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.