CASTING THE 2010 REPERTORY

Our local AEA and New York City Auditions have been completed. We spent a week in New York working with Pat McCorkle Casting including one day of EPA auditions: (open Equity Auditions) and two days of local Equity auditions. It was a very successful and productive casting process. Peggy McKowen, Associate Producer will make offers to the 2010 actors today and I hope to announce the 2010 Acting Company later this week. I was very impressed by all the actors who auditioned for our five play Repertory. And I am looking forward to introducing you to our cast.

Casting a rotating repertory of five plays is an exciting and overwhelming process. I believe that casting is 90% of my job as the Producing Director…second only to selecting the five playwrights. If I get the casting right…most of the work is done. Casting is an intuitive process. Over the years I have learned to trust my gut and listen to my intuition. I saw so many talented actors during the last two weeks. Because we do rotating rep…I must select actors to create characters for two different plays. We are committed to producing a five play rep with one Acting Company. This is an exciting challenge that creates artistic/collaborative opportunities for the 2010 Festival. I also believe that our audience looks forward to seeing the same actors appear in different roles. Repertory casting presents the audience with the opportunity to witness the creative process of the actor at work. It demonstrates the actor’s ability to transform and create multiple characters in a Festival of five rotating plays. Audiences are introduced to imaginative and inventive actors who create a sense of truth and belief on stage… in more than one play. This presents a creative challenge for the actor. They learn to develop artistic muscles and stretch their imaginations. Rotating repertory is a unique experience for both the actor and the audience. Casting the rotating repertory is a process that I look forward to every season. More on this later…I look forward to your thoughts on rotating repertory. Please send me your comments RE: rotating repertory. 

Ed Herendeen