager was gone for a week. She had a major health problem which forced her to the hospital. Rebecca had the same problem as her about a week after Kerry returned, though she was not out long.

We had a small problem trying to find three older men for the show. Personally, I felt we could have double cast a couple roles, since each role we searched for was only around for one scene in one act and that was it (It also would've saved a little money). In the end they did find three men for the roles, but I had doubts abut one of them; he wasn't quite what I pictured for the role.

Two weeks before opening Kerry took over the directing duties for a week while Joe was gone on vacation. Kerry was a very direct person, very much like myself. On her first day, when we were going to work on a few scenes that needed attention, she flat out told me that my scenes with Sophia, who played my love interest, had to be more flirty and playful. She said I had to be more "like a horny high school boy."

This was the first time I had to kiss a woman, or anyone for that matter, on stage and as such, this was new territory for me. The honor (for lack of a better word) of my first stage kiss, fell to Sophia, who played my love interest, Elaine. Now, I had nothing against kissing, nor did I have anything against Sophia, but I was reluctant to do anything. In the era of the Me-Too movement, I felt I should be very cautious, lest she get the wrong idea. That night when we worked on one of our scenes, I told Sophia to let me know if I crossed any lines. However, Sophia claimed to have done more risqué things on stage, so she was a good sport about it. Nevertheless, my hands never went below her waist. 

While the first couple weeks felt like a normal rehearsal, two weeks before opening we were not making the progress I had hoped for, which was souring the experience for me. Two weeks before opening, some people were still not off book and not even attempting to muddle through it if they forgot a line. To make matters worse, Rebecca and Priscilla obsessed over their blocking on every page, whereas I did what felt natural to me. I relied more on my instinct onstage, getting out of someone's way if I needed to or trying to roll with the flow if someone was not where they were before. But if they so much as didn't budge an inch from where they stood or realized they had to be at another spot-on stage, they'd stop and hold up everything and fix it, only to forget it again later. Rebecca was far worse in my opinion because at one rehearsal when the stage was being set for another show we had to work with a cramped set, and she continued to obsess over blocking even though the easier thing to do would have been to just do what we could with the limitations. 

Every day I was at rehearsal was a struggle to keep my temper and how I ever got through it without shouting at someone amazes me. I was worried because quite a few people were not getting their lines down even up to a week before opening. But I did learn to think quickly during performances to cover someone if they dropped a line or said the wrong thing.

While Priscilla, Rebecca, Sophia and especially Michael R. had to go through costume changes, I was lucky enough to escape that. For my costume though they had to order a suit for me since literally nothing they had fit me and anything they could get from another company was not the color they wanted. When the suit arrived, I found the sleeves were only one inch too short, but it was hardly noticeable.

This was the first time I did promotional photos for a show I did. Since the suit they ordered for me didn't arrive until a couple days after the show I had to wear one that didn't quite fit, not that it mattered since I would only be sitting. I wasn't satisfied with my hair at the time, but it was too early to cut it. I did, however, cut my hair about a week before opening for the cast photos for the lobby, which meant my hair would look good for production photos and not get too long by closing weekend.

One of the promo photos

As I would learn later, my daily schedule would make doing this show very hard for me, especially once performances started. On Sundays I could sleep in, but my schedule for a day with an evening performance went like this. I woke up at 7:15, so that I could shave and do my hair, then I'd have breakfast and I'd be out the door at 8 and start work at 9. I'd work from 9-5:00 or 5:30 and then I'd have to drive fifty minutes to an hour to Healdsburg and have to get ready for the show, no time for dinner. The show would start at 8, be done at 10:15 or 10:20, then, if I was lucky, I'd leave the theatre at 10:30. It was a twenty minute drive back to my town where I'd grab dinner, which was never fast enough, and get home by 11:30. I'd eat, shower and I wouldn't be in bed until midnight and then I'd have to be up again at 7:15. 

I missed our only tech weekend day since I got hit with food poisoning. I woke up in the morning not feeling too well and when I got up that's when it happened. All of a sudden, I felt a horrible cramping sensation in my stomach, and I ran upstairs to the bathroom, and I was throwing up for some time. It completely wiped me out and I just didn't have the energy to go in. The following night I took it easy, only going at half the energy. It wasn't the first time I got sick during tech week, but that didn't make me feel any better.

Appropriately, we opened on Friday the 13th. For the first weekend we had at least fifty people on the first two nights. The second night had a more responsive audience since there was a theatre person in the audience who was a laugher, which made a lot of difference. Surprisingly, the first Sunday show didn't even have thirty people in the audience. The theatre seemed fairly empty from the contrast between the size of the audience and the theatre house.

