Open Wardrobes

Yesterday afternoon Lakeshore Players held auditions for their annual 10-Minute Play Festival, which consists of 10 different 10-minute plays, each with a different director. I was in one of the plays in last spring's festival (The Guests at Table 11) which was an extremely well-written piece and great fun to do, and so I had long since decided that if I didn't get into Anything Goes I would definitely audition for the festival this year, Fringe or no Fringe.


I hadn't actually been at auditions last year as I was out of town, so I didn't entirely know what to expect this year, but it was one of the most fun auditions I've ever done. My fellow Greenie and movie star Jessica writes here about the experience in a much more entertaining way that I probably will. As there are 10 directors for the festival who all want to see people we were all herded up to the theater after filling out our audition form to join the chaos. I say chaos, but in a good, fun, you-want-to-stick-around-just-to-watch sort of way. Directors would see you, shove a script into your hands and tell you what they wanted you to read. Then, once that director was able to get a turn with people on stage (which you had to be quick about, or another director would jump in!) you'd get up, read selections from the piece, maybe do it again with other actors or with you in a different role, then it would be on to a different play with a different director who would try out different actor combinations as quick as was humanly possible. Then, when more people arrived, it might be back to one of the earlier plays, with some directors bringing people downstairs or into the hall in order to see as many people as they could... Well, I think you get the idea.


Having done a few shows at Lakeshore now, and several others, I knew or recognized a number of people. Many of the other Greenies came out as well (including Jessica, and four of our own lovely Greenie children), plus Anne (who I played opposite in Guests last year) and her dad Jim, Syd the Wind Spirit from Greens, and many, many others. The turnout was much higher than I think any of the directors expected!


I read for three of the plays (plus saw bits of several others as other actors read), all of which I really liked (and was able to read the whole play while waiting for my turn). The first was Kitchen Sink Drama, directed by Michael who played Hal in Lakeshore's recent Picnic. It's a funny piece (about silverware in a sink) and I read both the curmudgeonly Sponge and the heartsick Knife, who pines for the Spoon while Sponge insists a Knife should be with a Fork. Either part would be great fun to do. I also read for Beige Bart, in This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us, a Western with a twist, and the part of a boyfriend who has just been stabbed with a steak knife by his girlfriend. And yesterday evening I had a call from David, director of the Western piece, who offered me the role of Beige Bart which I instantly accepted. This was one of those parts that I loved right away and despite being the smallest part I read for was the one I most hoped I'd be able to do. So yeehah, I get to be a cowboy!


Last year there were a number of actors who were in multiple plays, so I'm still crossing my fingers that I might be offered a part in one of the other two plays I read for. But, regardless, I received a part I really wanted, and it will be fun to be a part of the festival once again. Clearly there will be a lot of fun, talented people in all of the shows; I'm hoping to see many of the people I know in one play or another. It will be a fun diversion too as I prepare for Fringe (should have the final word soon!) and really, how often does one get to play a cowboy? (Or a Knife, if it comes to that?) That's part of the fun of the 10-minute genre - there are a lot of crazy fun concepts that you could never stretch out to a full play, but in 10 minutes... well, you can do just about anything.