Saturday, October 1, 2011

Round 2 ~ Submissions Continue ~ Inquiry Only

Hey Friends and Fans!

So, I've begun Round 2 of Mirror Mates Script Submissions! 

I've decided to make this one the Theatres that don't actually let you send them any pages of dialogue upfront. ...Inquiry Only.  This usually includes, the Cover Letter, Synopsis, Character Breakdown (w/ actor doubling) a Resume and a self addressed stamped envelope if going by snail mail.  (And I better get these in before the Post Office goes bankrupt.)

The basic letter is below:  (If you know any Theatre Literary Drama Staff, please pass this along!)

Dear Dramaturg / Artistic Director / Literary Associate / Insert that Title here:_______________

Welcome to my latest work: “Mirror Mates: A Two Faced Farce”.

Mirror Mates’ protagonist, Wiley, holds two jobs: Stage Manager in a Dinner Theater & Day Shift Guy in a Home for the Chronically Mentally Ill.  He does them very well under normal circumstances, but it’s not a typical week.  I personally have held both of these jobs, not simultaneously and overlapping as “Wiley” does them, but absolutely close enough.  It became natural for me to merge them into a farce, tackling some of society’s heaviest psychological issues in a fun, light, fabulous way…  rolling them all into an adventurous quest for ice cream!

The first draft of Mirror Mates received a "living room reading" which led to a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the following drafts and a Staged Reading. http://kck.st/idSr6j

The Staged Reading was held on April 29th at Theater54@ShetlerStudios in NYC.  Of course, it’s challenging to “stage-read” a farce; so, with consent from the union, we taped out the floor and ran around as much as possible!  And it all went wonderfully; the audience easily tracked the action and roared with delight.  I blogged it for our backers at: http://lionsnax.blogspot.com/ which feeds into the LionSnax site, so it all turns up right here: http://lionsnaxtheatricals.com/ .

Everything I learned from the readings I’ve incorporated into the latest draft (5.2) which currently runs about 2:10 (belying the actual page count) and is ready to be born into production.  Please let me know if you’d like to read it and join in the adventure.

Thanks!
My Best to You,
Bill

Bill Toscano
Follow on Twitter: @LionSnax @MirrorMates

Thursday, August 25, 2011

Gratitude

It’s closing on 4 months since our staged reading of Mirror Mates in Midtown Manhattan and I just wanted to let you know how enormously helpful that reading was in furthering the play’s development.   During that reading we worked from Draft #3; I have now completed Draft #5.2.  It’s cleaner, sharper, more direct and even funnier. 
Act one is shorter; I’ve taken out everything that didn’t move the story forward.  Act two is tighter and cleaner with expanded character development and stronger motivations for the crazy things these “people” do.   And Act 3 (There is no intermission between Acts 2 & 3) winds up tightly with all the secrets revealed.  ~I’m really quite pleased.
I’m also incredibly grateful for your financial support in making this possible.   I’m grateful too, for our talented cast and crew who worked tirelessly at making this dream come true!  Thank You!

So, what’s next?   Well, about 2 weeks ago, I jumped into the next phase of the operation: the process of submitting the play to theater companies all over the country for potential production.    Most theater companies are inundated with new scripts, so they only accept a synopsis and a resume and perhaps 10 to 20 pages of sample dialogue.  A few theaters will actually accept whole scripts from playwrights, while many only accept them from agents… and some not at all.   Nearly all theaters can take between 6 months to a year to read and/or let you know if they are interested in reading more.  If they’re not interested, you will never hear back anything.   It can be tough to break through… but break through we will…. somehow; some way, or it’s on to self production!  Which is how many theater companies get started, but that’s a story for another day.
Today is about gratitude.  Thank You, Thank You, Thank You, for helping me get this far!

~Now back to submissions!   I’ve done more that 25 already… (Each one takes time…)

Oh, there is though, one more, simple thing you can do, if you’re on facebook, please go to the MirrorMates page http://www.facebook.com/MirrorMates and “Like” it. 

You can also do it from the LionSnax Page http://lionsnaxtheatricals.com/    

And then follow us on Twitter!  @MirrorMates @LionSnax
It does help… when theater companies see that there is support for a show!

