Characters Needed

Hello All!
I've added a page with the character descriptions for the show, updated to reflect those roles we're still working hard to cast in the next week or so.  Please see the new Character Descriptions link in the right hand column to see whether you or a friend or family member might be able to help us out!
Katie

Casting Update!

Hello Everyone! 
I'm happy to report that we're finally pushing ahead with rehearsals for The Secret Garden on Monday! We've spent the past week recruiting actors to fill out our cast following the low turn-out at open auditions and are now feeling more optimistic about the production moving forward. THAT SAID, WE ARE STILL IN NEED OF ADULTS AND HIGH SCHOOLERS WHO CAN LEND THEIR SINGING TALENTS!  We have a small handful of roles yet to be cast and we have room in the chorus for folks who are willing to help but are reluctant to take on anything more than background singing. You are all valued and needed in this production! Please Facebook message or e-mail me at katiewojtalewicz@gmail.com if you're willing to volunteer! I'm happy to address any questions about scheduling conflicts or explain the roles we need.
Thanks!
Katie

It's Not Too Late!

We've still got some parts to fill for The Secret Garden before we can begin rehearsing.  If you missed try-outs earlier in the week but might be interested, contact me at katiewojtalewicz@gmail.com or through our Facebook page to set up a time to audition in the coming week.  I'm also happy to answer any questions you may have before committing.  As long as you're available during the week of performances, we're prepared to work around scheduling conflicts.  It's a great show, but we can't put it on without you!

Top Ten Reasons You Should Audition!

10.  You need a creative outlet.

Unless you happen to be a music or art teacher, your job probably requires a lot of left-brain thinking. Perhaps you spend much of your work day crunching numbers or assembling parts or filing paperwork. Singing in the shower might not be cutting it. You find yourself telling stories of the "glory days" when you starred in your high school production or got that solo in church. It's time to create new stories and find that balance in your life again.

9.  Your coworkers and neighbors will be awestruck by your secret talents.

Sure, your family members are already your biggest fans and your friends know you can do a mean karaoke, but do the other people in your life know the tricks you have up your sleeve?  There's nothing quite like having your mind blown when you see your family dentist or favorite waitress singing and acting up there on the stage.

8.  You can help foster an appreciation for the arts in your community.

You're a regular patron of the arts and show your support for local businesses and organizations in town. You've even donated money to non-profits or political causes that matter to you. But here's where it gets tricky. We literally need you. All the audience support in the world can't cast a production from thin air. We rely on local talent like you to create the kind of show we can all be proud of.

7.  You don't have to be a triple threat to be an asset in a small-town production.

Sometimes you have mixed feelings about living in a small town, but here's one decided advantage: you can be cast in an amateur theater production as long as you can carry a tune (in the case of a musical) or memorize some lines. The larger the community or school, the more likely it is that you will face tougher competition for a role. In fact, many large towns and cities opt out of open auditions for community theater productions and instead rely on semi-professional regional actors to fill out their cast.

6.  You like hanging out in air-conditioned buildings during the hottest weeks of summer.

I mean, come on. It's going to get hot out there come July. We both know you'd like to spend those humid evenings in the comfort of our air-conditioned Little Theater.

5.  You want an excuse to spend time with your family.

Maybe your kid is about to head off for college. Or maybe they're returning home for the summer. Perhaps you want the chance to bond with your teenager or parent doing something you both love. Maybe you've never thought to try out for a play but your spouse has been participating for years. Some of my fondest family memories have roots in community theater--it was a place our busy lives seemed to intersect in the summers. During the 2001 production of South Pacific, the Mankato Free Press even did a cool article featuring the familial nature of community theater in St. James.

4.  You want to meet new people and be part of a "theater family."

You've wanted an excuse to reconnect with old friends. You're new to town and could use an opportunity to meet like-minded people. You wouldn't mind a break from your real family (in which case, ignore #5)! Community theater offers the unique chance to be part of something bigger than yourself while forming lasting bonds. As the Von Trapp family bravely trekked through the mountains (up the theater aisles) in 1992's production of Sound of Music, you would have been tempted to credit the seven children as impressive actors for their ability to cry on cue. In reality, we were all weepy on closing night because we had grown attached to one another and were reluctant to see it end.

