DRIP held Auditions for a new show which will be at a permanent performance space on International Drive. Auditions took place in the DRIP warehouse (4502 Old Winter Garden Road). It was a boiling hot Saturday when I pulled into the warehouse parking lot. The huge garage warehouse door was partly open and the pounding of drums and bass guitar was pouring out. The new show in development is called RIFF and it is a wild and vibrant show featuring black lights plenty of splashing water and day glow paint. I did a sketch several months ago of one of the early unveiling’s and my sketch and shirt got covered with paint.
When I entered, Jessica Mariko, DRIP’s Creative Director and CEO, was sitting with Jennifer Wagner, the Production Manager. Jessica gave me a warm hug and told me to set up anywhere.
I sat in a beat up couch right behind the drum set. The first auditioner had left and they were setting up to have someone else perform on bass. The drummer turned to me and said, things might get loud! I told him I would be fine.
David Traver, DRIP’s music director, performed on his own bass to explain to the auditioners how he wanted the music performed. After he had demonstrated the piece several times the drummer Jeff Wright and the new bass performer began. James Woodrich was the bass performer I sketched auditioning. The music was super loud and I was right on top of it. Between pieces Jessica asked the performer to really act it out, to perform like he was on stage at a rock concert. He stared performing with some real flourish. There was no air conditioning in the warehouse and the performers sweat and strained.
The sketch took me about 3 auditions to finished after the third auditioner, there was a long break for lunch so I took that as the sign that the sketch was done and I should head back home.
Driving Miss Daisy Auditions
Beth Marshall Presents will bring “Driving Miss Daisy” to the Winter Garden Theater February 12th to the 28th. I sat in on the auditions for this show. Seated at the table are Aradhana Tiwari, the Director, and Beth Marshall the Producer. This auditions process stood in stark contrast to the auditions for Crimes of the Heart. Crimes took 2 agonizing days for the cast to be solidified but this auditions process was fast and painless taking only about 3 hours with about a dozen actors and actresses auditioning.
One actress with a bit of a haughty attitude who reminded me of Sheila in Chorus Line, entered the room and when she greeted the director she wouldn’t let go of her hand. The actresses head shot was from about 20 years ago. After doing the reading she demanded to read another section of the play. Beth said that would be fine and she could come back in after the next set of actors had finished their audition. The actress said emphatically “I should say so”. After a long pause, Beth said, “You know what, lets not waist your time or mine, you can leave.” Beth felt bad for the actor who had auditioned with this actress. She could see that he was embarrassed by the exchange.
Another actress who auditioned for the roll of Daisy was about 30 or 40 years to young for the part. She walked in wearing a black dress with a white lace collar and a gray haired wig. She reminded me of Norman Bates Mother in “Psycho”. Beth glanced over at me and smiled. I was smiling as well. There is something charming about an actress going for a role which is so out of reach.
When I sketched the auditions I tried to pick the actors that I felt were best for the rolls to go in my sketch. At this audition I hit a home run and sketched Elizabeth Murff who will play Daisy and Michael Mormon who will play Hoke. I had met Elizabeth once before at Beth Marshall’s Halloween Party. Elizabeth had won for the best costume as a Cougar. Michael who is 60 had played the roll of Hoke 20 years ago. He has a natural ease and seems very comfortable in the role. Elizabeth brings a humor and honesty to the part of Daisy that is endearing. When she said “Hoke, you are my best friend” the sincerity of this unlikely friendship warmed me, even in this early reading.
As they were packing up to leave, Beth remarked to Aradhana, “Now I had experienced the most difficult and the easiest auditions ever with you.”
Dance Auditions
The Harbor room is a kids area of the church which, through murals and a small dock like stage, makes it look like everyone is dancing on water. Molly and Alison were put in charge of the dance auditions. The director was also on hand to offer advice and keep things running smoothly.
First everyone in the room was taught all the steps. Everyone stood up and the instructor went through the moves one at a time. As people started to understand the dance moves they then had to be reminded to smile and look like they were having fun. I can relate since I tend to frown when I draw. If I smiled the whole time I drew however my face would hurt.