Thanks!
Much Love,
My Best to You,
Bill

Bill Toscano

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Mirror Mates: A Two Faced Farce - The New Synopsis

by Bill Toscano

Mirror Mates is set in twin, crumbling locations placed side by side on stage.
On one side is Dressing Room “A” backstage at Maxie’s Fabulous Dinner Theater.
On the other is The Rec Room at Mega House: Home for the Chronically Mentally Ill.
Identical, opposite… and the hallways overlap.

 Each of the actors in Mirror Mates plays two parts; one on each side, except for the actor playing “Wiley,” who works in both locations.  By day, he serves up lunch, meds and advice to the residents of Mega House; and by night, he’s the Emergency Stage Manager at Maxie’s
…again.

These "families" are have fallen on trying times.

It’s tech week at Maxie’s (which is only three days long) and their new director’s original version of a famous musical is nowhere near ready, but is sold out!  There’s been a flood in the dressing room, which is suddenly locked!  But the cast is determined to carry on, in spite of the mocktails, except for Rupert, who's “broken his foot” …and bought plane tickets to France.  
Over at the home, second lunch is off to a rocky start, which is now being served in the Rec Room, due to the “dishwasher-dining room-deep-sea-disaster,” and the residents are up in arms! And their meds are about to change, but the new night shift guy is finally coming in! …perhaps?   

And everyone’s unhappy about the quality of desert!

Yet, Wiley keeps it all together; but what he doesn’t know about a deep-seated connection between the two enterprises …is vast.  And over the course of the next three days, things go from bad to impossible ...at the speed of light.  Madness runs rampant; people are not who they seem, and the secrets run deep.  
But revelations do come, with nuts on top, in a series of startling twists…
When a Mega House quest for Ice Cream crash lands backstage at Maxie’s
…spot on cue for opening night!

Everybody standby…
Everybody…Go!

Monday, July 25, 2011

See me in "Bert's Plan" ~ Manhattan Film Festival

Come see me in
@ the Manhattan Film Festival! 

Saturday 07-30-2011 at 04:45 & 06:35 PM 

Award Winning Short Film!  

I play Victor, Bert's best friend & agent.

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Poster details... & Is that really a Wrap?

Dear Mirror Mates Backers!

Thank You for backing this Staged Reading of

“Mirror Mates: A Two Faced Farce”!

I learned a lot about the show from doing this reading… but most importantly I learned that the concept and the script really do work very well. I’m very excited for the play’s next stage of development… whatever shape that takes. Maybe you’ll be able to join us on that journey as well? ~I’ll be in touch.

And with the next leg of the journey in mind, I’m currently deep back in the script, making cuts and doing rewrites… it’s going really well. Thank you for all the great feedback! If you have any other thoughts please let me know. I’m happy to listen.

Tending to one of the final details of this Kickstarter adventure is sending posters (signed and unsigned) to all the backers who were supposed to receive them. Just so you know, I went to the post office last Tuesday and sent them all out. I have heard reports, from as far away as Tucson, AZ. that they are indeed reaching their destinations. If you haven’t received yours yet, it should be arriving soon.

However, if you know you’re suppose to receive one and it doesn’t arrive within a week or so, please let me know. If need be I will send you another. If you opted out of the “rewards,” then you’re not supposed to receive one. If that was a mistaken selection, and you’d still really like one, I do have some extras, so, please let me know that, as well, and I’ll send one out to you. (Of course, that will be on a first come first served basis… when they’re gone; they’re gone!)

There may well turn out to be a few more project updates… but I do think that is the bulk of it. So, I want to thank you all again for your time, energy, support, money and interest.

Thank you for supporting Mirror Mates and the arts in general. You truly have been wonderful. I hope you enjoyed following the process.

Our Best to You!


Much Love,
Bill, Colleen & Team LionSnax


Thanks again! ...Is that really a Wrap?

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

The Program from the Mirror Mates reading...

For those of you who weren't able to attend the reading of Mirror Mates... We present "The Program" in .jpg form. If the bios are too small to read... they're posted over on the LionSnax website: http://lionsnaxtheatricals.com/?page_id=97


Wish you could have been there!
Maybe we'll get to do full production soon!
Stay tuned...