3.  You would like a decent part in a play but are reluctant to overcommit yourself.

In many musical productions, there are two levels of casting. Leading roles or chorus extras. While The Secret Garden has plenty of opportunities for both, this play also offers a rarely-seen third category, known as "The Dreamers." These nine named characters serve a special purpose in the production by acting as narrators to the story. Each has no more than a few spoken lines to deliver but they sing in most of the musical numbers--sometimes as an ensemble, sometimes with additional chorus, and sometimes in a verse or two of their own. Added bonus for those who prefer their roles to be low-maintenance--they're ghosts, so you won't have to worry about a costume change.

2.  You often say "maybe next year" but know deep down that there may never be a perfect time.

You've been tempted to try out but talk yourself out of it every summer because you're not sure you can swing it. I understand. I have a day job, too. Maybe you really will be in a better position to join a production in a year or two. But it's hard to predict the future. Life happens. People move, babies are born, jobs change, the unexpected hits. So if you've been on the fence for awhile, now might be as good a time as any. We're reasonably flexible and don't need you to put your life on hold to join us.

1.  You'd like to become a part of the storied history of St. James Community Theater!

Great!  I'm glad you finally came around. History will be lucky to have you! See you at try-outs at the St. James H.S. Little Theater this Monday or Tuesday evening. See here for more details and remember to e-mail me if you need a different night to audition.

A Place of Our Own

Even good kids seem to be conspirators at heart. There's something to be said for adventuring into the unknown--testing the limits, breaking the rules even slightly in the hope that we'll find our own secret spot in the world.  For many of us, this was an actual place we built or discovered with friends. Sometimes an abandoned-looking house or lot would suffice, whereas others had the help of a grown-up to make them a legitimate tree fort or clubhouse where they could gather.

I became fixated on the clubhouse in my Berenstain Bears book, No Girls Allowed. I tried to sell my dad on the idea of building me the same elaborate fort but he decided to spend his time making houses for adults instead. (Lame.) In any case, I was pretty good at improvising forts on clotheslines and in garages. Couch cushions could always be put to good use in a friend's basement.

But just as important as the physical space was the creation of the club itself. I've started a few in my day, usually following a theme of alliteration (Busy Bees Club, Krazy Kids Klub--I know, I know). I don't recall membership being anything more exclusive than simply showing up, though there was always one important rule that must be observed: NO ADULTS! Not actually because we were doing something that would get us in trouble (unless rollerskating and making fortune tellers was against the law) but because we lived in a world run by adults and we wanted a place that truly felt like ours alone.

The story of The Secret Garden is very true to this theme. The main character, Mary Lennox, becomes enamored with the idea of finding the secret garden once she learns that it's hidden away on the grounds somewhere and she's explicitly told not to search for it. Once she does finally discover it, the garden becomes a very special place--one she is responsible for bringing back to life, one untouched by the adults who busy themselves with other grown-up matters, one that allows her to connect to nature and to her friends and to herself. Whether we seek out these sorts of special places because we need the escape or we simply want somewhere to be inspired, there seems to be an almost universal appeal amongst children. It should come as little surprise, then, that some of the most beloved characters from children's literature--Pippi Longstocking, Anne of Green Gables, Huckleberry Finn--are driven by this same mischief and wonder, and ultimately, the desire to belong. I'll leave you with the words of Mary Lennox (our favorite literary adventurer), as she sings in "The Girl I Mean to Be":

I need a place where I can go

Where I can whisper what I know

Where I can whisper who I like

and where I go to see them.

I need a place where I can hide

Where no one sees my life inside

Where I can make my plans

and write them down--so I can read them.

A place where I can bid my heart be still,

and it will mind me

A place where I can go when I am lost

and there I'll find me.

I need a place to spend the day

Where no one says to go or stay

Where I can take my pen and draw 

the girl I mean to be.

Auditions Poster

Official auditions posters for The Secret Garden will be going up around St. James in the coming days. Spread the word to the singers/actors in your life and encourage them to try out.  Special thanks to Joe Wojtalewicz for the beautiful pen and ink artwork!

