I am so excited about auditions this weekend, we have been having so many people sign up for them, I can't wait to see them all!
Here for those of you who are not friends with me on Facebook is the Facebook event link. If you aren't friends with me on Facebook you really should be. Just drop me a note (I mean a Facebook message) saying that you're a reader of my blog and I will be happy to friend you.

I think I may need to have call backs to help me decide, sometimes you just need to get actors into the same room and see how their chemistry is with eachother.

If you would like some auditioning tips, I suggest you out a few posts I wrote on the subject in October before our last round of  auditions: Audition Tip 1 Audition Tip 2 Audition Tips 3 Audition Tip 4.

Here is an article I thought you all might enjoy it is:  
20 Epic Shakespeare Insults Every Drama Geek Should Know
Shakespeare was brilliant at insulting people in the cleverest way, these 
might be some fun ones to use next time someone cuts you off in traffic.

Have a beautiful day!!!

I'm getting ready for auditions this Saturday and next Saturday and I have made a flier with audition information. If you would help me distribute it by posting it on bulletin boards or giving it to people you think might be interested in auditioning I would really appreciate it!

Here is a map with the location of the auditions:

So, email us at StorefrontShakespeare@gmail.com and make an appointment to audition! You know you want to. Times are filling up but I still have spaces available. If you would like to audition but cannot make either Saturday you may make an appointment for another day.
See you there!

Auditions for Much Ado About Nothing will be by appointment Saturday May 28th and June 4th from 1-4pm at the Batavia Public Library meeting room  at 10 S Batavia Ave near the intersection of Wilson and rt 31.
To schedule an audition or to request a different audition time please email StorefrontShakespeare@gmail.com

Please do not read the script or watch any version of the play before coming to auditions.
Since this production will be set in modern Sicily and have a mafia theme, you may watch as many mob movies as you like. ; ) 

Auditions will consist of cold readings from cue scripts from other Shakespeare plays. Actors may also present a monologue as long as it is not from Much Ado About Nothing.

In this production we are going to be doing something similar to what Patrick Tucker discusses in his book:Secrets of Acting Shakespeare: The Original Approach. You can read more about it on the post below this one!

Performances will be July 29th through August 20th. When cast, actors will be given the month of June to memorize their lines. Rehearsals will be based on actor availability in July.

We still need to find an assistant director, a stage manager and a set designer for Much Ado About Nothing, if you are interested in one of these positions please email me at StorefrontShakespeare@gmail.com.

For this production I am trying out a method my friend Adam Armstrong uses for directing Shakespeare. He asks that from the time actors find out about auditions they do not read the script or watch any film or theatrical versions of the play.

I think that this is a wonderful idea. It frees actors from preconceptions about how a line should be said or how a role should be played.

Adam also doesn't have a rehearsal until his actors are memorized. Also, his actors don't have the full script, they just have their lines and their cue lines, just as Shakespeare's actors would have had. Then at the first rehearsal they run through the entire play once, everyone listening very carefully to make sure they come in on their cue!

This is just about the best thing for an actor. This is why improv shows are so great. Because everyone is paying attention. 

Usually in a show actors have the lines of people they share scenes with memorized before the have their own.

In a show I directed recently at one performance there was a scene where only two actors were on stage together bantering back and forth. Actor 1 accidentally gave actor 2 the wrong cue line, but actor 2 didn't notice and responded with the response that they would have give had actor 1's line been correct, only this time it made no sense. Actor 1 realizing the mistake kept trying to fix it by rearranging the order of their lines and actor 2 continued to not notice and kept responding with the replies in their usual order but always the wrong reply to what actor 1 had said.

This couldn't happen with Adam's method. No actor knows what the other actors are going to say or do so they have to always pay attention. This makes for better acting because actors aren't on auto-pilot or stuck in their head thinking about something else. It makes it more like real life and it keeps the actors focused and in the moment.

Adam lent me the book by Patrick Tucker that helped him develop this method, it is Secrets of Acting Shakespeare: The Original Approach.
Mr. Tucker's method is different from Adam's in that he advocates absolutely no rehearsal (except for fighting and dance choreography) before the performance. While the no rehearsal method sounds very exciting and I will have to try it someday, I do think that at least a few rehearsals can be useful to fine tune a performance.

So, my auditions will consist of cold readings from cue scripts from other Shakespeare plays and if actors should desire to impress me further they may perform a monologue from a play other than Much Ado About Nothing.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Things are moving forward with Much Ado About Nothing! We have been looking at spaces and are in negotiations for one that I absolutely love, so send us good thoughts, I hope we get it.

If we get this space, auditions will be May 26th, 27th and 28th as well as June 1st and 2nd. I will cast people that weekend. I will then give the actors four weeks to memorize their lines and we will begin meeting for regular rehearsals after July 4th. Then we can open July 29th and probably close on August 20th.

We are also looking for a Chief Administrative Officer to help us handle the business end of theater. They will deal with things like navigating the bureaucracy of being a not-for-profit, getting us grants, running fundraisers and dealing with insurance companies.

The main problem we encounter when trying to bring in new people is that we can't afford to pay people yet. We're toying with the idea (and it would need to be well researched and approved by the board before it could ever become a reality) of giving people a commission for every grant they bring in, some percentage of the amount of the grant most likely, and I wanted to know if any of you have ever used this system before and how it worked for you?

Today I thought I would tell you one little nugget of information more about our upcoming production of Much Ado About Nothing:

The Much ado About Nothing is set in Messina, Sicily and all of the men are Don this and Don that. So, I made the obvious choice. Or maybe I've just seen Godfather II too many times... I'm setting our production in modern day Messina and the people involved are all part of the Sicilian Mafia.
So, if you're a fan of the Sopranos or The Godfather I hope you'll come out and audition for Much Ado About Nothing.

We're still looking for a location, any ideas?