The second weekend was the weekend when things started breaking. Four of us broke something during that weekend. First, on Thursday, two things happened. Michael broke off the front of one of the stairs, which we were all warned about after. Then, later on, Steve broke the curtain cord right before my character got tied up. I had a feeling something was out of the ordinary behind me where he was, but I couldn't acknowledge it. The following night, the Friday performance, Sophia broke the door frame when she slammed it. Joe did tell her that it could take the slamming, but after doing it so much, I guess it couldn't take it anymore. Right after she exited, I could see the door was jammed, but there was nothing I could do about it. By the time the next person who entered that way came in, the door was indeed stuck. While they did manage to open it, we had to close it gently the rest of the night. On Saturday it was my turn to break something.

I broke not one, but two things onstage in the same moment. In the scene where a man named Gibbs comes to rent a room in the Brewster house, the two aunts attempt to poison him, only for my character to stop him and chase him out of the house. In that moment, he throws a couch pillow at me, which I throw up in the air behind me and then I slam the door behind him. I saw a picture on the wall on the staircase fall because what was holding it broke off, but thankfully it wasn't a glass frame. What I didn't know until intermission was when I threw the pillow, it sailed across the stage and ended up knocking over and breaking a wine glass. I didn't even realize I threw the pillow that hard since that particular night I was trying not to overexert myself. After that I made sure to throw the pillow straight up in the air behind me. We had to use a different set of glasses for the remaining performances and the picture frame never made it back to the wall. 

But enough of the accidents. The Thursday audience of the second weekend had a large audience. That day I had a miserable day at work (I left in tears), but I was in a better mood at the end of the show. The kissing moments with Sophia lifted my spirits a bit, I'm not ashamed to admit (blush, blush). The Friday and Saturday shows did not have audiences quite as large, and neither were too responsive. The Sunday show was an improvement over the previous one. The audience was twice as big, and they were the most responsive yet. I heard laughs where there weren't any before and even different reactions on some lines. In fact, they were the best audience of any we had.

My daily schedule during the run of this show began to take its toll on me. In the middle of the second week, I began to get worried about losing my voice. After the Friday show I could feel it getting fatigued and I went through all Saturday barely speaking a word at all at work (not an easy feat since my day job is working in a kitchen). Then for the Saturday show I held back on certain parts where I shouted or spoke very loudly. I think it was because it was because I was not getting enough sleep since my schedule wasn't allowing for a proper night's rest. On that Sunday I slept until 8 in the morning, and I was able to get through the show with no problems. Lucky for me, this company didn't do two shows on Saturdays, or I don't think I would've made it.

The day before the final weekend a review of our show came out (finally). The critic felt the performance of all the main characters worked...except mine. He felt I was too much like Cary Grant from the movie. Joke was on him; I only saw the movie once five years previously and didn't remember it that well. Kind of disappointing for my first lead role, but I know what night he was there and, honestly, I felt I gave a good performance and that's what matters to me. However, I did agree with one thing he said, that the play was starting to feel old with dated references and the joke about Jonathan looking like Boris Karloff not being relevant with Karloff long since passed (if you don't know the play or the joke, look it up). One of my lines in the show is when I say to Rebecca (Abby) and Priscilla (Martha), "You look like Judith Anderson." If you don't know who that is, I don't blame you. Every time I said that line all I could think was how there may have been laughs at that line several decades ago, but now, none whatsoever.

The final three shows each had an audience between fifty and sixty people with Saturday's being more responsive than Friday's and likewise for Sunday. This weekend was the weekend of tripping. On Friday I nearly tripped three times: once over one of the rugs since it got tucked under itself and twice over my briefcase behind the couch. Michael Romero's character (Teddy) runs up the stairs several times in the show yelling "Charge!" and on that night, on his last one of those, he tripped running up the stairs, but recovered with "I'm all right!" The exact same thing happened the following night, only this time he said, "I'm alive!" At first, I thought he might have done that on purpose, but during the last performance I noticed him grip the banister more tightly and he went up just a bit slower.

On the closing day set strike, there was a very bad situation. On the set there was a staircase that would go "upstairs" and behind the set there was a set of stairs that led off from the upstairs platform. While we were taking the set apart, one person was underneath the stairs behind the set and when someone else stepped on them, they collapsed. One of the men walked away with a slight head injury and the other a hurt ankle. Not fun.

In spite of the frustrations, this was a fun role and show to do, once it got up and running. It helped me to be more aware of what was happening on stage and made me better at carrying and improvising if someone dropped a line or didn't say it correctly. After finally rising to the top role, I could only wonder when I'd get such an opportunity again. Honestly, I wouldn't mind tackling this role again, even though there are several other roles I'd also like to play in this show. The one thing that most disappointed me the most was that not a lot of my friends came to see me in this role. I don't usually expect to see people I know in the audience, but this was a big one. Oh well.