Behind the Musical Adaptation

How's this for an interesting coincidence? The musical version of The Secret Garden made its Broadway debut on April 25, 1991, at the St. James Theatre. Yes, you read that correctly. Of course it was in New York, not rural Minnesota, but I choose to think it was serendipitous. Based on the 1911 novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden musical was a collaboration between writer and lyricist, Marsha Norman, and songwriter Lucy Simon (Carly Simon's older sister, for those of you with memories of the sixties). The production ran on Broadway for a total of 709 performances and closed January 3, 1993. The show won several Tony awards in 1991--"Best Book of a Musical," "Best Scenic Design," and "Best Featured Actress in a Musical," which went to Daisy Eagan for her portrayal of Mary Lennox. Eagan was the youngest female recipient of a Tony Award, as she was only 11 years old at the time. Also rounding out the original Broadway cast were actors Rebecca Luker (Lily), Robert Westenberg (Neville), John Babcock (Colin), Alison Fraser (Martha), John Cameron Mitchell (Dickon), and Mandy Patinkin (Archibald). The award-winning set was designed to resemble an enormous Victorian toy dollhouse:

While the Broadway production is mostly faithful to Burnett's original story, there are a few notable differences between the novel and the musical it inspired. The book focused much of its attention on Mary and her relationship to Dickon, Martha, and Colin. This continues to be an essential part of the musical adaptation, but Norman chose to develop the adult characters further by exploring the complex emotional themes and creating more of a backstory for them. This effort led the playwright to change some of the familial connections--choosing to make Mary's mother, rather than Mary's father, the sibling to Archibald's wife Lily (who is actually named Lilias in the book). In the book, Colin's doctor is portrayed as a distant cousin of Archibald who's mostly a tertiary character, whereas the musical casts Dr. Craven as Archibald's jealous brother in order to add a greater sense of conflict and tension to the story. 

The musical production of The Secret Garden is licensed by Samuel French and has a cast of approximately 24 named characters. In addition to its nine lead and supporting roles, the play makes use of a cast of nine or so "Dreamers," described by the playwright as "people from Mary's life in India, who haunt her until she finds her new life in the course of this story. They are free to sing directly to us, appearing and disappearing at will." These are Mary's family, friends, and servants who died during the cholera epidemic in India, and they act as ghosts of a Greek chorus, narrating the action and moving the story along. 

The original Broadway production boasts 28 songs, as well as a number of short, transitional numbers performed by various "Dreamers" between scenes. For a full list of the songs, including which characters perform them and where in the storyline they occur, you can check out the Wikipedia page. The music ranges from gothic ("The House Upon the Hill," "I Heard Someone Crying") to tender ("A Girl in the Valley," "Race You to the Top of the Morning") to heart-wrenching ("Where In the World," "How Could I Ever Know") to playful ("Show Me the Key," "Wick") to healing ("Hold On," "Come to My Garden"). Though it's hard to pick a favorite, the duet between Archibald and Neville, "Lily's Eyes,"  is largely considered to be the most memorable and moving piece from the show. If you'd like to purchase a copy of The Secret Garden Original Broadway Cast Recording, you can download the album here or order a copy of the CD here. Then stock up on tissues--you're going to need them...

Why The Secret Garden?

When I was around ten, my parents gave me a beautiful illustrated edition of The Secret Garden. I had always loved reading, but most of the books I'd devoured up until that point had "Babysitter's Club" in the title and were forgotten almost as quickly as I had finished them. There was something different with The Secret Garden. To this day, it remains one of the only novels I've returned back to again and again. In the years that followed, I would faithfully dig it out at the end of the long winter, hungry to revisit the awakening garden and remind myself of the promise of spring. Interestingly, when I ask people if they've read The Secret Garden, I usually get one of two answers--either they've never heard of it or it's one of their favorite books from childhood. I'd love to hear what the book meant to you in the comments section below!

Though it was written in 1911 and read by generations of kids by the time it got to me (my own mother read the book as a child after her mother recommended it to her), The Secret Garden enjoyed a renaissance in 1987 when the copyright expired and publishers released multiple editions of the book, introducing many new readers for the first time. This resurgence led to several film adaptations, as well as the Broadway musical in 1991. By 1992, The Secret Garden was playing at the Ordway in St. Paul and my parents brought me to see it just in time for my 13th birthday. I was immediately smitten. To this day, I have only met one other person (aside from my parents) who has seen the musical version of The Secret Garden. Most people have no idea it even exists in this form.  Despite winning several Tony awards, it simply fell out of public consciousness after a few years and seems to have become as much a "secret" as its namesake. Lucky for you, that's about to change! In an effort to introduce you to a few of the beautiful, haunting songs from The Secret Garden, below is a video clip taken from the 1991 Tony Awards. Introduced by none other than Julie Andrews, the following offers a glimpse into the Broadway production. In the coming days, check back for more discussion of both the novel and the musical itself.  Enjoy!