Auditions, Casting, and the First Rehearsal

I find casting a show to be difficult - no matter how much I would like to use everybody who takes the time to put themselves out there and audition for a show, there are a limited number of characters. Unfortunately, I had to pare down our pool of talented candidates to twelve roles.

Our auditions were rather slim for this show, with about a half dozen people able to come each night. This was entirely due to the weather - our first auditions were the day after Indiana was hit with 8 inches of snow overnight. My production team and I made the decision to extend auditions to Saturday 1/11 and Tuesday 1/14. Because of the volume of performers at each audition, and the way they ran them, we were able to see people read for multiple roles in many different combinations. I was even able to give direction and run rehearsals of small scenes, which aided in the construction of the cast greatly.

Here is the cast list:

Chorus, a narrator...................................................................................................Robert Routier 

Antigone, the tragic heroine………………………………………………………..Kerry Stauffer 

Nurse, Antigone’s nurse…………………………………………………………...Megan Slocum 

Ismene, Antigone’s sister………………………………………………………….....Ashley Elliott 

Haemon, Antigone’s fiancé, Creon’s son………………………………………..…Spencer Elliott 

Creon, Antigone’s uncle, the King of Thebes……………………………………….Kabs Slocum 

First Guard, a Theban guard…………………………………………………….…...John Garlick 

Second Guard, a Theban guard……………………………………………………..Jay Brubaker 

Third Guard, a Theban guard………………………………………………………...Guy Grubbs 

Messenger, a Theban messenger……………………………………………………..Andy Sturm 

Page, Creon’s attendant……………………………………………………...Elizabeth Fasbinder 

Eurydice, Creon’s wife………………………………………………………….Monica Verdouw

We made several interesting discoveries during the audition process, and I have decided to have the Messenger, Page, and Eurydice add to the voice of the Chorus at key moments.

The rehearsal process begins this Saturday, 1/18 at 1:00pm at the Garfield Park Arts Center main gallery. Rehearsals will run typically Tuesday and Thursday evenings, from 6:00pm - 8:45pm (the building closes at 9:00pm) and Saturdays from 1:00pm - 3:45pm. Rehearsals are considered open, and all patrons of the Garfield Park Arts Center are welcome to take a peek at our process.

Design Focus: Makeup

We have a lofty visual design goal: we want our characters to look like statues that have come to life to tell this story. Our makeup designer, Sam Brandys, has some creative ideas on how to make this happen.

Each character will get a coating of adhesive and oatmeal (at this point, most likely) to frame the face and outline major features - cheek bones, eyebrows, jaw lines, etc. We will simulate age by adding "age lines" with the stone effect, highlighting smile lines, eyebrow furrows, and the like. Each character will also have a specific color of shadow around the eye to simulate a kind of marble, gem, or stone. Because of the Chorus's unique position in the show, we plan to have the Chorus in full stone face.

Antigone

Antigone's makeup will be shades of blue. This will probably be closest in color to the set, and represents Tragedy.













Ismene

Ismene's color will be green. Antigone starts the show wearing Ismene's beautiful green dress. Green also represents purity and innocence.











Eurydice

Eurydice will have dark colors around her eyes, probably similar in color to the stone work. She is one of the oldest characters, and will have stone work around the eyes, mouth, and forehead to represent age.











Nurse

The Nurse is Antigone and Ismene's primary caregiver. Her makeup will be motherly and natural - reds and browns, and possibly gold.













Page

The Page, Creon's servant, is the youngest character in the play. Makeup will reflect flesh tones in the midst of very minimal stone work.













Chorus

The Chorus, our trusty narrator and guide through the world of the play, will closely represent an antique statue. She will have full stone face, with highlights and low lights in the stone work as to avoid washing out features.









Stone Work Template - Age

Older characters, like Creon, Eurydice, and the Nurse, will have more "intricate" stone work, as if the stone from whence they came is taking over the body.












Stone Work Template - Youth

Younger characters, like Antigone, the Page, Ismene, and the Messenger, will have less stone work, and brighter colors around the eyes.

Production Meeting: Set Design

I met with my Art Director Monica Verdouw, Technical Director Craig Burton, and Makeup Designer Sam Brandys at the Garfield Park Arts Center to walk through the space and get a feel for the size and shape of the set for the production. I would have to say the meeting was a great success! We have a pretty clear idea of how the set will sit, and an idea of the construction materials necessary.

The stage will sit unevenly with a large platform either far upstage right or far upstage left. Shorter platforms of about the same dimensions will fan outward to form a shallow spiral. Since the characters will be presented as living statues, we have an initial idea of having pedestals on which they can stand at various points in the show. The podiums will also become other set pieces - chairs, stools, a table, etc. - as necessary. There will be three entrances onto the stage - up stage center onto the largest platform, and stage right and stage left through thin veils supported in arches. The back of the stage will be masked with standard flats reaching from the farthest outside entrances. The plan now is to depict through images the story of the previous two plays (Oedipus the King and Oedipus at Colonus) on the back masking flats on either side of the up stage center entrance.