THE ONES THAT GOT AWAY, 2015-2019

2015

I was riding high after 2014. I felt that I had finally made it in the theatre community because I was doing so many shows. But then in 2015, everything started to slow down. First, when I was cast in Once on This Island, I lost a fourth of a year to do that one show, though I did try to do a show very early in the year. Then I steadfastly refused to audition for anything else because I wanted to do West Side Story in the summer. Then I took a vacation in Hawaii, which prevented me from a fall show. 2015 proved to be a fairly inactive year for me in theatre, compared to previous years.

As it was, other than the shows I did get cast in, I only auditioned for two shows.

CLYBOURNE PARK, 6^th Street Playhouse

I love this play. When I first saw it at the American Conservatory Theater in 2011, I loved the amazing set change between the two acts and the dialogue which combined drama and comedy with racial insensitivities and a look between race relations of the 1950s and the 2000s. I had already been cast in Once on This Island, and then saw this show coming. Since most of the run was before I would start rehearsals for Island, I thought I’d check it out.

I felt this one would be a long shot to be cast in, but there was one role that, maybe, I could pull off. We only had to do cold reads from the script, and I did read for that part and other parts and after one, a friend of mine said to me “I love you as my husband, but you’re a dick.” I must have been doing something right.

I wasn’t cast in the show, but I wasn’t too surprised. I was too young at the time for any role in there.

I did end up seeing the show and was glad I went because it was a good production. I’d be damned if I could fine one thing wrong with it.

CAROUSEL, Spreckels Theatre Company

I auditioned for this one after auditioning for Clybourne Park. When that fell through, I decided that this one might be a better option because it was a musical and if nothing else, I could at least be ensemble. Either way, it didn’t matter because I wanted to do this show, since I hadn’t done a musical since Little Shop of Horrors months earlier. While I didn't want to audition for a show where I'd most likely get nothing but ensemble, I was in need of a good vocal workout. It would run in the beginning of rehearsals for Once on This Island, but it was nothing I couldn’t handle.

As always with Spreckels musicals, the auditions consisted of a song and a dance audition. I thought I did really well, but I did not make the cut. No callbacks or anything. Just an email saying they would not require my services. The director ended up casting several young actors who knew he knew from elsewhere. Strangely, (though maybe not) that was the only time I know of that some of them auditioned and a number of them have not appeared on that stage as of this post.



2016



West Side Story was the last thing I did in 2015. Time just kept moving on without me doing another show and it was never my intention for that to happen. It seemed as if there was nothing auditioning that I could’ve done or some shows that had audition notices posted, but they consisted of a show that either didn't have a role for me or a show that I refused to do.

WHEN RAIN STOPS FALLING, Roustabout Theater Company

I was surprised that this theatre company was doing auditions for adults. It had been my understanding that they only did shows in which teenagers and pre-teens were cast in the roles. I thought that this show would be a good challenge since the characters that were my age had to have either a British or an Australian accent. Unfortunately, another actor I knew, who was more talented, also auditioned. Not only that, but he had a history with the company. I didn’t stand a chance.

When that fell through, I did The Three Musketeers instead, which ran at the same time.



FOREVER PLAID, 6^th Street Playhouse

I'm not exactly sure what happened with this one. I scheduled an appointment, but I arrived, it was only me and one other guy. Apparently, everyone else who was scheduled to be there that night was sick. I think the director said it was a practice night, but I'm not entirely sure. I sang “Old Man River” and “It Don’t Mean a Thing if it Ain’t Got That Swing” and learned some vocal parts and the dance routine.

And that was it. I never heard back saying I had to come do another round of auditions with more people or anything.

2017

This year was a disappointment for me in my theatre life. First, I was cast in a show, only to have to drop out for personal reasons. Then, for the first four months of the year, nothing auditioned except for shows where there were no roles for me. All the roles were too old or female.

Then I had a two-week vacation in the summer.  That cost me dearly because while it gave, it also took. By then there were a number of shows auditioning I could have potentially done. I had to look away from George M and Anything Goes because, while they were before my vacation was scheduled, I could not ask for more time off work. One show, Gypsy, took place entirely while I was out of the country. I was offered some roles in the new play festival Tapas in Guerneville, but I had to turn it down because I would miss most of the rehearsals. Not only that, but my vacation ruined my chances to audition for Henry IV and You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown, for which I would’ve missed too many rehearsals, Reefer Madness, which auditioned while I was away, and Spamalot, which had callbacks while I was away. However, whether I was going to be called back for Spamalot, I’ll never know, but I’m assuming not. In the meantime, I auditioned for several shows and not one single bite.

TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD, Napa Valley College

Although this one came after the next show on the list, this needs to come first because the loss of it led to auditioning for the other one.

I was originally cast in this one, only to drop out. I rather liked the theater at the Napa College, and I wanted to work with this director because I wanted to see what she was like. The actor who was to play Atticus Finch was a very good local Equity actor and I wanted to get to know him. And Boo Radley was a role I could've knocked out of the park. I thought I did a very good job, but I was cast as Chorus, whatever that meant. At first, I was going to do it, but then I took another look at my financial costs and expenses. At the time I was living in a house that cost more in rent, the same one I was living in when I did Once on This Island (also in Napa). But in between the two shows, my rent increased and now I didn't have the extra money to afford the cost of commuting. In the end, I decided that it would be best to drop out. Not even getting the role of Boo Radley would've made a difference.

