Nerves weren’t left to the actors prior to auditions for Pentacle Theatre’s upcoming production of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple. Director Lucas Hill was nervous as well. Hill said the uncertainty would come to an end once the ball was rolling on auditions.
“I want the whole world to come! These are my art supplies, my team mates. The more of them I have, the better off we’ll all be,” said Hill. When he was teaching middle school theater, he said, “half the school would shows up [for auditions]. But with adults and things like the arts, they don’t have time.” He added, “Adults lose the sense of fun and play that is necessary for art. Working with adults is very different. They have more experience, which is good, but they have more bad habits, which is bad. It’s very rare for middle schoolers to try to be the boss of you.”
On audition day, Hill seemed pleased. Nineteen people came to the Pentacle Theatre, five women and 14 men, in an attempt to portray six middle aged poker buddies and two British sisters.
“The play is set in New York. The characters are classically East Coast kind of people. They’re loud, they’re expressive, they’re comfortable with each other and with themselves, not overly concerned about being polite,” said Hill, who wasn’t too concerned over the actors’ ability to fake the accents. “Some people just can’t do it, and there are ways to fix that,” he said.
Hill explained what he was looking for: “On the superficial level, they have to look believable. The sisters can’t have drastically different appearances. I also look at how well they read and how well they work with each other, if someone dominates the stage or hides behind another actor.”
Personality is also a factor. “It’s a small world. It’s easy to get a bad reputation. If they’re difficult to work with, people know that, the word gets around. Some may not be great actors but you love working with them. They’re team players and they make everyone’s experience better. You don’t want to work with someone who is gonna be a pain for four months. But sometimes you have to.”
The actors were asked to fill out a form with their height, weight and acting experience, among other things, and were given a name tag and the script to read. In a small room with the rest of the people as the audience, they were asked to perform different roles. The director just watched, without directing. The actors also had the chance to read what they wanted. The atmosphere was relaxed likely because many of the actors were seasoned and the script was available prior to the auditions.
Robert Breyer moved to Salem just a year ago and he hadn’t acted since college. He played a patient in the Pentacle’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest production and he was back for more. He said of his experience: “It’s a time commitment. It’s kinda like a second job.”
Teresa Stevenson said participating in community theater is not only a good way to make new friends, but even find romance. She met her boyfriend Ross Waite during Cuckoo’s Nest.
Deborah Leinen was in Pentacle’s production of “Steel Magnolias.” She said, “Everyone here is so welcoming. It’s so much fun! It’s like play group.” She was definitely hoping to get cast. She has a lot of acting experience, and she said with time, you learn to accept the director’s decision when it comes to casting. “It’s out of your control. The director has a picture of how he wants it to be.”
She said she doesn’t usually go see plays if she’s rejected, but in the case of “The Odd Couple,” she would. “This is gonna be a great show. This is a show I gotta come see. I’ve read it but I’ve never seen it on stage. And I love ensembles. It’ll kill me, but I gotta go see it.”
When they felt they had seen and heard enough to make a decision, Lucas and his two casting advisers, Assistant Director Heathre Powell and Production Consultant Jo Dodge deliberated and then came what Hill called “the rose ceremony.”
“Deborah, would you accept the role of Cecily?”
“Yes! Yes! Thank you!” she said, almost jumping from her chair in joy. Other actors were less expressive, but all offers were accepted. The entire process took just over two hours.
Hill apologized to those who weren’t cast. He said in his own experience auditioning, he seldom got the part he wanted.
“There are five or six different ways we could’ve cast this,” said Hill, wishing he could do two productions of the same play.
“I’m gonna say what every director says, ‘It was a very hard decision.’ But it was really tough, we have a lot of good actors. I apologize we can’t cast everybody,” said Hill.
He encouraged the candidates to try again in the future. He also provided some advise for actors during auditions: “Go for it! Let it hang out. You want to stand out. It’s your chance to be remembered, so you don’t want to play it safe.”
“The Odd Couple” will run January 28 – February 19, 2011 at Pentacle Theatre. Hill is keeping a weekly production diary on Salem Weekly’s blog at blogs.willamettelive.com.
The cast
This cast will be now rehearsing Monday through Thursday, from 6:30 until 9:00 p.m. and more intensely as play time draws near:
Oscar: Robert Herzog
Felix: Jeff Baer
Roy: Vern Lovelace
Speed: Kevin Crawford
Murray: Eric Olsen
Vinnie: Neil Vannice
Gwendolyn: Jennifer Gimzewski
Cecily: Deborah Leinen