The company has most of the lumber materials to build the platforms, and the flats were previously used for our production of The Matchmaker. They will be easy to modify to fit the needs of Antigone.

Below are some of Monica's sketches concerning the design of the set - a page of images reflecting a Classical style, a page of images reflecting a Modern style, and a sketch of a first draft of the stage described above.

 

Visual Update: Audition Flier

Behold! A flier for our auditions! Artwork by Monica Verdouw.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to contact me at BurtonChristopherA@gmail.com.

Announcement: Audition Dates

Hello all!

We have recieved confirmation for our audition dates. We will hold auditions on Tuesday and Wednesday, January 7th and 8th, from 6pm - 8:45pm in the main gallery at the Garfield Park Arts Center. There will be a tentative callback on an as-needed basis on Thursday, January 9th from 6pm - 8:45pm at the same location.

Interested actors do not need to prepare a monologue, but should be prepared to read scenes from the script in a group setting. The Garfield Shakespeare Company seeks to emphasize the importance of developing an ensemble, and a open and engaged audition is the first step in that process. Be prepared to move, experiement with the text, and try new things.

Our Art Director is working on some pretty gorgeous fliers to announce the auditions which I will upload soon.

Production Meeting 11/17/2013

We had our first production meeting last night, 11/17. Though we met before so I could describe things to think about while reading the play, this was our first opportunity to dig at the meat and see what we're working with.

My initial inspiration for a "world of the play" came from the YouTube music group The Piano Guys. They explore new takes on classical music, have gorgeous original pieces, and they cover contemporary pop songs with just piano and cello. I was fascinated by the idea of taking something modern and presenting it in a typical "classical" style - Panic! at the Disco doesn't have a lot of piano quartet pieces. The Piano Guys, however, make it work.

My designers and I have taken that idea further to the visual style of Antigone. We want the characters to resemble living statues, though not so far as the street performers with full makeup. Instead, the characters would have the trappings of statuary - wrinkled clothes textured with paint to seem stiff, makeup to suggest being carved of stone and marble, and hair colored to match.

In this way, we bring a traditional Greek tragedy, filter it through several years of interpretation and adaptation, and emerge with what makes the show powerful: a timeless heroine with impressive resolve doomed to die for her moral integrity.

Why Antigone?

"That dark-haired girl sitting by herself,  staring straight ahead, seeing nothing, is Antigone. She is thinking. She is thinking that the instant I finish telling you who's who and what's what in this play, she will burst forth as the dark, tense, serious girl, who is about to rise up and face the whole world alone - alone against the world and against Creon, her uncle, the King.

Another thing that she is thinking is this: she is going to die."

Jean Anouilh's Antigone looks closely at the character of a young girl willing to do anything for her beliefs. Whether the war between her brothers was just or not, does not matter to her. Creon's edict that her brother does not deserve a proper burial, and Antigone's conviction to do just that, provides the conflict in this play. In the context of Anouilh's lifetime, Antigone represented an act of rebellion by the French against the Fascist German regime.

In addition to Antigone's act of rebellion, Anouilh's play brings Fate to the front of the stage - the Chorus, a trapping of the ancient Greek theatre, makes sure that the audience knows that Creon alone remains alive, and alone. His niece dies. His son dies. His wife dies. And there is nothing that he can do about this outcome. There is nothing that anybody can do. Antigone knows this, and plays a cool confidence throughout the play. She is resolute in her death. The peace that comes with accepting Fate makes for an interesting story.

"In a tragedy, nothing is in doubt and everyone's destiny is known. That makes for tranquility."

Classic Greek tragedy introduced characters that started from a position of power - Oedipus, for example - who experienced a fall because of a single, exploited trait. Antigone has no power. She is simply a girl, resolute in her decision to honor her brother. She has already accepted that this decision will lead to her death, so she has nowhere to fall. Therefore, Anouilh presents that the tragedy comes instead from inevitability. The audience sees the decisions that have already been made and must face the outcome. This deviates from the Greek tradition in that catharsis is not the end goal. Instead, tragedy comes from watching a machine, working in perfect order, wound from the beginning of time, marching to its inevitable end. No matter what the players do to interfere, no matter how Haemon begs for his bride, no matter how guilt-stricken the Guard is, no matter what Creon tries to do to avoid killing his niece, Antigone must die. This, Anouilh contends, is true suspense - the time before the play's conclusion.

Antigone lives in a grey world - a world between black and white, a world outside the laws of man. She exists to move the other characters toward death, and Creon to loneliness. She exists to share with the audience perfect tragedy. And I want to help her tell that story.

"Now and again - in the three thousand years since the first Antigone - other Antigone have arisen like a clarion call to remind men of this distinction. Their cause is always the same - a passionate belief that moral law exists, and a passionate regard for the sanctity of human dignity. Well, Antigone is calm tonight. She has played her part."