Even if I had been able to afford the cost of commuting, I still would've had to drop out. Two weeks after rehearsals began, I was in a car accident that totaled my car.

THE SERVANT OF TWO MASTERS, Santa Rosa Junior College

The director of the show was the same one who directed Spamalot there three years earlier. For Spamalot, I was doing a show at the time of auditions and callbacks, so I thought that hurt my chances. This time I took precautions. I simply asked for the day off work when the callbacks were to happen. As it was January, one of our slower months, they could afford to not have me for one day.

It didn’t matter that I did that because the exact same thing that happened during Spamalot happened this time. I did only one thing, which was read a monologue from the show, and then I was dismissed. And this was after waiting for a few hours in the freezing lobby and having to go out in the rain to get lunch. I still went to see the show since I could get in for free, and it was a riot.

THE FOREIGNER, Spreckels Theatre Company

This show was the first in the new season at Spreckels that year. When the season was first announced there was no show chosen for that slot. All I could do was hope for the best that they'd pick something with men's roles and one that I could play. Fortunately, that ended up being the case. When I signed up, I thought for sure I had a good chance since there were very few men on the sign-up list. The director chose my preferred audition approach and had me read the roles.

After leaving, I saw a post in the Facebook event page that said if I did not hear from them within the next two days, I was not cast. Sure enough, I heard nothing. I'm inclined to think that the two-week vacation I had coming up ruined my chances because it cut into rehearsals. When I saw the cast list, it made me wonder, because I didn’t recall seeing any of the men cast on the audition sign up. It was probably for the best because at my work someone had just quit and, at the time, we were short.

However, even if I had been cast, this one would still have gotten away from me. Toward the end of the play, members of the cast are supposed to enter in KKK robes and because of events that happened, this would’ve been insensitive, or so some thought. Two weeks before the play was due to open, white nationalist marches began across the country, starting in Charlottesville, Virginia. Though I had no intention of seeing the show anyway, Spreckels ended up cancelling the production, feeling it was inappropriate. I didn't agree with the decision, but I guess either way, it was not meant to be.

THE RAINMAKER, Sonoma Arts Live

I heard about this one on Facebook. I already knew of the story from the musical adaptation of it, 110 in the Shade and I was aware of the existence of this play, but I never read it. As luck would have it, there was at least one role I could play, maybe two, both of which were the brothers of the main character.

At first, I thought I would miss the auditions because they were from 1-4 and I worked until 5. Luckily, I could get off early and I scheduled my slot for the very end. When I arrived however, I thought I had missed them because there was no one waiting to check me in. I think the person was giving the actors lines to read inside. As it turned out, after the monologues were done, they had us read sides. I would’ve thought they’d have done that for callbacks. I mainly read for the role of the younger brother Jim, and I thought I did very well. I never heard from them again.

But it wasn’t a complete loss. The experience left me with a new comic and potentially physical monologue that I could use for future auditions.

PATERNITY (IT'S ALL RELATIVE), Pegasus Theater Company

This is a show that got away from me because it was cancelled due to forces beyond anyone's control.

At the end of 2016, after Sweeney Todd, I went to Disneyland. When I came back, I took what I had hoped to be a short break for working during the busy holiday season and then when the new year started, I would get back into the swing of things. I was cast in a small role in a production of To Kill a Mockingbird at the Napa College, but I had to exit due to the fact that my bills got higher, and I didn't have enough income this time around to cover the cost of travel. Even if that had not been an issue, I would have had to leave the production anyway because two weeks after the rehearsals started, I was in a car accident that ended up totaling my car. I languished for an entire month dealing with the insurance and getting a new car. I did an audition at the Santa Rosa Junior College for The Servant of Two Masters, since it would be closer to home and I was enrolled in a class there anyway, and after a long day of waiting and reading a single scene, I was dismissed. And then months of nothing.

My options all but dried up for the longest time after that. For all of the Spring, auditions were scant, except for shows that had no role for me as well as shows that were casting half a year in advance, which was not something I could easily plan my life around. As for the summer months, I did the generals for a couple theatre companies when they came around, but because of a two-week vacation happening in July, I was forced to turn down one offer and look away from several others. The earliest I could have done a show would have been September.

Eventually, I did get something, though it didn't run until the end of the year. In February my friend, Athena Gundlach, contacted me and other actors about getting together and reading four one act plays that Pegasus Theater Company was planning to produce in November, the name of the program being "It's All Relative." The program was to be an evening that peers into the myriad of ways that family is defined, dealt with, and ultimately how it affects us.  The reading was for the playwrights to hear them at the beginning of May. I attended and read one of the main roles in a play called "Paternity." At the end of the readings, we were asked if we would be interested in playing these roles. I said I would if I was not cast in any other show and two weeks later Athena contacted me offering me the role. I did not say yes immediately.

