Great Job Ron!
Many Thanks & Much Love to You My Friend!
Bill
PS: the digital version is below:
LionSnax are tasty morsels of theatrical madness, raw, delicious, and done to perfection. Created by (or involving) Bill Toscano. ~Snax
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:
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
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!
Just wanted to keep all our wonderful backers in the loop!
Much Love!
More Soon...
My Best to You,
Bill & Team LionSnax
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.
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.
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