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Dickens Christmas Fair 2007 October Missive #4
(sent October 26th, 2007)

Hi everyone,

We have so much information this week that there will be two missives! Robert Young has taken over scheduling the workshops (and rehearsals at the school) for me this year,  (Thank You Robert!) and has almost completed this very complicated and rather arduous task. As soon as it's done, I'll send out the workshop missive.

As a reminder, workshops start at 10:00AM with the big morning meeting, on Saturday November 3rd at the Sunset Ridge Elementary School, 340 Inverness Dr. Pacifica, CA 94044  Here's a map Click here for map

In the mean time...

In This Missive:
Want to Help With Publicity?
Costermonger Auditions
Broadside Music Hall is Looking For An Ingenue
Inspector Pearce's Mystery Adventure Tours is Casting
Annie Lore Has Hoops and Hair Again!
Book Character Auditions
The "Other Books" Have Added Some More Available Characters


Want to Help With Publicity?
Denise Lamott is once again working on publicity and she need your help. Last year she created a questionnaire which we posted so you could download and return a completed copy to her easily and quickly. The information was very helpful in garnering stories on Dickens Fair performers in local papers.  I have posted this year's questionnaire on the missives page at http://www.cattaylor.com/missives.html, please download, complete it and return it to Denise at lamoore1@verizon.net at your earliest convenience.


Costermonger Auditions
If you are character actor, and like to interact with the audience, we have a place for you in the Costermongers!  We are the working poor, the deserving poor (snicker, snicker, nudge, nudge).  Come join our auditions on the first day of workshops.  It will be right after workshops, and I will announce where at morning meeting.
Paula Christensen


Broadside Music Hall is Looking For An Ingenue
Halloween 2007.  Early evening.  Oakland. Broadside Music Hall is looking for an ingenue -- a woman aged 21-30 and we may be looking for a couple of good men.   If you're interested in auditioning please contact Tanya at broadsidemusichall@gmail.com


Inspector Pearce's Mystery Adventure Tours is Casting
The Mystery Tour is 3 part interactive show in which guests are led throughout the fair by a police inspector and engaged to participate in solving a crime mystery. In each of the three parts, guests are led to certain locations where they discover clues, encounter characters and observe staged events taking place. The mystery builds over the course of the three chapters, which are approximately 20 minutes long and are performed once each day. To describe this attraction in Dicken's Fair Terms, it is like a series of elaborate gigs, strung together by a plot, and played out for an audience that literally follows and interacts with the scenes.
 
If you are interested in playing a character, contact the writer/director/tour leader, Maimone Attia (Inspector Pearce) at (510) 978-6450 or maimoneattia@gmail.com.
 
Below are the characters I'm casting for:

Daniel Good: Low-class, hard-edged, cockney speaking villain, 20-30 years old.
Lord Trenchard: Sinister, corrupt nobleman with diabolical schemes. 40-60 years old.
Annie: Good-hearted prostitute who fell from middle class into the gutter. The inspector's former girlfriend. 20s-40s.


Annie Lore Has Hoops and Hair Again!
Annie Lore Has Cheap Hoops and Hair Again!
Hi folks-- Annie here, with the usual. Order your hoops early; Janice the hoopmaker needs to know what materials to stock up on, since she makes the stuff to order. These hoops don't exist till I can tell her what you want! Last year's Hoop Menu should still be good; let me know if you need the Menu sent, and there will be copies at workshops, though I won't be there myself this year except maybe Dress Weekend if there's a lot to deliver. As to hair, I've actually stocked up on a few things so they can be grabbed without waiting for a new order from WigAmerica. If you already know your color and style you can order ahead, and the wig company has pretty fast turnaround. For those new to what's available, I'm making up a Wig Menu with pictures of the most popular pieces for Dickens styles, such as the Dolly wig (large sausage curls) the Elka and Collette hairpieces (loads of bouncy smaller sausages) and the Farrah wig (huge mass of curls, can be styled into sausages). You'll be able to get the Wig Menu at workshops, and I'm doing it as a Word document so I can send it as an email attachment. There are various options for delivery of hoops and hair that can be arranged. Contact me at ImminentIdea@aol.com if you want to be properly big and properly hairy for cheap!


Book Character Auditions
Book Character auditions will be held directly after workshops, at 2:45pm. The location will be on the workshop schedule available shortly.