My reason for that is because there was another show auditioning, The Rainmaker, and it had roles that were very ideal to me and also, it was convenient for me because the show would run in Sonoma, close to my work. The show itself also meant that I would have more time than a minute play. I did not even receive a callback for that one.

When I was contacted about the show roles, cast and rehearsal schedule, I noticed that other than myself and one other actor, everyone had at least two roles. I felt like the odd man out, only being there for one role. The schedule for my show and one other one was 6-9 on Mondays and Thursdays in Guerneville, while the other two were at the same time on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. I drew the short straw there; the latter two days would've been better because I wouldn't have had to rush over from wok or be late. But fortunately, after the first day, Athena decided to have the other show would rehearse first and I wouldn't have to be there until 7.

The first few rehearsals were only readings and on the fourth rehearsal we started blocking the show. Unfortunately, we didn't get far with that; for reasons beyond our control, we were forced to stop.

A couple days after we began blocking, the October Northern California fires broke out in Sonoma and Napa counties and spread rapidly. At first, we cancelled a week of rehearsals, but then the director and the artistic director of Pegasus felt it best to postpone the show. They did not say when it would be revisited, but at least they didn't say they'd cancel it. We weren't alone: almost every theatre company in the area was forced to postpone or cancel their shows.

And not long after that, we lost Athena. She said that because of the continued uncertainty with the fires as well as other commitments she had made into the following year, she just couldn't continue with the show. It was devastating because I never really got to get into this play with her and I was looking forward to it. The directing duties fell to Beulah Vega. She asked us if we could push the show back the first two weekends of December. Unfortunately, that wasn't going to work for me because I had one day where I had a big event at work, and I couldn't get out of it.

In the end the show was cancelled.

Sometime after the fires I found out that the four plays were to be staged at 6th Street Playhouse. I had heard this by a post in the "Auditions in Sonoma County" Facebook page, but I was never asked if I would play my role. I was hurt and angry that I wasn't asked to play my role. I had hoped to see the commitment I made to the show through to the end.

2018

PIPPIN, Marin Musical Theatre Company

This was the first time I auditioned for a show in Marin County. I had been mulling over auditioning in Novato for some time since it was close by my work, but then I saw this show. According to the audition page on the company website, the performances would’ve been only on Fridays and Saturdays and in the evenings, with a possible matinee on the last Saturday. With the exception of that possible matinee, it meant I would not have to ask for any time off work. That was good with me.

Thankfully, this time, the auditions were on a Wednesday when I didn’t have to work. No having to leave work early or rush over there to audition at the last minute. For a song choice we had to do a song in the style of Pippin, (whatever the hell that meant) or we could do songs from Pippin, though I could not sing the parts I would’ve wanted. After going back and forth on a few choices, I decided on “Willkommen” from Cabaret.

It had been a long time since I auditioned for a musical that had real dancing. Even with my mistakes, it wasn't too bad, but when I did my song, I felt it could’ve been better and the character side I decided to read went badly. It was only five sentences long, but I blanked on it. I made one mistake in the character readings other than that: when they asked me to read for the role of the Leading Player, I said no. I couldn't sing it. Unfortunatley, I did not take heed of my lesson from auditioning for Romeo and Juliet a few years earlier: do not say no to reading or in this case, singing a role the director asks you to do. Let them see your limitations for themselves.

I was not called back for the show. I'm inclined to think they decided I was not good to work with since I refused to read a role they asked me to read. It would have been difficult for me anyway, since this company liked to have rehearsals on Saturdays from 10-4 when I was working.

THE DINING ROOM, Sonoma Arts Live

I heard about this show from the Sonoma Arts Live when I was browsing around various theatre companies, looking at auditions. It was an ideal time, the middle of January to the beginning of February, but unfortunately, I couldn't attend auditions. They were on a Sunday, during my work and they were set up in as multiple persons in one hour audition. I would've had to leave very early from work, even if I had signed up for the final hour, and I had taken the previous weekend off work for my class reunion so I couldn't ask for more time off so soon. Two weeks later I saw a second chance.

They were two men short for the show and the second announcement said that they needed one to be from 50s-60 and the other to be from 30s-40. A long shot to be sure, but as I had no show to start 2018 after losing out on Pippin and Death of a Salesman (continue reading below), I decided to go for it. And it was in Sonoma. Always good for me since it was close to work. 

While reading the scenes I was to do in the audition I saw that at least two of the characters were 40s or older. That worried me so I checked who was the original actor to play these roles, finding he was thirty-two when the play first premiered. I wondered how that worked into things, but it didn't make me less nervous. When the readings came, taking no chances, I cut my weekend away short, came back to Sonoma County and did my best at the reading.