Monday, May 2, 2011

A Successful Reading, A Delicious Cake & a 2nd Logo!

A Successful and Hilarious Reading of
Mirror Mates: A Two Faced Farce!

A Delicious New LionSnax Cake by Patrick Wenning!


Becomes an additional new LionSnax Logo!



May there be many, many more!

Thank You, All!
Bill

Sunday, May 1, 2011

The Unexpected Twist!

So…
...where to begin? Mirror Mates is a relentless high speed bullet train which needs to barrel down the tracks like a Kitty on Fire! (Okay that’s a bizarre metaphor but it makes sense when you see the show!) --So, we taped out the floor, staged it, and walked it all out (trotted & ran) through the course of the show as we read it! (No easy feat within limited union rules!) There’s a lot of action and a lot of craziness!


And since the last scene ramps up the insanity by adding a considerable tech, we decided that for clarity sake, we would stop the running, drag chairs to the edge of the stage, add some sound effects and finish the play as a “Radio-Theater” event! After all, understanding the story is the most important part of a play. So, this was the best of all possible worlds.


6pm actor call time… all is well. A little rehearsal, last minute details, cards, pay, gifts, edible arrangements, so on and so forth… things are good! One of the actors arrives later than the rest every day because of a job, but that is known… he arrives; all is well. 7:30pm the House opens. The audience starts to arrive; the actors mill about preparing. The audience sits, chats and settles in… most everyone arrives. Good! ~Good, good, good.


A few people still need to arrive to the 12th floor; the elevators are notoriously slow in this building… it’s to be expected… everyone arrives and finally the show begins. About 8:10… this is all within the realm of the normal course of events. Good.


We greet the audience, make a few announcements and at last the show begins… excellent. The first scene develops and the crowd starts to titter… they’re figuring it out… and before long the audience is up to speed, laughing hard and the show is barreling along. It’s going a little slower than Thursday’s rehearsal, but it’s really connecting with the crowd.


End of the first act! Large applause! It took an hour and thirteen minutes. Thursday took an hour and six minutes… okay, but they’re laughing a lot; that takes time. And we’re loving it. Intermission comes and goes and we launch into Act 2! It’s going great! -We’re on top of it, mostly. A few little line mishaps, and it’s clearly going a bit slower than Thursday, but it’s still really connecting. So, good. Good, good, good!


Again, the audience is howling! And we finally reach the moment where Johanna is suppose to come on stage and stop the action and tell the audience how we plan to play the end! And she does! But, I think adds a the words “We would have…” and I’m thinking: “What did she just say?” And then I hear something like: “But they close the building at 11pm sharp and we all have to leave.”


“What?!?! What?!?!? What the hell time is it?!?! She brings me back on stage and says something like: “Please, Bill, explain to them the rest of the show.”


Now, I’m a little stunned, and the audience is a little stunned but, clearly very eager to hear how it all wraps up. And I’m thinking: “I have no idea what happens next! ” Clearly a bit flummoxed, I start talking and Johanna joins in, and apparently we manage to explain the ending well enough that there is a huge round of applause, and impromptu bows, and the crew starts flying around me ripping tape up off the floor. “What the hell just happened?!”


But, I don’t think the audience is left wanting. They clearly seem very happy, a little stunned, but happy. And I’m not upset; I think it’s hilarious. This show, about crazy theater stories and odd human behavior suddenly has left me with another crazy theater story! (And some odd human behavior.)


But, clearly, I gained enough information from mounting this thing to know that it works really well. And I can see where the next round of editing and trimming needs to happen… and it is very close to ready for a big, full out production! I’m very excited for its’ future and can’t wait to get started! Whatever shape that takes!


So, ultimately, it was a great success!


And I Thank You! I Thank You All!


They’ll be more updates soon… we still need to know where to send some of your posters! We have some addresses, but not all. And they’ll be more details to wrap up… but this was an awesome journey and I am very pleased.


But for tonight… more sleep is needed.


Much Love to you all!


Bill, Colleen & Team LionSnax!


PS: I’m sure everyone in the room has a different version of what happened that night… so, if you’re up to it, please post and share your version of the events! And thank you for being there!!