The "Other Books" Have Added Some More Available Characters
The "Other Books" cast is dedicated to bringing Dickens astonishing range of characters to vivid life and populating the streets of London with their special, multitudinous magic.
 
There are no small roles in Dickens, and every one of these roles is guaranteed to offer all the scenery one can chew, plus enormous opportunities for audience and participant interaction.  Help keep the Dickens in Dickens Fair!
 
Nicholas Nickleby
Smike - Nicholas' loyal yet physically debilitated sidekick in his adventures.
Charles Cheeryble - Force of nature and formidable philanthropist.
Edwin (Ned) Cheeryble - The same (his twin).
Frank Cheeryble - Incredibly high spirited and well-meaning nephew (Kate Nickelby's love interest). 
Henry Wittiterly - Sensitive and upright spouse of Mrs. W.
Mrs. Julia Wittiterly - Painfully aesthetic and sensitive spouse of Mr. W. - very conscious of her ornamental place in society.
Alphonse (Bill) - their sullen page
Tim Linkinwater - Cheeryble Brothers longtime clerk, a lion albeit no longer young.
Mr. Scaley - Repo man.
Mr. Tix - Repo man
 
David Copperfield
David Copperfield - the quintessential Dickens male ingenue: earnest, ambitious, and idealistic
Uriah Heep - unctuous, ambitious clerk to Mr Wickfield and David's nemesis
Dan Peggotty - Clara Pegotty's gruff, large-hearted, salt o' the earth brother (and man o' the sea)
Li'l Emily - Beautiful young woman doomed to a life of sin by her ambition.
Rosa Dartle - Mysterious and dark young woman of society.
 
Great Expectations
Joe Gargery - Kindly, self-effacing blacksmith and father figure to Pip in his childhood
Abel Magwich - Ex-felon. Pip's secret benefactor.
 
Our Mutual Friend
Nicodemas "Noddy" Boffin - The "golden dustman," jolly working class gentleman made rich by a stroke of good fortune.
Bella Wilfer - One of the female protagonists of the book, she is a lively, tart-tongued and beautiful victim/beneficiary of capricious fortune,
Rogue Riderhood - "Colourful dockside character," and scoundrel of the first water.
"Fascination" Flegby - A deceptively mild-mannered young man about town, associate of the Lammles. 
 
Little Dorritt
Amy "Little" Dorrit - Young, serious woman - the "industrious little fairy" around whom the story turns
Arthur Clennam - Long-suffering, poetically morose gentleman (early middle age - Mrs. Finching's former fiance). 
Daniel Doyce - Indefatigable inventor and entrepreneur, the "Spirit of the Age" made manifest
Pancks - Man of business to a benign tyrant, a snorting tugboat of a man.
 
Martin Chuzzlewitt (only casting English, NOT American)
Mr. Pecksniff - An ambitious upper middle-class gentleman with a strong hypocritical streak (among his other carefully covered-up vices). 
Mercy "Merry" Pecksniff - The younger Miss Pecksniff, lively to the point of pertness, the "pretty one"
Charity "Cherry" Pecksniff -   The elder Miss Pecksniff, very proper on the surface, the "smart one"
Martin Chuzzlewit (the elder) - Rich and cantankerous old gentleman.
Tom Pinch - Martin's preternaturally cheery and optimistic (to the point of delusion!) friend, and dogsbody to the Pecksniffs 
Montague Teague (Tig Montague) - Boisterously flamboyant con man.
Chevvy Slime - Oily, ne'er-do-well distant relation of the Chuzzlewitt clan
Mrs. Todger - Very proper, very nervous, very Dickensian landlady.
Young Bailey - The Todgers' bootblack a clever, witty, jocular boy, wise beyond his years.
 
Note: If you have played a specific role with us in the past and see it on this"Wish List", it means that you have either not let us know you were still with us, that you indicated that you might not be able to work this fair, or at some point indicated that you were considering relinquishing the role. Feel free to contact Therese and Rydell if you have questions or concerns.

Everyone else, see if there's anything that looks promising and consider auditioning for it.  If you have a favourite Dickens character that you would like to play, contact us to discuss.  It may not be available but we might have something equally fun in our bag of tricks.


To sign up for the missives, please email missives@redbarnproductions.org, and request to be added to the missive list.


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