Three days later I received the email. I knew what it was right away just from the first line, "Thank you for auditioning..." which can either be good or bad. Sure enough, they said I was not going to be used. I was not disappointed because I never honestly thought I would be cast.

It was probably for the best though, because I found out later that someone I did not like was cast in it and I don't think I could've stomached being in a show with him.

DEATH OF A SALESMAN, Novato Theatre Company

This was my first audition for a show at this company. I had been wanting to do one there for some time, mainly because of the convenience of the fairly short distance from my work. When I got into the theater space, I rather liked it. It was small, but from the stage it felt bigger and spacious; not cramped at all. And the seats were very comfortable.

For this audition, the Facebook post said to prepare a two-minute monologue, but, thankfully, that didn’t turn out to be necessary; all we had to do was a cold read from the script (Thank you!). The time slots were for group auditions: up to ten people could sign up for one hour. I chose the 7-8 slot, but that may not have been in my favor because the hour before mine only had one person listed and mine had nine. I may have gotten more sides to read had I chosen the less crowded one. There were times during the readings when the director got onstage whispering instructions to people on how to play the scene, but he didn’t do that to me. I almost wish he had. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to read all I wanted due to the time constraints. I would’ve liked to have tried my hand at reading a monologue for Happy Loman or Stanley, but that didn’t come to pass.

Unsurprisingly, I was not called back. I had not expected that to happen at all, but the experience made me wish to audition for that company again. I just loved that space too much to let it get away from me.

SOUTH PACIFIC, Spreckels Theatre Company

I'm hesitant to include this one on this post at all because this one was included in a general audition, which I don't write about. However, for this one there is a longer story to it. I had auditioned for the second general audition for the spring shows at the Spreckels Theatre Company (they had this after the company changed management), but I was not called back for anything. I did hear that the shows were being cast from friends who were contacted.

A few months afterward I was contacted from the new manager of the Spreckels building, Sherri Lee Miller, telling me that they were expanding the men's ensemble and she asked me if I was interested in joining. Too late. By then I was already cast in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and, while that originally would have ended the Sunday before South Pacific opened, the director of Vanya was trying to find a venue for a second weekend which would then cause an overlap. I also thought my rehearsals would conflict, even if there was no second weekend. So, regretfully, I turned down the part.

Shortly after that, I saw a Facebook post asking for men for that show on a Sonoma auditions group page. In the comments section, a number of names of young men who could sing who were suggested, but my name wasn't mentioned (big surprise). Imagine my shock when I saw that rehearsals for South Pacific were on days when I didn't have to do them for my other show. But it was for the best because in the end, my show got a second weekend so I wouldn't have been able to do South Pacific anyway.

SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE, Shakespeare in the Cannery

I originally had no intention of auditioning for this show. After Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike I had decided to take a sabbatical from acting because I had auditioned for a least a dozen other shows, but not one gave me even a callback. Then this show came, and I had to break my decision. The reason? Read on.

I had auditioned for this company only once, four years earlier, but since then I had not done so again. The following year I opted for a different show, the year after that I couldn't get off work and the year after that I was not available because I had a two-week vacation out of the country. I would’ve thought nothing of auditioning for this one, but when I read the Facebook event page, I saw that it said, “our fifth and final season.” Final season. At one time I had thought to work in all the main theatre venues in Sonoma County, but as time passed, I realized that that was not so easy, maybe even impossible. Some places simply did not audition, but this one did. Realizing this was my last chance to do a show with this company, I decided to audition. To request a slot, I filled out an online form, with the time and if my schedule for that day was flexible (it wasn’t at all).

When the audition confirmation came, I saw my time listed as 5:30. I had to leave work an hour early, but when I read the whole thing, I noticed something seemed off. The audition times were at least twenty minutes apart. Odd because usually audition times are at most ten minutes each. I wondered if that was how much time we were going to have for our monologues because if it was, I would’ve looked for a longer better Shakespeare piece. I certainly had a good idea for one from Henry VI.

My audition went fairly quickly. First the director and, I’m guessing, the stage manager poured over my resume. While I had no formal Shakespeare training and had not done a Shakespeare show in nearly seven years, they seemed to be impressed by my credentials (singing, ability to play an instrument, and fencing/stage combat experience).

One week went by and I heard nothing. I only found out that they had cast the show by seeing someone announce his role on Facebook. It did not surprise me in the least that they didn’t even contact me to say I wasn’t cast. I can't stand when directors do that.

It was a few months before I learned of the cast and imagine my (not very) great surprise when I saw that it consisted mainly of people who were not on the original audition list. Four people from it were in the show, but the other eight weren't. It probably would've been better to not have auditions at all if he was just going to cast people he knew.

HELLO DOLLY, Sonoma Arts Live

You know how people say have a positive attitude or have faith and positive things will happen? Watch out for them.

