Last night was the last meeting of 2007-08 Interstate 73.  We missed Ken (we drew a little portrait of him on the piece of paper that Krista is holding).  From left to right: Kara Corthron, Kristen Palmer, Krista Knight (Ken Lin - in absentia and held by Krista and J), J. Holtham, Andy Bragen. 

We’ll miss these guys.  (And thanks, Krista, for this brilliant brainchild.)

The readings happened. I think everyone (Tommy and Andy) was happy with them. We really lucked out with the casts for the readings. Mia Barron, Adam Dannheisser, Barrett Doss, Mary Jane Gibson, John Rolle and Brian Hutcheson were in The Wife. Michael Chernus, Zabby Guevara, Dick Latessa, Marsha Mason, Paul O’Brien and Brenda Wehle were in Mother Earth. Thank you, Zoe Rotter (for The Wife) and Daniel Swee (for Mother Earth). We really do think that casting directors are lifesavers.

We’re working with Zoe again on a second reading of The Wife. The reading is going to be probably in the second week of March. Tommy and May (Adrales) have asked that the cast meet for a couple of hours of rehearsal in the morning; they’re then going to present a reading to a very small invited audience in the afternoon. Tommy wants to gauge initial audience reaction. The play is dark dark dark. It’s quiet and funny at first (after the first reading, one of the actors emailed us to tell us that she thought the play was “Pinter-esque”). But then it takes a turn and becomes fairly dark. (By the way, the blurry camera photo on the left shows Tommy’s back, May’s profile and Barrett in mid-reading.)

Of course, we’re still hoping that Renee Zellwegger agrees to star in it when it’s produced on Broadway.

By the way, this totally depressed us.  The first few paragraphs reminded us of that profile in the Arts & Leisure section of The New York Times about struggling artists in the New York City Off-Off-Broadway scene.  Nothing like a good cheer-me-up on a gloomy February afternoon.

Blogging is tough. It requires dedication and time.  And, lately, we’ve been short on time.  In addition to board meetings and grant writing, we’ve been casting two readings.  Readings baffle us.  Producing a reading is a pain, but casting a reading is the worst. 

We’ve come up with a haiku, celebrating the hard work and tenacity of the two casting directors who have been working on these readings (The Wife by Tommy Smith, directed by May Adrales; Mother Earth by Andy Bragen, directed by Jackson Gay).  Really, the following haiku is dedicated to all casting directors who, as far as we’re concerned, are the unsung heroes of this business:

Angie, Gwyneth, Reese,
Emma, Meryl, Cate and Madge —  
They do theater, no?