Saturday, April 30, 2011

Amazing & Hilarious w/ an Unexpected Twist!


Friday Night's Staged Reading of Mirror Mates: A Two Faced Farce was Amazing and Hilarious, the audience roared with laughter throughout, but it ended with an Unexpected Twist that surprised everyone!

And, I'll tell you more about that later, tomorrow, today ~um, Sunday.

Because, Saturday, was filled with Family and Friends and food and festivities which all wound up with "The Book of Mormon!"  (Which was also Hilarious.)

So, right now it's pretty late... but I wanted to get the word out that, ultimately, the Mirror Mates Reading was a great success! ...except for a few things. (Which make me laugh.)


Goodnight for now... More soon,
Much Love & Gratitude,
Bill & Team LionSnax

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Don't worry...
It's just a quote from one of the characters!

Actually, they all say that at some point.

And it's a little how it feels putting this thing up in 29 hours (including the performance). That's all the union will allow.

But, ultimately, I believe it's going well.

YaY!

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!"

Much Love,
Bill & all the Mirror Mates!

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Thursday! ...and Other News.

So, it’s Thursday. ~Wait, Thursday?! How on earth did it get to be Thursday?

Goodness… it’s been a busy, busy week!  And even still, you might not read this ‘til Friday! And that’s one week before the reading… Yikes!

Thank God it’s going well!

Yes! Last Sunday’s first official rehearsal went great! Now we knew that 2 of our actors weren’t going to be able to make it… and in this play, 2 missing actors means 4 missing characters! So, it was, indeed, a challenge! However, they were original cast members from the Living Room reading we held last December; so, they know the show pretty well. Still, our 2 new performers surely would have benefitted from their theatrical input. But that is often the way these things go.

On the up side, we are dealing with a room full of pros; so, in the end it will be fine.

It just makes the middle… somewhat adventurous.

But that’s not why I’m writing! ~The reason I’m writing is to announce the LionSnax Theatricals Website! It is online and has a full listing of the Mirror Mates Cast and Crew! You’ll be able to check out all our Headshots and Biographies! It’s a very talented group.

I’m very excited.
 
You’ll also find The Kickstarter Backer List! If you're on it, please let me know if there are any typos or corrections needed in you listing.

You can also read about past shows and even “Like” us on Facebook!

It’s all there at
 
And just a reminder for those of you who are planning to come the Mirror Mates Staged Reading… it is for invited guests only. 


Soon, hopefully they'll be a full production to which we'll be able to sell tickets to everyone! But for now, you must be on the list!


This reading is being held on Friday, April 29th @ 8pm

Theater54 @Shetler Studios
244 W. 54th Street, 12th Floor, (Between Broadway & 8th Aves)
New York, NY 10019

Much Love,
Bill

 

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Conflicts & Headshots & Scripts! Oh My!

Once the casting process was complete it was time to move on to other tasks.


Conflicts!

First, we had to double check each actor’s conflicts against our potential “early” rehearsal schedule. And, a couple of actors came up with new conflicts… that they couldn’t avoid, so it was back to the scheduling drawing board. Johanna, Corey & I got together over burgers and a beer or 2, to reschedule. We selected 2 new dates and communicated these to the cast. Okay, good… handled… Next!

Headshots!

Some of the already cast actors still had not sent our stage manager digital versions of their headshots and bios for the website and the program. Why not? Actors get busy, yes, but so, do stage managers, and directors and producers who are all handling, 2 or 3 jobs, and auditions and other readings, etc. And, of course, sending out several requests is frustrating for a stage manager, and unduly delays thwart attempts of a DirWriterActor [TM] trying to complete a website and design a program on time. But as it turns out, the culprits are junk mail mailboxes and spam blockers! Some emails, need follow up phone calls, and texts, and reminders, indeed… frustrating, yes, but these things are all settling down and coming through. Okay, next!

Scripts!

So, I’ve got one last shot at cleaning up the script: removing typos, building slightly stronger character motivations, polishing up punch lines, etc. before taking the final PDF copy of the file to the printers for professional printing. A normal reading often uses music stands on which the actors can place the … WAIT, WHAT?!?! (I had just gotten a startling email.)

Oh My!