I had hoped. I felt confident in this. I woke up thinking "This is the day I get cast in a musical." My god, I looked forward to it. I thought this one would be a safe bet, but I was wrong.

I decided this would be a good show since it would be in Sonoma and the audition times were most convenient for me. The audition was quick and painless. Friendly faces, most of whom I knew. And, from what I saw on the audition signups, not too many men. I thought it was in the bag, no matter the role. Then the next evening I got an email saying they didn't find the right fit for me. I don't know why; even if it wasn't a name role, I would've been happy to do something else. At least this time I was contacted, rather than just waiting and waiting for nothing.

2019


YOU'RE A GOOD MAN CHARLIE BROWN, Novato Theatre Company

Charlie Brown is a role I identify with very much. I sometimes feel like I am Charlie Brown. This show is one where you really have to work to get into because there are six roles, four of which are for men, but only two of those are ones I could sing for sure. Luckily, one of those was Charlie Brown. I auditioned using a monologue from the play The Rainmaker. The choice of song was a tough one for me because I was stumped on what would be a match for this show or character and also in my vocal range. The perfect song would've been "Mister Cellophane" from Chicago, but I could not sing the high note at the end. I opted to do "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning" from Oklahoma, purely because I could think of nothing else. It was an okay audition; I wasn't called back.



ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST, Lucky Penny Productions

I've already done this show, but there are so many other roles that a man can play in that show, and I was still young enough to play the role I wanted, Billy Bibbitt. Unfortunately, I was not called back for that role, but for three others, one of which was the role I had previously played. Furthermore, I could not attend the callbacks since they were when I had to work. I contacted them and explained the situation and they said they'd see what they could do. That was the last I heard of it.



WAIT UNTIL DARK, 6th Street Playhouse

Short story on this one. One day I got a call from the artistic director offering me a small role for this show, but I couldn't commit. I had nothing against doing it; there were three friends in it that I would've been glad to see on an almost daily basis. The problem was I had already taken a three week vacation from work and I had just finished doing Arsenic and Old Lace. That show had required me to take three Sundays off work and this show would've required at least six days off work. I didn't dare ask for that much time off again so soon. To my regret, I had to decline the role.



MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET, Lucky Penny Productions

This was the one show during this particular Lucky Penny Season that I did not want to do, and I got called back anyway. My reason for not wanting to do it was because there was one Sunday during the run where I absolutely could not get off work due to a big yearly holiday gala event. I felt bad afterward for turning them down since they needed quite a few men, but this was the one thing that I absolutely could not compromise on.

 

ROOM SERVICE

Date of Run: January 25-February 10, 2019
ROLE: Simon Jenkins

My first show of 2019 was something I had always wanted to do: a comical farce. This particular farce was an old one from the late 1930s and staged at the Raven Theater in Healdsburg.

The story of this show begins at the general auditions for the Raven Player season. It went very well, thanks in large part to a book of monologues. This particular book was for men ages 18-35, something which I wish I had had from the beginning. It was truly heaven sent. The directors liked what I did. I felt I would at least be called back for one or two shows.

A little over two weeks later, an email of the casts was sent, and while some shows still had not been cast, I saw my name listed in this one for the role of Simon Jenkins. I was good with being in this one because I had been trying to do a show at that time of year since I could get away from work more easily.

Not knowing this play at all, I had to buy it online, though that was hardly necessary because I was sent a copy by mail later on. I found I was in two scenes. A fairly relaxing role for me. Rehearsals began in early November 2018, the first of which was at director Joe Guerella's house. Then the rehearsals alternated between a multi-purpose room in a Healdsburg elementary school and the Raven Theater itself.

The rest of the cast included Schuyler Marcier, Zach Acevedo, Steve Cannon, Troy Thomas Evans, Bohn Connor, Shannon Sawyer, Austin Schmidt, Madison Scarbrough, Tim Shippey, Steven Jackson, Robert Bauer, Logan Warren and Harry Farmer.

I was not necessarily called every night, only on nights when we ran an act where I appeared onstage, which was the first two acts, but not the third. On the first night when we started staging the first act of the show, since I didn't appear onstage until twenty pages in, I had a while to wait (namely two hours) before I did anything. The second night we staged the second act and, on this night, I fully confirmed that acting is something I'm meant to do. How? Well, since I did not appear until a little way into the act, I did not feel it too urgent to get to rehearsal from work and I ended up arriving right before my character was due to go on. It is all in the timing after all.

On nights when act three was worked on, I got a night off, but any night with the other two acts I had to go in. Sometimes when we'd work the full show I'd get to leave as soon as all my scenes were done. I also did not have to arrive right when we started since I was never onstage until a little way in. Sometimes that meant I was not at rehearsal long. Or at least it never seemed to be long.

