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I Aten't Ded
Mar. 15th, 2007 10:12 amI just working on Ian W. Hill's Hamlet.
Yesterday I was finally able to send out the big email to 51 actors. This is the email I sent out (slightly edited):
Friends, Collaborators, Workers, Actors,
I'm directing Hamlet at The Brick for The Pretentious Festival this June, and I'm casting.
If you're getting this, I'd love to have you on board, if you're interested - even if I haven't seen you/worked with you in years, or if you have apparently given up acting (I have to TRY), or even if I have never worked with you (but have seen you in other shows and would like to).
I need at least eighteen actors total, 12-14 men, 4-6 women. Two parts are already definitely cast, Polonius (Bryan Enk) and Hamlet (myself), with two other "possibles" at this point, depending on if we can make schedule conflicts work out (Daniel McKleinfeld and Edward Einhorn as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern). I'd prefer to cast the other 14 or so from the 45 people I know (and trust) getting this. Every performer will get at least one speaking role, and a lot of non-speaking (but often active) stage time as well.
I don't particularly care about "age-appropriate" casting myself, so if you feel okay with playing my mom or stepdad, great.
The show will have at least 6 performances in June, I think, and I hope to extend it for some more performances in July, if it's possible. I will work with you and The Brick as best as possible to schedule around your conflicts. Once cast we will rehearse as much as possible April/May, but as most of the parts will require only 2-5 rehearsals before the last two weeks, it will not be a huge time commitment.
Please let me know if you are interested and available, or not -- either way please, as every time I send out an email like this I find out later that many people never got it, and would have wanted to do the show, so this time I'll keep doing it until I get a definite response. If interested/available, I'll send you a copy of the script, which is cut severely and filled with my own stage directions, and will give an actual idea of where I'm going with this (it's very nasty). Then let me know what parts you'd be interested in taking on, and I'll meet with you and read you for them -- I want to hear as many voices as I can for as many parts as I can on this one, and I only have a very small number of people somewhat in mind for specific parts.
I either don't have, or am not sure I have, accurate emails for [three actors named]. If anyone has their info, please let me know. If you know that anyone else I've worked with in the last few years didn't get this, have them get ahold of me, too; I can't find everyone's emails.
Hamlet will be the 50th production I've designed/directed, and will be opening ten years to the month after the first one from me and Gemini CollisionWorks (Egyptology by Richard Foreman). As it's part of The Pretentious Festival, it has given me the nerve to finally direct/design/play the title role myself, and the show will be actually called Ian W. Hill's Hamlet (though the production itself will not really be at all "pretentious;" we're just surrounding it with pretension as a hook).
The Brick Theater is also mine for the entire month of August, and I'm hoping to bring back a handful of shows during that time -- I'm looking mainly at (in order of preference) That's What We're Here For, World Gone Wrong, The Hobo Got Too High (by Mark Spitz), Sad Clowns on Velvet (three Chekhov Shorts), and/or The Mind King (my Foreman solo show). So if you were in the original productions of any of those, let me know about your availability/interest in June/July rehearsals, August productions of them.
thanks for your attention, and keep in touch,
IWH
I got a surprisingly fast and positive response. Thus far, I have 5 "NO" answers (4 doing other shows, 1 has indeed retired from acting), 1 "YES" (Bryan, as well as myself, of course), and 20 people who are either definitely or potentially interested and available - 11 women/9 men; as usual the ratio weighted to the women, which means more pain for me later as I choose between a number of great possibilities and get rid of half of the good female actors I'd like to work with (going as gender-blind as I can in the world of this play, I can have 6 women tops, maybe 7, maybe - at a certain point it'll wind up looking like Elsinore is oddly peopled primarily by women - maybe all the men have been killed in the war or something . . .).
Still waiting on another 25 responses (15 men, 10 women). I'll send out another email to those non-responders on Sunday and start meeting with and reading people on Monday. Well, at least I feel like I won't be in big trouble trying to cast this - quite the opposite, in fact. I'm worried about the difficulty in particular in choosing between many different excellent possibilities for Claudius and Gertrude (I think the others will be clearer immediately). BUT STILL - if you're someone out there who's worked with me wondering why you didn't get the email, let me know. I may have forgotten or lost your email or it may be stuck in a spam filter somewhere. I could also have felt that you weren't right for the world of this production, in which case, if you really want to prove me wrong, I'll meet with you. Gladly. I've enjoyed having my mind changed radically by actors during the audition process these last few years.