Uh-oh... One of our newly cast actresses has just sent me an email which she was loathe to write, but, her bank account gave her no choice. She had just been offered work that landed right on the date of our Mirror Mates reading! She had to take the job; (It paid really well.) so, she had to back out. Damn! She was wonderful in that role! Oh, my. Now what? … Of course, this kind of thing happens all the time… though it’s never really easy. So, I sent an email with the difficult news to our behind the scenes crew. And while I was still mourning the loss, Johanna, our director shot back an email, saying… what about that other actress – (who was also brilliant!) – but didn’t get cast for various reasons that had nothing to do with her talent! So, I got on the phone and called her agent, who, just happened to be someone we had been attempting with on another front, (but that’s another story) and before the morning was over, our wonderful actress, was replaced with another wonderful actress! Wow! It is not always that smooth! I feel very fortunate! Let’s hope that’s the end of the re-cast shuffle! We do indeed have a wonderful cast and I’m very excited for the Read!


...Okay, now, so, where was I? Scripts, yes! Scripts. Well… suffice it to say that the professionally, printed & bound scripts have come in and have been distributed to the cast & crew! Now they will be able to hold the thing with one hand while they read and “emote” with the other as they “run” circles around on the “set”!

(The “set” of course, is a taped out on the floor version of the stage diagram. You’ll see.)


Meanwhile… oops! Nevermind. Gotta Run! First rehearsal is this Sunday, April 17th!

Much to do! More soon…16 days to go!


Much Love!
Bill

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Official Art of the Two Faced Farce

Ron Spector's offical Poster Art for Mirror Mates: A Two Faced Farce has arrived! And I'm thrilled with it! Yesterday, Colleen and I took it to the printers and I've got to say, the printed final poster looks wonderful!


Great Job Ron!

Many Thanks & Much Love to You My Friend!
Bill

PS: the digital version is below:




Thursday, March 24, 2011

Mirror Mates Casting News!!!

So... Auditions!

When the numbers got all sorted out, we had 30 people scheduled to audition. As often happens with these things, several people cancelled last minute for various reasons: a flat tire, a missed subway …gainful employment, etc. So, by the end of the day we ended up seeing 20 performers.

A few of these performers, it seemed, had never acted in their lives. (They had credits so they must have performed somewhere.... but perhaps this was simply not their day.)

Most of the Auditionees, actually, were quite good! And a few were absolutely brilliant! These were polished performers who had done their homework and arrived at the audition with a clear understanding of the play. (Well, as clear an understanding as you can get from reading 10 to 20 pages of a script.)

The auditions of these brilliant performers caused us to laugh and laugh... and when we gave a few "adjustments" ...then we laughed some more... a lot more. They were simply hilarious!

In the room was Johanna Pinzler our director, Colleen Brown our Co-Producer and Justin Misenhelder, a wonderful actor who will be playing Matty/Mikey for our reading and, of course, me… I’ll be playing Rupert/Rayne in the reading as well.

Most of the scenes we read were group scenes so, Justin and I (and occasionally Colleen) read with them as Johanna watched. All work days should be such fun!

We were literally rolling on the floor laughing. Normally that's just an expression... but not on that day. ...On the Floor! (Just like you might see in a home for the chronically mentally ill.) ;-)

Most of our Auditionees commented that this was the most fun audition they had been to in a long, long time. We took this as a good sign, and we soon felt we had a wealth of choice.

The call back auditions were scheduled for Monday. “Callbacks” are a second confirming shot at reading scenes from the play, often with some new pages thrown in.

We made appointments with 6 of our best candidates… all of whom we felt could handle the material well and truly make it sing. And they did not disappoint! And by the end of the day, our best casting choices were quite clear to everyone in the room.

So, that night I made the necessary phone calls and made offers to our two best ladies. By the next afternoon both of these wonderful performers had accepted their roles in our show. They each expressed their excitement in joining us for the project and a certain delight in the material!

We are all quite thrilled that they will be joining us! They will round out our talented cast very nicely. Headshot and bios of our newly cast talent, and all of our performers, will soon be posted online, but for this moment, I wanted to share with you, our wonderful Kickstarter backers, that things with Mirror Mates: A Two Faced Farce are moving along very nicely, indeed.

