Far Off Broadway Theatre Company is holding auditions for its upcoming spring musical theatre production of Annie.
CaroleAnn Leishman is directing. She produced Welcome to the Fun House two years ago and The Sound of Music before that. Annie will be the first production to feature the music of the community orchestra since her Sound of Music production.
“When I suggested Annie to Paige,” said Leishman, “she was so excited.” Paige Anderson is Leishman’s co-choreographer for the play.
Leishman said that because Powell River is a small community and it is community theatre, she has to be careful to choose a play that she can cast. Annie should be fairly easy.
“There’s lots of adult parts and a thousand little girls. We can incorporate a lot of little girl orphans,” she said. She has plans to alter the script to fit some boys, whom she worked with on Welcome to the Fun House, into the play. However, casting is not without its challenges.
“It is hard sometimes to cast,” she said. “We have run into that before where we’ve cast the whole show and then we have nobody for one of the main parts.” At this point Leishman said she has to make special appeals to people she thinks would be perfect for the part. “I have to give them a nudge,” she said. Actors do not need to have previous acting experience to tryout.
“We’re always looking for new people to come out and audition,” she said. “I don’t know what I’ll have until the auditions. Sometimes people show up and surprise me.They’re perfect for the part and it changes my perspective a bit.”
Leishman said that because the production is musical theatre, she would like people to audition with a song “preferably where I can hear some range,” she said. Actors will tryout in front of Leishman, Anderson and Walter Martella, the orchestra conductor.
“It’s more for me to see that they can get up and actually sing in front of people,” she said. “Even if they don’t have a main singing part, they’ll need to sing in a group part.”
Once auditions are complete the rehearsal schedule will be published. Leishman said she tries to keep her rehearsal schedule “not too crazy.” Rehearsals will be once a week, although main actors will probably have two or three rehearsals, and daily in the last two weeks before the play opens. The younger children will just have to come in for an hour on Sunday.
Auditions are scheduled from 11 am to 3 pm on Saturday, November 10, at Evergreen Theatre, Powell River Recreation Complex.
Leishman is planning to have eight performances at the Evergreen that will run from the end of May to June 1.