I sent out copies of the script immediately to all who expressed interest. I got an email back from one actor asking a question, which I then answered:
I'm interested in reading for Claudius. What are you conceiving for the character?
Military man. From an upper-class (royal) background but not very comfortable with it. Was always the #2 (who tried harder) after his older brother. Spent most of his life in the service. Probably a REALLY good general, but has no idea at all how to be a statesman - he threw himself into his military career so fully that he barely bothered with the normal "training" in "being royal." Needs his "Kissinger," Polonius, desperately. May not have killed his brother in this production (I want to keep that ambiguous - you'll note the confession speech is gone from this text). Loves Gertrude very VERY much but isn't all that happy about filling his brother's shoes in every way. Doesn't think he lives up to his brother's legacy (except maybe as a general - he is completely secure when it comes to anything remotely related to "being an officer"). Not very "smart," but very canny (and always taken for less intelligent than he is anyway his whole life). Probably he (and Gertrude) were subtly maneuvered into their o'er hasty marriage by Polonius - it would have happened eventually, but she now regrets the speed and he's peeved that anyone gives a damn. He has flashes of anger that he probably would have controlled more as a general -- he gets pissed off that the court and the world does not run like a smooth military command and that there's all this frippery, pomp, and codes to being a king that (to him) just gets in the way of GETTING THINGS DONE. Probably more emotionally similar to his nephew than either one would believe (or admit), but neither has the language to speak to the other.
Off to The Brick shortly to fix a few things up before week two of Bouffon Glass Menajoree. Which, again, is really worth seeing. As is Tom X. Chao's The Peculiar Utterance of the Day - Live on Stage!, which Berit and I saw on Tuesday. You'll laugh, you'll cry . . . no, actually, you won't cry. You'll just laugh some more.
Yesterday I was finally able to send out the big email to 51 actors. This is the email I sent out (slightly edited):
Friends, Collaborators, Workers, Actors,
I'm directing Hamlet at The Brick for The Pretentious Festival this June, and I'm casting.
If you're getting this, I'd love to have you on board, if you're interested - even if I haven't seen you/worked with you in years, or if you have apparently given up acting (I have to TRY), or even if I have never worked with you (but have seen you in other shows and would like to).
I need at least eighteen actors total, 12-14 men, 4-6 women. Two parts are already definitely cast, Polonius (Bryan Enk) and Hamlet (myself), with two other "possibles" at this point, depending on if we can make schedule conflicts work out (Daniel McKleinfeld and Edward Einhorn as Rosencrantz and Guildenstern). I'd prefer to cast the other 14 or so from the 45 people I know (and trust) getting this. Every performer will get at least one speaking role, and a lot of non-speaking (but often active) stage time as well.
I don't particularly care about "age-appropriate" casting myself, so if you feel okay with playing my mom or stepdad, great.
The show will have at least 6 performances in June, I think, and I hope to extend it for some more performances in July, if it's possible. I will work with you and The Brick as best as possible to schedule around your conflicts. Once cast we will rehearse as much as possible April/May, but as most of the parts will require only 2-5 rehearsals before the last two weeks, it will not be a huge time commitment.
Please let me know if you are interested and available, or not -- either way please, as every time I send out an email like this I find out later that many people never got it, and would have wanted to do the show, so this time I'll keep doing it until I get a definite response. If interested/available, I'll send you a copy of the script, which is cut severely and filled with my own stage directions, and will give an actual idea of where I'm going with this (it's very nasty). Then let me know what parts you'd be interested in taking on, and I'll meet with you and read you for them -- I want to hear as many voices as I can for as many parts as I can on this one, and I only have a very small number of people somewhat in mind for specific parts.
I either don't have, or am not sure I have, accurate emails for [three actors named]. If anyone has their info, please let me know. If you know that anyone else I've worked with in the last few years didn't get this, have them get ahold of me, too; I can't find everyone's emails.
