The Players Who Heard the Call

Auditions for the Darien Players fall show, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, began Monday evening. Director Dan Friedman has eight roles to cast in the production, a Neil Simon comedy inspired by the playwright’s youthful experience as a staff writer on Sid Caesar’s, Your Show of Shows.
 
The characters, all in their 20s and 30s, run the gamut from flamboyant womanizer, to Russian immigrant headwaiter, to alcoholic comedian; but at Monday’s audition, there was another eclectic cast of characters in the Visual Arts Studio: the performers themselves.

The auditions began at 7 p.m., and 16 aspiring actors heard the call. Each had his or her own story to tell; what they shared was the love of theater. If cast, they will undergo hours of rehearsals three times a week, plus eight performances—all without pay.
 
“I do it for the love of it,” said Vic Terenzio of Norwalk, a tile salesman who has twice appeared in Darien Players productions, playing the roles of Carlino in Wait Until Dark, and Ross in The Elephant Man. This time around, Terenzio hopes to capture the leading role of Max Prince, a brilliant comedian who struggles with drug addiction.

Dr. Brad Shwidock, a Stamford dentist, said his 12-year love affair with amateur theater provides a creative release and helps cure his stage fright. Shwidock said that his role of Billis in Stamford’s Curtain Call production of South Pacific stripped him of his inhibitions—literally. After his run in South Pacific, Shwidock traded in the crazy wig and coconut shell brassiere he donned as Billis, to perform nude in Frankie and Johnnie.

Director Friedman, Development Director of Villa Maria Education Center, a school for children with learning disabilities in Stamford, is a member of the Darien Players Board. He said he is “hyper-driven” by his love of the backstage elements of theater.
 
At Monday’s audition, Friedman had each of the actors read through different roles from the Laughter on the 23rd Floor script. Revealing no emotion, he observed each performer with penetrating concentration.

Friedman said while auditions are always competitive, many of the actors know one another from earlier productions and support each other through the process.
 
Nicole Whitney of Westport and Melissa Schleier of Norwalk gave each other a hug, before joining the audition to compete for the two female roles.
 
Whitney, 25, made her theatrical debut last summer at Westport Community Theatre in Don’t Drink the Water. During the day, she does research and development for a tea company in Fairfield.
 
Schleier, 26, who works at Anthropologie in Greenwich, volunteers as director of an improvisational theater workshop for teens at Silver Hill.

“It’s the only program there that brings out laughter,” she said.
   
Friedman said he will cast the show within the next few days, and rehearsals will begin shortly thereafter. Opening night, October 30, will inaugurate the 30th anniversary season of the Darien Players, and the productions look ambitious.

Frank Gaffney will direct Picnic, by William Inge for six weekend evening performances and two matinees in January. The play is about six women who find their lives distracted and disrupted by the appearance of a certain young man in their lives.

Ivan Turgenev’s classic, A Month in the Country, directed by Jeanine DeFalco, fills the bill in March. The Russian play revolves around the loves and manipulations of Natalya Petrovna, who has become bored with her husband and competes with her lovely young ward Vera, for the affections of her son’s dashing 21-year-old tutor.
 
An Agatha Christie thriller, Go Back for Murder, closes the season with six weekend and two matinee performances in May. Joel Fenster will direct the murder mystery that has Carolyn Crale dying in prison 15 years after supposedly poisoning her husband, all the while proclaiming her innocence.
 
Whether you’re a drama buff or a theatre novice, all are encouraged to audition. The Darien Arts Center offers plenty of opportunities to get involved, and share your talent with the community. From the box office to the lighting booth and back to the stage, volunteers are always welcome and training is available for all interested.

Auditions for Laughter on the 23rd Floor continue Tuesday, 7 p.m., at The Visual Arts Studio, behind the Town Hall.