More news soon!

Meanwhile...
Much Love,
Bill, Colleen & Team LionSnax

Thursday, March 10, 2011

Auditions Scheduled! & State of the Art ...biz.

Auditions for Mirror Mates have been scheduled for Wednesday, March 16th. Callbacks will be held on Monday, March 21st. Both days will be held at Shetler Studios on 54th Street.


The Stats Tell Quite the Tale:
667 Headshots have been submitted for our consideration
38 Actors have been selected and invited to audition
27 of whom have confirmed (so far) - This will increase
85% of that increased total will actually show up
20% of that 85% will likely be called back
All so we can cast 2 or maybe 3 actors...?
Let's hope we find the right ones!


And is this the state of the Art Biz?

In any event... it's gonna be fun!!

Just wanted to keep all our wonderful backers in the loop!

Much Love!
More Soon...

My Best to You,
Bill & Team LionSnax










Wednesday, March 2, 2011

470 headshot submissions in the 1st 18 hours... Wow.

So, a notice went out to the NYC acting community, yesterday, March 1st, for actors to submit headshots & resumes for our "Staged Reading" of "Mirror Mates: A Two Faced Farce" and within the first 18 hours we have received 470 Headshot/Resumes. ...and they're still coming in. 5 of the 8 roles are already cast; so, we're searching for actors to fill 3 roles. While this is incredible... and we're blessed with a wealth of choice, it also says quite a bit about how challenging this business can be and how much competition there is. I've included the "breakdown" below for you to see. And for those of you not already in it... Welcome to the business!

Much Love!
Bill & Team LionSnax


Tuesday, Mar. 1, 2011, 12:46 PM Pacific
MIRROR MATES: A TWO FACED FARCE - Staged Reading
AEA STAGED READING (Pending Approval)
VENUE: Theatre 54, Shetler Studios PAY RATE: $100.00 STIPEND

Writer/Producer: Bill Toscano
Co-Producer: Colleen Brown
Director: Johanna Pinzler
Stage Manager: Corey Phillips
Casting Director: Bill Toscano
1st rehearsal: 4/16/11 Final rehearsal: 4/27 Reading Dates: 4/28, 4/29

SUBMIT ELECTRONICALLY 4/1/11

MIRROR MATES is broad Farce: all roles are physically demanding. (Even a little in a reading) All ages welcome to submit for older roles as long as you can play the age. Older actors more than welcome as long as you can handle the physicality. (The reading will be much less physically demanding than a full out production.)

MIRROR MATES: A TWO FACED FARCE is set in two rooms, at different locations, placed side by side on stage. These rooms are surrounded by a myriad of hallways and doors which completely overlap. One location is a backstage dressing room in the crumbling musical playhouse called Maxie's Fabulous Dinner Theater. The other is an aging Rec Room in a home for the chronically mentally ill, called, Mega House. The inhabitances of these places are having a particularly difficult week. To double-up on the insanity, each actor in Mirror Mates doubles-up on the roles, playing one on each side, except the guy playing, Wiley. Wiley works in both places. He's the Day Shift Guy, serving up food, meds and advice to the challenging residents of Mega House, and he's just been crowned Emergency Stage Manager at Maxie's Fabulous Dinner Theater, again, where its residents are similarly challenged for entirely different reasons. What sounds complex turns simple, as an fun storyline winds through this whirling world, bouncing off its spinning halves, causing them to slowly crash into each other...at the speed of light. A Mega House quest for ice cream crash-lands backstage at Maxie's Fabulous Dinner Theater just in time for Opening Night!

Actively Casting:

[MAXIE/MAMIE] Maxie: (50s) Owner, Artistic Director, and Props Goddess of her own Dinner Theater. She vacillates between super loving & friendly and completely tyrannical. She's completely confident and totally insecure. Mamie: (60s-70s) a long term resident and Senile Dementia patient at Mega House. She's generally sweet and good natured, but excitable too, and seems have a background in theater. Many times, however, she not mentally present at all and goes catatonic. Breaks into song a lot.

