Tag: Candy Cain Spahr

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The Show Must Go On

This past weekend for Anne of Avonlea had it’s ups and downs. Actually, the weekend started out very good and went down hill from there.

The Saturday, 2 PM show had a group of Seniors from a local church. So we had over 50+ people (literally and figuratively). This was our best show to date. There is a lot of humor that kids seeing the show would not laugh at. This was the first show where we had to pause for laughter. And the energy the actors get from a responsive crowd makes the show even better.

Candy Cain Spahr, who was one of the directors and who had been out of town for all the run, was also at this performance.

The Saturday, 7:30 PM show was, I suppose OK. There was not much of a crowd and they were not nearly as responsive as the 2 PM show.

The Sunday show, well was, let me just say we did a show. With 5 minutes till curtain, there was only 2 people in the audience. My thought was “let’s give back there money and free tickets to next weeks show”. With 2 minutes left, 2 more people arrived. Then 5 other family members arrived for a total of 9 people in the audience. It was a very empty theater and our voices seemed to echo. I must say, as small as the audience was, they were very responsive and really seemed to enjoy the show.

We have 3 more public shows left and then two sold out shows for the Girl Scouts. And not that I don’t mind a theater full of kids, it sure is nice having a treater full of adults who get the humor.

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Callback and a Play

I received a call from Candy Spahr on my way home from work on Friday. She offered me a callback for Anne of Avonlea. The callbacks have been moved to Monday at 5 PM. This was interesting because as far as I knew, there were more auditions to be held on Saturday. But as I stated before, I was the only adult male to audition on Thursday night.

On Saturday, I received a call from the Artistic Director, IJ Rosenblum, at Button Theatre offering me a role in Barefoot in the Park. The Auditions were last weekend and I has assumed I did not get a role. The part I auditioned for and which I knew I did not get was for the older eccentric neighbor. The part I was offered, and accepted, was for the TELEPHONE REPAIRMAN. It is a paid role and my first role at a Professional Non-Equity theatre. All I have done before now have been in Community Theatres.

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Auditioned for Anne of Avonlea

I (and a few others) received an email earlier in the week from Jeannie with the play details and character breakdowns. What I gathered (and confirmed) was that Jeannie wanted to see me audition. I know that this did not guarantee me a role, just that she wanted to see me/us audition. So I did.

There was a single adult male role. J. A. HARRISON is a 45ish, blustery irate neighbor, who tends to bully and browbeat everyone. Not that the rest of the male role are children, but I don’t think I can do an 18 year old. So J. A. HARRISON or bust.

Jeannie had me read a single scene with ANNE where J. A. HARRISON rants about a cow who is into his oats. It was a fun scene.

Candy Cain Spahr was supposed to have directed the play, but a new job is taking her away. I was in Heidi with Candy, so it would have been good to work with her again. I take that back, she will be Co-Directing while she is in town, but that is only for a few weeks.

I was mentioning to Candy about understanding the desire to do larger roles. I have done a lot of minor roles and the only lead role I have had was in A Christmas Story this past December. I have scene actors who will refuse to do a role because it is small. My thought is that at least I am doing something that I love to do. Yes I would like to be the lead, but at least with any role, I am on stage even if its just for part of a play.

I know that I am not guaranteed a part in Anne of Avonlea, but I was the only adult male who auditioned last night. There are more auditions on Saturday with callbacks, if necessary, on Saturday afternoon.