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AYL: auditions and a tentative text

EXCITING NEWS: we now have official run dates for As You Like It: February 8-March 10, 2019… Friday and Saturday evening, and Sunday matinee performances (though we may swap out a Sunday performance to add a Thursday show so that actors from other shows can check it out. Also hoping to do a school-day show for students (but that’s another story).

Even more EXCITING NEWS: we have AUDITION DATES!

Sunday and Monday, October 21 and 22, from 7-10pm at the Camarillo Skyway Playhouse… with call-backs on Wednesday, October 24.

But wait, there’s more…

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AYL: character / rehearsal grid

So, before we have a cast for As You Like It, I need to have my metaphorical ducks in a row. There’s a lot of moving parts here. I’ve got 27 roles, 14 actors, and only a limited number of rehearsals to get them ready. (How many rehearsals? you ask… good freakin’ question… without an official announcement of run dates, we can’t set audition dates; without audition dates, we can’t set a rehearsal schedule… but that’s a frustration for a different day’s discussion… hopefully never to be mentioned again…)

One of the things we always ask during the audition process, is what scheduling conflicts does the actor have–what days will be missed. With this information, we can create a rehearsal schedule that maximizes people’s time.

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AYL: Thank goodness for producers

So, as a director for Camarillo Skyway Playhouse, I needed to find a producer to help me put on As You Like It…someone to handle all of the business/logistical aspects. Now some might read that as all the “non-creative” things, but those are air-quotes there, buddy, because she helps find the lighting designer/operations person, the sound designer/opps, costumer, set designer and construction lead, plus choreographer, fight captain, and…most importantly, stage manager.

In other words, everything that would keep me up at night.

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Media Thursday: an As You Like It throwback Thursday

As my text work for As You Like It winds down, I’ve now begun more dramaturgical matters, researching the performance history of the play and seeing what insights I can glean from past directors.

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AYL: relationship Venn

So I’m putting together the script for As You Like It, right?

And I’m trying to think of things that would help the actors. So I’m thinking of including a little Venn diagram of character relationships…

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AYL: a break

OK, so yesterday, I talked about getting through a first pass of the text, and seeing the need for re-sequencing of scenes to assist in cast-size reduction. And I had hinted at a discussion of the placement of intermission for this upcoming production of As You Like It.

After the jump are some pretty intensive spoilers, so if you want to come to the play without knowing where I’m thinking of taking it… do not read on.

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AYL: diversity

On Friday, I discussed some of my pre-production text work on As You Like It, and how it is leading me toward casting–or at least role-creation–decisions. Characters being paired or grouped together so that they may be played by the same actor. This helps limit the size of the cast without cutting characters.

I had mentioned that I already had a tentative list of character roles but I demurred on releasing that list until I talked about something else.

And that something else is diversity.

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