[RUPERT/RAYNE] Rupert: (Late 50s) Long term Maxie’s actor. He's Maxie's former go-to leading man who's moving into character actor territory. Actually he's a bitter aging queen who's tired and having second thoughts about how he spent his life. He's re-examining his values and has integrity issues. Rayne: (Late 60s) a long term resident and permanent fixture of Mega House. He's an aging queen with psychological issues who seems to have run away from life. He's sarcastic, sardonic, nosy, bossy and always ready with a comment or quip, but he's not truly bitter, more self satisfied.

[ADRIANNE/ALICE] Arianne: (50ish) Long term Maxie's actor, who still occasionally still works the ingénue role. She's bright, witty, aging and still terribly cute, but harried and hassled and tired and sore. She's the mother figure in the dressing room who tells it like it is -whom everyone loves. Alice: (60-75) long term resident and very much a fixture at Mega House. She's an uptight, straight-laced, crazy old lady; a god-fearing, Pollyanna, seemingly straight off the frontier. She doles out unwanted, fear mongering advice and demands her say. She works the word Chooser as an accusation.

THE FOLLOWING ROLES ARE CAST BUT SEEKING HEADSHOTS/RESUMES FOR BACKUP/FUTURE PRODUCTIONS:

[WILEY] (One Character 2 Jobs) Wiley: (30s) Job 1 - frustrated actor who recently got roped into working as Maxie's the Emergency Stage Manager, again; he's excellent at it but would really rather act. Nice guy generally liked. He's worked there on and off for a couple of years. He's honest, hard working, sincere and fun. Wiley: (30s) Job 2 - The Day Shift Guy at Mega House, who serves up food, meds, and advice in a big brotherly sort of way. He's smart, fun and professional as possible under the circumstances. He's begun telling stories to the 2nd Lunch crew about happenings at the Theater.

[WALDO/WALLY] Waldo: (40s) ex-stoner, long term character actor at Maxie's, he also runs the bar end of the operation. Fast, loose, wild, fun always doing an accent or playing a character. He plays Uncle Feller in the show. He's very much off in his own very lively little world yet still seems very present while dealing with others. Wally: (20s) is a very enthusiastically earnest retarded child of eight or so who's chronologically in his mid twenties. Emotionally, fun and /or exasperating. He's a Mega House Resident who dreams of working at Maxie's. He'd love to act but would be happy as the Ice Cream Guy.

[WILLY/WOO] Willy: (20s-30s) The Dirwiteractor-[TM], directing his own musical version of Oklahoma at Maxie's, in which he's also starring. He's new to Maxie's world and he's having some trouble fitting in. Very much a pompous ass. Woo: (20s-30s) A new hire, about to start work at The Mega House as the Night Shift Guy. His full name is Wyatt Wookowski. He loves cooking and food in general. And he's a bit of psychological wild card.

[BOBBY/BOBBI] Bobby Jones (boy) (30-ish) strong character actor, surprising leading man, a power house of talent, and sexually appealing. He's protective, territorial, fun, nutty and a bit outrageous. He has become one of Maxie's strongest go-to actors. Bobbi Jones (girl) (Late 20s) A Relatively new resident of Mega House who's healing and doing reasonably well after a lifetime of suicidal tendencies dealing with a transgendered identity. She's shy, likable, nurturing.

[MATTHEW (X3) / MICHAEL (X3)] Matt, Matty, Mathew: (Mid 20s) a super twink character actor, chorus boy who's getting his first big role at Maxie's. He's been working the dessert cart for five years. He's moody and emotional, with three clear modes, which are so unconsciously apparent to those around him they call him by three different names: Matt, Matty & Matthew. Matt is the angry, sad, broken child. Matty is a kidlike, giddy hyper-optimist. Mathew is the grounded reliable realist who tries to get by. Mike, Mikey, Michael: (Mid 20s) a long term resident of Mega House with a split personality disorder. He's really an emotional question mark, with three clear divisions that have been labeled within the home: Mike, Mikey & Michael. Mike is the arrested adolescence of the classic moody teenager. Mikey is a giddy, twisted four year old, impersonation of Wally, who annoys his other self. Michael is the pessimistic realist who tries to get by.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Mirror Mates ~ Draft 3.1 is now Complete!

The 3rd Draft of Mirror Mates: A Two Faced Farce is now complete!
"Cheers, darling!"