Once everyone was up to speed, the director called up 4 or 5 dancers at a time using their numbers. Then this group would go through the moves while Molly and Alison watched. The group would go through the dance moves twice which allowed Molly , Alison and the director to see everyone’s performances. This endless process allowed me to sketch the dancers in deep space. The dance began with a hip thrust from side to side and it was this movement that I tried to catch with each of the dancers. While a group was going through the moves everyone else sat in the back of the room quietly waiting for their turn.
This was a fun process to watch and sketch. When the core group of dancers was finally picked, everyone else knew that they would be working the non dancing actors rolls in the show. I am still shocked by the sheer size of this production.
Crimes of the Heart Callbacks
This sketch shows Kylie Kusco and Heather Leonardi on stage with Beth Marshall and Aradhana Tiwari watching. Some monologues from the auditions were quite memorable. One fellow had a monologue about being strip searched. The whole time he was talking he was angrily throwing items of clothing on the floor, first his shoes, his socks then his belt. I stopped hearing what he was saying and started to wonder just how far he would go to get the part. The director put her hand over her face in amusement and embarrassment. Another actor rather than recite lines from a play started talking about how he ended up in Orlando after a student work exchange program for Disney and about his first love. I enjoy hearing slices of life like that but I don’t think it got him a part.
Actors who made it to callbacks were in serious consideration for a part. They would pair up and act out scenes from the play. Some scenes I must have heard close to a dozen times yet certain performances had me laughing out loud or swept away in the romantic drama while some left me unmoved offering me time to focus on the sketch.
Any time actors would leave the stage Beth and Aradhana would turn to each other and discuss how certain actors really worked well together or how several actors bought different energies to a particular role. I do not know how they would ever decide since every actor bought something new to the table.
One actress named Kylie Kusco, really stepped up to the plate and she was asked to perform an exercise where she and Beth could only say two lines “Their is not enough time” and “their is enough time”. Each actress had to convince the other she was right using body language and raw emotion. It was like watching two matadors in a ring each circling and moving in for another emotional exchange. The director let the exercise go for a long time and I thought the performances were some of the best I had witnessed that day. There is magic in moments like this.
Near the end of the day Beth and Aradhana placed all the photos out on the table and began to organize them into groupings of possible cast scenarios. They talked about the possibilities for the longest time. I’m reminded of a line from the play Sunday in the Park with George “a blank page or canvas, so many possibilities”. I finished my sketch and packed up to leave. As I left the endless discussion continued and all the actors who had made it through the day were coming back at 5 PM to continue the process. I had to go out to Sanford to do a sketch For Orlando Home and Leisure. Here is the final cast and cheers to what should be a great show!
Crimes of the Heart Auditions
I went into the “Crimes of the Heart” auditions not even knowing the story of the play. I hoped to discover the story through the actors constant readings . I arrived at the Lowndes Shakespeare Theater at 11 Am and only the Stage Manager Chasmin Hallyburton and the Director Aradhana Tiwari were on hand. Aradhana was busy reading a stack of papers in front of her so I just sat in the front row of the theater and started sketching the stage. I figured I could draw the stage and then just draw in the auditioning actors when they arrived. I was a bit disappointed since I had hoped to find a long line of aspiring actors all waiting for a chance to be in the play. The morning started off slow.
Beth Marshall showed up and she told me the rough outline of the story. Crimes is the story of 3 sisters in Mississippi. One sister has sacrificed her life to take care of the father and the family estate. Meg is the black sheep of the family and she is a force of nature and larger than life. The third sister is a bit of a socialite and is concerned with her reputation. The play revolves about these women coming to terms with their fathers death and coming of age. The women’s names are Babe, Meg and Lennie. There is also a cousin named Chick.
Slowly actors began to arrive and each would enter the theater and then present a short monologue. If this monologue was good enough, the director then asked the actor to go in the hallway and rehearse a scene from the play. When they returned Jason Horne would often read along with the them so there could be some interaction. Jason would even read the female parts if needed, which was quite humerus. In this sketch Jason is reading with Britni Leslie. She had on light southern summer dress and looked the part. She was ultimately cast as Babe and Jason was cast as Barnett.