Hamlet will be the 50th production I've designed/directed, and will be opening ten years to the month after the first one from me and Gemini CollisionWorks (Egyptology by Richard Foreman). As it's part of The Pretentious Festival, it has given me the nerve to finally direct/design/play the title role myself, and the show will be actually called Ian W. Hill's Hamlet (though the production itself will not really be at all "pretentious;" we're just surrounding it with pretension as a hook).
The Brick Theater is also mine for the entire month of August, and I'm hoping to bring back a handful of shows during that time -- I'm looking mainly at (in order of preference) That's What We're Here For, World Gone Wrong, The Hobo Got Too High (by Mark Spitz), Sad Clowns on Velvet (three Chekhov Shorts), and/or The Mind King (my Foreman solo show). So if you were in the original productions of any of those, let me know about your availability/interest in June/July rehearsals, August productions of them.
thanks for your attention, and keep in touch,
IWH
I got a surprisingly fast and positive response. Thus far, I have 5 "NO" answers (4 doing other shows, 1 has indeed retired from acting), 1 "YES" (Bryan, as well as myself, of course), and 20 people who are either definitely or potentially interested and available - 11 women/9 men; as usual the ratio weighted to the women, which means more pain for me later as I choose between a number of great possibilities and get rid of half of the good female actors I'd like to work with (going as gender-blind as I can in the world of this play, I can have 6 women tops, maybe 7, maybe - at a certain point it'll wind up looking like Elsinore is oddly peopled primarily by women - maybe all the men have been killed in the war or something . . .).
Still waiting on another 25 responses (15 men, 10 women). I'll send out another email to those non-responders on Sunday and start meeting with and reading people on Monday. Well, at least I feel like I won't be in big trouble trying to cast this - quite the opposite, in fact. I'm worried about the difficulty in particular in choosing between many different excellent possibilities for Claudius and Gertrude (I think the others will be clearer immediately). BUT STILL - if you're someone out there who's worked with me wondering why you didn't get the email, let me know. I may have forgotten or lost your email or it may be stuck in a spam filter somewhere. I could also have felt that you weren't right for the world of this production, in which case, if you really want to prove me wrong, I'll meet with you. Gladly. I've enjoyed having my mind changed radically by actors during the audition process these last few years.
I sent out copies of the script immediately to all who expressed interest. I got an email back from one actor asking a question, which I then answered:
I'm interested in reading for Claudius. What are you conceiving for the character?
Military man. From an upper-class (royal) background but not very comfortable with it. Was always the #2 (who tried harder) after his older brother. Spent most of his life in the service. Probably a REALLY good general, but has no idea at all how to be a statesman - he threw himself into his military career so fully that he barely bothered with the normal "training" in "being royal." Needs his "Kissinger," Polonius, desperately. May not have killed his brother in this production (I want to keep that ambiguous - you'll note the confession speech is gone from this text). Loves Gertrude very VERY much but isn't all that happy about filling his brother's shoes in every way. Doesn't think he lives up to his brother's legacy (except maybe as a general - he is completely secure when it comes to anything remotely related to "being an officer"). Not very "smart," but very canny (and always taken for less intelligent than he is anyway his whole life). Probably he (and Gertrude) were subtly maneuvered into their o'er hasty marriage by Polonius - it would have happened eventually, but she now regrets the speed and he's peeved that anyone gives a damn. He has flashes of anger that he probably would have controlled more as a general -- he gets pissed off that the court and the world does not run like a smooth military command and that there's all this frippery, pomp, and codes to being a king that (to him) just gets in the way of GETTING THINGS DONE. Probably more emotionally similar to his nephew than either one would believe (or admit), but neither has the language to speak to the other.
Off to The Brick shortly to fix a few things up before week two of Bouffon Glass Menajoree. Which, again, is really worth seeing. As is Tom X. Chao's The Peculiar Utterance of the Day - Live on Stage!, which Berit and I saw on Tuesday. You'll laugh, you'll cry . . . no, actually, you won't cry. You'll just laugh some more.
