From The Director's Chair...Casting Titus Andronicus

From the Director's Chair...

...Casting Titus Andronicus

As I write this, about 80% of my work on the production of Titus Andronicus is complete. Many a director has stated that, and in many ways it is true. The casting stage of a production is crucial, often arduous and at times numbing. Let me just say that casting Titus Andronicus in a small town was daunting, to say the least. The challenge of the large cast (14 males with speaking roles), along with the specific chraracter traits, coupled with the ability to move in stylistic manner, and finally the age old question “Do I want to work with this individual?”, fused one long two-week selection process.

During the casting phase, you must ask yourself not only what to do with a given actor, or actress, but also where you will take the character they may or may not represent. The actor is the one who will bring these characters to life on the stage, and therefore, must have some semblance of reality, or sensibility (even in the absurdist Ubo Roi this notion is true)

The characters in Titus Andronicus offered up a unique challenge as casting began. Taking into account the location of the theater where the play will be performed, the amount, or lack of actors in the area, and to add upon that with the personal directorial vision that I am bringing to the production, let's just say that I was lucky it only took this long.

I must say, however, that I am extremely pleased with the chosen cast, and look forward to working with each and every one of them. At the auditions I most definitely made it known that this was to be in no way a safe production. Limiting the age limit for auditions (outside of the limit required parental consent), I told each auditionee what my broad intentions were for the production. Some of them, of course, were not game. A surprising amount of others, however, were game.

Make no mistake about it. Titus Andronicus is not your English professor's Shakespeare. I am not your typical community theatre director. One of my earliest directing endeavors at Fordham University, Brian Goloboff's The Other Five Percent, gave me the opportunity to flood a stage with blood that slowly made its way to the audience, while the play ended with a little girl getting raped on Halloween, while wearing her assailant's bloodied skeleton mask (after he had shot a hole through the head of a 'police officer' she ran to for help.) I also had the gleeful pleasure directed male on male breast-feeding in the NYC Premiere of History of the Devil, along with a full-on cannibalistic orgy in a production of Euripides' Bacchae. Needless to say, I am a director who pushes limits. I think that an audience should not be safe, and good theater should stir strong emotion from them, be it laughter, fear, or revulsion.

And now I find myself directing Titus Andronicus in a small, family town in Northeastern Pennsylvania, with a cast of people who mostly do musical theatre, and have probably never experinced a theatrical eperience similar to the samples mentioned above. In truth, Titus Andronicus offers me the opportunity to play on a huge, spanning canvas! And I belive I have found the cast that will take that journey with me, I hope, giddily.

Although specifics about the production will remain num, the actors will not be allowed to reveal any spoilers, there are some things that I can reveal early on about what this cast is going to experience.

1. There will be violence and blood. (That's almost a given)
2. A forever thread of sensuality and sex will weave its way through the production, touching upon every character.
3. There will be stylistic movements stemming from the gutteral region in order to replace verbage, and at times, an actual scene in the play itself.
4. There will be a lot of running and screaming (this is a horror play, after all)
5. There will be an intense torture scene.
6. Costuming will be racy and edgy, to say the least.
7. The entire production will be carried on a wave of kinetic energy.
8. Characters will be different than what is on the page.

Again, without going into specifics, this is going to be one crazy production, and I truly believe I have found the perfect cast in the Northeastern Pennsylvania region to take this journey with me. Together we will bring a production the likes of which Northeastern Pennsylvania has never seen before, and I, for one, am very intrigued to watch the audiences' reactions.

Besides, this is also a charity production, with all proceeds benefiting the longest-running community theater in the region, The Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, where the production will be staged. So, in that sense...horror, sex, torture, madness for charity? It's game on!

Till next time,
Peace
JJMC

Titus Andronicus Official Cast List

TITUS ANDRONICUS
Official Cast List

The Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, in association with Oblivion Productions, is excited to announce the official cast list of the Northeastern Pennsylvania Premiere Production of William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, a special benefit production for the area's longest-running community theater.

Saturninus: David Giordano
Bassianus: Jarid Jopling
Marcus Andronicus: Scott Colin
Titus Andronicus: Sam Troy
Lucius: Alex DeVirgilis
Martius: Kenneth McDaniels
Quintus: Tyler Floryan
Mutius: Matthew Brunn
Lavinia: Kathryn Priestash
Young Lucius: Kat Moran
Publius: Matthew Balas
Aemilius: Mark Bohn
Tamora: Alice Y Lyons
Alarbus: Matthew Balas
Demetrius: Kris Marconi
Chiron: Tommy McGrady
Aaron: Mark Petrole
Nurse: Lisa Zurek
Caius: Kenneth McDaniels
Valentine: Tyler Floryan
Sempronius: Matthew Brunn
Clown: Jarid Jopling
Messenger: Edward Caesar
Goths and Romans: Lisa Zurek, Edward Caesar, Kenneth McDaniels, Tyler Floryan, Matthew Brunn, Matthew Balas

production poster

Audition Announcement

The Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, in association with Oblivion Productions, is proud to announce auditions for the Notheastern Pennsylvania Premiere Production of William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, a benefit production for the area's longest-running community theater.

One of his earliest works, Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare's Horror Play, illustrating the fall of the Roman Empire via a feud between two families caught in the cycle of Revenge. War, Politics, Sex, Murder, Rape, Religion, and Debauchery are the themes baked into the crust of this edgy, controversial play, which was arguably Shakespeare's most successful pot-boiler of its time. This exciting new production sets the play out-of-time, and will use the theatrical techniques of Antonin Artaud to enhance the dramatic and emotional impact of the action. The production will run for three performances, Friday February 10th and Saturday February 11th at 8:00pm and Sunday, February 12th at 3:00pm.

Rehearsals will be loosely scheduled working with the actors availability through the remainder of 2011, with a more detailed structure for major staging and performance solidification in January through the performance dates in February, 2012.

All roles are open for men and women ages 18 and over. Auditions will take place on Sunday, December 4th at 6:00pm-10:00pm and Thursday Decemeber 8th from 7:00pm-10:30pm at the Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre, 537 North Main Street Wilkes-Barre, PA 18705 . Those interested in auditioning, please prepare one Dramatic Shakespearean monologue. If you do not have one, a monologue will be given to you at the audition. Actors and actresses are also asked to wear comfortable clothing, as part of the audition will be movement-based. Any questions, please Email the director at oblivion.productions@yahoo.com.

Titus Andronicus will be directed by area native Justin John Costello, whose NYC directorial credits under Oblivion Productions and the New York Performance Works include The Bacchae, Oedipus Rex, No Exit, Jacob, and the New York City Premiere of Clive Barker's History of the Devil, and who will also be shooting his first feature film Amongst The Living in the area May and June 2012.

Sweet Revenge is Coming!

Coming February 2012, the Northeastern Pennsylvania Premiere of William Shakespeare's horror revenge tragedy TITUS ANDRONICUS.

The production will be directed by Justin John Costello.

Stay Tuned for more information on this wicked play, including casting opportunities, and behind the scenes information.

Until then, Wash Thy Hands!