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Dickens Christmas Fair 2007 November Missive #1
(sent November 1st, 2007)

Hello everyone,

Please tell your friends to add this address to their approved list in their spam filters, I'm getting a lot of bounce notices and can't email them directly to tell them.

We've had some changes in the schedule for the weekend, as we knew we would, and the new schedules and course descriptions are available on the missives page at http://www.cattaylor.com/missives.html One of the fun additions is that Will Wood has come onboard to teach projection - welcome Will!


In This Missive:
No Food in the School Rooms, Please
Desperately Seeking Bob Cratchit
Help Keep the Dickens in Dickens Fair!
Christmas Keepers
Illusionist Robert-Houdin Seeks Young Assistant
Inspector Pearce's Mystery Adventure Tours
Adventurer's Club Roles Available
Help Us Promote the Fair!
Cheap Hoops & Hair at the Rummage Sale!
Need a Ride to Dickens Workshops or Fair? Can You Offer One?
Available Roles in The "Other Books"


No Food in the School Rooms, Please
Please remember that we are using this lovely school by their graces and need to abide by their rules. Do not take food into the school - food & drinks in cafeteria and courtyard only. Thanks.


Desperately Seeking Bob Cratchit
The cast of A Christmas Carol is desperately seeking a Bob Cratchit. If you are interested, please sign up for auditions this weekend. The auditions will start at 2:45 at the location on the workshop schedule. You can sign up for an audition time at Are 51. A Christmas Carol also needs:

Solicitor #2
Fred's sister-in-law #1
Fred's sister-in-law#2
Peter Cratchit
Two youngest Cratchits (1 boy 1 girl)
 
Wanted:
Schoolboy Scrooge
Little Fan Scrooge
Joe the Fence
Turkey Boy
 

Help Keep the Dickens in Dickens Fair!
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.  The cast is involved in intensive improvisational theatre as well as scene work, and near constant interaction with the denizens of Dickens' London and our visitors.
 
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. 
 
We will be auditioning in the period after workshops on the first day of workshops only.  Please be prepared to audition for an actual Dickens character. 

Note: The list of available roles in The "Other Books" cast is at the bottom of this missive.


Christmas Keepers
If you are new and uncertain of what you want to do at Dickens Fair, you may wish to consider joining the Christmas Keepers - a group developed specifically for newcomers to help spread the seasonal merriment while discovering their niche in Dickens London.  This weekend's meeting location and time will be announced at the morning meeting.


Illusionist Robert-Houdin Seeks Young Assistant & Musical Accompaniment
Illusionist Robert-Houdin is seeking a  10 - 12 year old boy for magic act in V & A. -  J. Paul Moore formerly many things, will be re-creating the character of Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin.  (He is the father of Modern Magic, and the performer from whom Houdini took his name)  In addition to magic tricks, Robert-Houdin did a mentalist act called "Second Sight"  in which his son Emil would name differnt objects handed to his father by audience members.  If you are interested in playing Emil, contact J. Paul at: jpaulmoore@msn.com. - 2, perhaps 3 shows daily.
 
Also Seeking  Exotic, ethereal, improvisational or set music.  Perhaps violin and oboe.  perhaps a percussionist as well.
 
All performers need to be already with the Fair, approved, workshoped and generally ready to go.


Inspector Pearce's Mystery Adventure Tours
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.


Adventurer's Club is Seeking Characters
Please see Mike Smith this weekend, he will announce where and when to meet him at the Morning Meeting.

Charles Darwin – 1868ish; white beard, recognizable as C. Darwin.
Hablot “Phiz” Brown - Dickens’ illustrator
Benjamin Disraeli – Statesman
Augustus Egg – Painter
Charlotte  Brontë – Writer


Help Us Promote the Fair!
Our promotions person, Denise Lamott is  still looking for good story ideas and would like to hear from you. The  promotions questionnaire is posted at http://www.cattaylor.com/DCF%20Publicity%20Sheet%202007.doc
so you can download and return a completed copy to her easily and quickly. If you have any difficulties downloading the file, please contact Denise directly at lamoore1@verizon.net and she will send it to you in the body of an email. If you just have good promotional ideas, please contact her. (She is unfortunately unable to join us at workshops this weekend.)


Cheap Hoops & Hair at the Rummage Sale!
By popular demand, Annie Lore will be at the Rummage Sale this weekend on SUNDAY ONLY to take hoop and wig orders, match hair, and sell what wigs she has on hand. Wigs get in from the wholesaler very quickly with few exceptions, but hoops are made to order by hand locally and take time, so don't wait too long or you may not have your new piece by Opening. The new Wig Menu is now available and will be set out with the Hoop Menu and other useful literature on the registration table. You can have these sent to you as attachments by contacting Annie Lore at ImminentIdea@aol.com. 


Need a Ride to Dickens Workshops or Fair? Can You Offer One?
Check out http://tribes.tribe.net/ride2share4dickens. Yes, you have to join Tribe.net to post, but there's lots of us there.


Available Roles in The "Other Books"
(see audition information above)
Nicholas Nickleby
Smike - Nicholas' loyal yet physically debilitated sidekick in his adventures.
Mrs Nickelby - Bubbly, dithery, nattering mother of Kate and Nicholas
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.



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