We're goin to Chapel THRILL!

Hey ladies and gents,

Christine here-- the director of the education program, otherwise known as The UnderGround Project, in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Every year, Ground UPers make a trip down to The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the alma mater of the majority of the company members, to produce a play fully cast and crewed by undergrads and mentored by us.

Well, it's that time of year again! After reuniting from all corners of the country (New York, LA) we will spend the weekend holding auditions for this year's show: Richard Greenberg's Three Days of Rain. We are so excited about this show. It fits what we were looking for to a tee: The intimate cast is comprised of 2 men and 1 woman, it's modern, and it deals with interesting issues: family, death, secrets, selfishness vs. selflessness, etc... All those human things that we love.

Here's how the weekend will work:

On Friday, we'll have an interest meeting for everyone who wants to audition and everyone who's interested in being involved technically. That will be at 5 pm in room 102.

Then, on Friday evening, our Artistic Director, Kate Middleton, will lead a talkback after a production of company member Catya McMullen's original play. GO Catya!

Auditions will be held from 11am- 4 pm on Saturday, where actors can bring in a 1-2 minute monologue. We may also have them read sides form the script.

Callbacks will be on Sunday from 11am-1 pm. After the show is cast, Ground UP will take the new cast out to coffee and discuss the details for the summer!

On Tuesday evening, one of our North Carolina patrons is throwing us a party. This is the first time this has ever happened and we are so honored!

It will be a full, hectic, thrilling few days, and it will start off the most exciting time of the year for us. Our education program is what truly sets us apart as a New York theatre company. We take tremendous pride in being able to give back a little something to the place that gave us so much....

Stay tuned for cast info!

Christine

The 2011 Reading Series, by Guy

Hello blogoshere,

We have just completed the 2011 Ground UP, From the Ground UP reading series!

4 weeks
3 plays
1 musical
4 stage managers
4 directors
7 mus
ic stands
2 producers (me and Seth Shelden)
5 stools
10 cases of beer
16 bags of ice
2 cases of Cheerwine


Each play surprised me, and I'll tell you how and why.

Week 1: Falling in Like by Jerry Sipp
This is an example of exactly why we do the series. There was something about this play on paper. We couldn't put our finger on it. It was solid, but how would it play in front of an audience. The answer is, it plays amazingly well. It has a charm about it that recalls Neil Simon (and that's high praise coming from me.) It's quippy, fast, and a ton of fun. And so many great performances.

Week 2: PratFalls, by Holly Webber
The surprise in this experience was all about Victor Verheaghe, who played Roy. Roy is such a great character, a charismatic, huge personality. Victor had the task of setting the tone for the entire piece. Victor is warm, enigmatic, sensitive, and intense. Accordingly the play was warm, enigmatic, sensitive and intense. It was a pleasure to watch.

Week 3: 516, by Katherine Clark Gray
When you pick up this play, you immediately think of Neil LaBute's The Shape of Things, where a woman takes a man and molds him into someone else as an art project. It's a great twist. 516 has a similar twist, plus another big twist, and (wait for it...) another big twist. Having read the script a few times I forgot the power of those twists. The surprise for me was the number of audible gasps. That's drama.

Week 4: Bromance, the Dudesical, by Ewalt and Walker
I'm partial to Bromance. I was in it, and I played Marty. There is no doubt in my mind that we've seen the early stages of what is going to be a huge hit. The Phone Call is a spectacular song. I have had Heartburn and ChiliCheese Fries in my head for days. And I can't tell you the last time I had more fun on stage. The surprise for me was how EVERYONE agreed with me--this is a hit.

So on to 2012. We're already accepting new scripts. Send them to Submissions@GroundUPproductions.org

I hope you got a chance to see at least one of them. This year was a winner.

Here is the poster below. Almost, the poster. Notice the typo where we wrote DUDESICLE, instead of DUDESICAL. So, instead of a musical about dudes, it was more like dudes frozen on a stick. We fixed it.