"B & C" Characters have been bolstered and fleshed out!
Storylines get pulled through!
Loose ends are all tied up... 
And a lot of new punch lines have been added!


Pre-production for the Reading is moving along nicely.

Soon we'll:
Hold auditions for those few roles not yet cast!
Announce Production Folk who have been brought onboard!
Have the Final Poster artwork completed!
And be sharing much, much more!

Join the Blog & Keep Checking In!

Be in the Know...
Help the Show...
Here we Go!

Much Love,

Bill Toscano
Colleen Brown



Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Mirror Mates! ~Funding Successful! Thank You, ALL!

We Did It!
We have got the best Friends 'n Fans 'n Family!
Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!


Lots of News Soon!
Right now it's time to Celebrate!

Lots of Love!
Bill & Team LionSnax

5 hours to go! ~ 4... 3... to... one last minute @ 5:48pm!

5 hours... 4... 3... 2.... 
There's Still a Little Time!

Today's the Day!
Make It So!

Much Love!
Bill & Co...






Monday, January 31, 2011

121% funded 96 backers ~Spectacular!~ 21 Hours Left!

Wow!
I am so Honored!

Can we get to 100 backers?
Help us push it over the top!

To those who've donated already...
You Are Spectacular!
We Love You,
Bill

Sunday, January 30, 2011

117% Funded! 46 Hours Left! ~Tuesday 5:48pm! (EST)

Jump on the Bandwagon! We don't mind!
We'll love you just the same!

Donate Today!

And if you've donated already...
~Thank You!

Lot of Love,
Bill & Team LionSnax

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

90 Backers! 116% Funded! 5 Days left! ~Awestruck!

You People are Amazing!

And so it begins!
Production Meetings!
Union Rules!  Theater Spaces, Rehearsal Halls!   
So Far it's Going Well!

This City's Expensive! You can still help!
5 Days Left!

We can make it work!
Jump in! Join us!

Much Love!
Bill


Thursday, January 20, 2011

88 Backers! 113% Funded! 11 Days left! Are You Next?

If you've been thinking about donating...
Now's the time!
Join In!
A Million Thanks to Everybody Who's Donated Already!
Please Spread the Word!



Much Love!
Cheers,
Bill

Saturday, January 15, 2011

107%! ~Just 16 days left... ~Jump on the Band Wagon!

Awesome!
Come Join the Fun!

Every Donation Makes it a Little Bit Better!


Just 16 days left to jump in...
While the band plays on!

Many Thanks!
Bill




Thursday, January 13, 2011

GOOOOOOOOOOAL! 100% Funded! 19 Days Left!

This is Awesome! Amazing! Goooooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaal!!!
We made it! This thing is going to happen! And we still have 19 days left in the pledge drive!
Wow!


Thank You!
Much Love To You All!
Bill Toscano
& Team LionSnax



Wednesday, January 12, 2011

98% On the Verge! Many Thanks! One More PUSH!!

We are so close!
So many wonderful people to thank!
One More PUSH!


Of Course, We Don't Have to Stop at the Goal!
Keep it Going!
Much Love!
Bill

74 Backers! ~93% Funded! ...Getting Close ~Push!!!

74 Backers so far!   We are honored and grateful! 

Not that I could physically have any idea
what giving birth would be like,
but, still we gotta...

~Push!!


Breathe, Breathe, Breathe...
Ice Chips...

(That's how they do it on TV.)

Please help us push this baby out into traffic!
Donate to Mirror Mates!

Do it Now!
Doctors are standing by!

Much Love to You!
Bill Toscano, Colleen Brown & Team LionSnax


Monday, January 10, 2011

76%! We've broken the 3/4 mark! 77% ~Rally going on!

I am amazed and awestruck!

77% Funded  21 Days to Go!

Join the RallyNow!





Thank You!
Much Love,
Bill



Hopefully more updates soon!

@ 73%! 22 days left! Every bit helps! Stick your bits in!

Every Little Bit Helps!
Big Bits Help Too!
Please stick your bits in!

To all who've donated already!
Thank You! 
You Are Awesome!


We Love You Either Way!
But... Please Help if You Can!

Much Love!
Bill & Co...

Thursday, January 6, 2011