When it came time for my costume fitting, which I had been worrying over as it was very close to tech week, I was in for a surprise. I had to supply a white dress shirt and my own shoes (easy enough), but the costume designer had an issue with my suit. She wasn't sure that she had anything that fit me since she thought I was tough to fit. After asking if I'd use my own suit just in case, she pulled up one for me to try and I recognized it immediately as the suit I wore in my previous show, Guys and Dolls. Problem solved.

Left to right- Austin, Bohn, Me, Schuyler

There was always at least one person missing on rehearsal nights due to conflicts. In fact, the only rehearsal where the entire cast was together in one room was the last one before our two week break for the holidays.

There were two scenes that Schuyler, Bohn and Austin had to rehearse extensively. The first was in the first act where Schuyler and Bohn, along with Troy had to quickly undress Austin. The objective was to make Austin's character appear sick, undressing him, hoisting him up and putting him in the bed onstage all the while saying their lines. It took a lot of practice with Austin's costume to get it done quickly. The other scene was in the second act was when the three of them had to eat. That's right, eat. Zach's character, Sasha the waiter, brings them a meal in exchange for an audition and their characters, having not eaten for eighteen hours chow down. The three of them had to practice eating with real food, mainly eggs and pancakes to get the feel of it. The food had to be reheated in the microwave backstage each performance.

There were no problems with developing the show other than one little snag a couple weeks before opening. Zack bruised his ribs playing with his nieces and was very limited for a couple days, at one point not being at rehearsal at all. There was a slight worry he couldn't go on, but thanks to pain killers and rest, he healed enough in time.

For this show our call time was only one hour before the show would start, though the stage manager would be there two hours before if anyone needed more time (the two women mainly needed this for their hair). Since this allowed me more time to get there from work, I wasn't going to complain. An hour was very suitable since there was no vocal warm-up as this was not a musical and no fight call since there was no fighting on stage. And the fact that the cast was mainly men, who could be ready very quickly; also, some of them, myself included, did not appear until at least a half hour into the play and two of them didn't appear until the third act.

If there was ever a time I was glad to have an audience it was for this show especially. For what seemed like ages, we did a run through every night before opening and after a time it starts to get old. The first weekend we had (and I'm just guessing) about 30-60 each night. On the second night I felt the energy was lagging in certain parts, which is a big no-no for a farce.

On the second weekend I got an experience of what it was like to work at the Raven Theater during the rain. There were no bathrooms backstage at the Raven Theater so if the cast had to go to the bathroom we'd have to the movie theater next door. It's only about fifteen feet from one door to the other, but it rained most of the weekend and we had to take care not to get our costumes too wet. This weekend had four performances, while the first and third had three each.

The Thursday and Saturday night performances both had a fairly quiet audience. The Friday night one had more laughs, particularly from one person hooting like a monkey at what seemed like everything. The Sunday show that weekend was the day of the Superbowl and there was barely as much as a chuckle from anybody. It was mainly because the audience was entirely of old people. However, the stage manager said they were enjoying it; one old lady, who passed out in the lobby wanted very much to stay to see the rest of the show when the ambulance came for her. We found out at the second intermission that one show at a different company that day only had a single person in attendance (a critic no less). Glad we weren't the ones in that show.

Struggling against Schuyler and Bohn in the second act

During the final weekend it rained again. I wouldn't miss having to dash to the back door of the movie theater across the alleyway in the pouring rain to use the bathroom when this was over. The Friday night show went very well. There were several laughs and even an applause after the eating scene, something that hadn't happened before. The Saturday night show had several laughs as well and to boot, had the largest audience we had had yet. From the audience we heard laughter from the person the previous weekend who sounded like a monkey. The audience of the final performance was as big as Saturdays. Then it was time to tear down the set.

Sadly, Joe didn't make it to any of our performances. Right before the show opened, he had to have a surgery performed on him and took longer to heal that he had expected. Though he had seen the finished product with costumes and set, he never saw it with an audience in the theater.

I had not had to strike a set for any show I had done in over two years. This one was a fairly simple one since the people who built it took the walls down and store them. My job was to get the furniture off the set and back to its room. This was easier said than done. The two previous shows I had done at the Raven Theater didn't have much, if any, furniture to speak of so I had never seen where it was stored. Apparently, the furniture the company used was all stored upstairs in a small, cramped space next to the sound booth. Most of the furniture was easy to get up, but the main problem was the couch; heavy and wide it was a struggle to get it up the stairs, which was in itself difficult since the stairs and the hallways leading to the furniture storage were extremely narrow. If you're a fan of Friends, think of Ross yelling "Pivot!"

I didn't hear anybody say anything about a cast party, but even if I had heard about one, I wouldn't have gone. I had plans already that night for a friend's going away party.

This was one of my most relaxing roles ever. I had a lot of backstage time, being only on for two scenes. I wish now that I had timed them just to see how long I was on in this two and half hour long play. Next time I did a farce, whenever that would be, I hoped to do more onstage physically.