It’s once again time for some of the Upper Ohio Valley’s best and brightest up-and-coming thespians and practitioners of stage and tech craft to showcase their talents.
Oglebay Institute’s Parcel Players are hosting auditions for this summer season’s two productions—Clue: The Play by Sandy Rustin and “Little Shop of Horrors” by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman.
While the curtain will rise on the two productions on July 13-16 and August 3-6, respectively, auditions are set for Tuesday and Wednesday upcoming at 7 p.m. at OI’s Towngate Theatre in Center Wheeling.
Started back in 1967 by then artistic director Hal O’Leary, the Parcel Players morphed into its current iteration as an avenue for youth (ages 13-21) to get their theatrical feet wet.
“This is the longest-running program that Towngate has,” said Tim Thompson, Oglebay Institute’s Director of Performing Arts. “When the venue at Oglebay burned down in 1965, Hal talked the railroad station down near where the amphitheater is today by the river and they let him use the baggage and parcel room, hence the Parcel Players.
“When Towngate opened in the former church, that’s when the Parcel Players became the high school program that it is today.”
What sets the Parcel Players’ productions apart from other performances in the Ohio Valley is it is entirely done by students, except for directing and designing.
OI hired two local directors to head up the productions—Daniel Loh will be directing Clue. Loh, himself, is a former Parcel Player. Handling the director’s chair for Little Shop will be Erin Gallagher Bond, currently the choir teacher at Linsly, serving as the director of the school’s annual Extravaganza. Dave Henderson and P.D. Gregg serve in their respective capacities as design and technical directors.
“The students will have the opportunity to be in the play, work as stage manager, run the lights and the sound, help with the set, get props, find costumes,” Thompson said. “This is their chance to go in any aspect they want to explore.”
Fun, Experience, and Commitment
Auditions are open to any interested student ages 13-21.
While many Parcel Players throughout the years have come up through the ranks of Oglebay Institute’s summer acting camps and classes, participation in those is not a prerequisite for auditioning.
In fact, experience in stage acting is not a prerequisite either. While it may help, Thompson explained it’s not unheard of for a newbie to the theater to audition, land a role, excel, and open up a whole new world of interests.
Thompson would know. He’s just such a case.
“That’s what happened to me,” Thompson admitted. “I was an athlete in high school and my friends talked me into a play, and I love it and ended up doing it for the rest of my life.
“Even wanting to do theater for a career is not a prerequisite for participating. Because you’re playing another person, you get to learn empathy, you learn how your body and voice work, and you’re collaborating with a group of people you don’t necessarily know from school.
“We do two things. We help hone skills for young people who may want to go into the theater or discover that they want to, but also, it’s just for people who want to try it out. It’s not a career choice for them, and it doesn’t have to be. They can just enjoy it.”
There will be plenty of rehearsal time for those that are involved, whether it’s just in one of the productions, or for the young people aspiring to be a part of both the play and the musical, which is an option.
Thompson noted that typically if 20 students try out, there may be around half that just want to do one or the other, while the rest are interested in both.
Rehearsal times will run generally in the evenings from Sunday through Thursday, with Fridays and Saturdays kept free so students are able to work or go do other things. There are roughly six weeks of rehearsals for the play, while the musical will feature another two weeks in addition.
“This is the place to get experience,” Thompson said. “We have people who have never done anything walk in, and we help them find their niche. We also have people who have done plays at school and want something to perform in the summer.
“We’re very unique in that respect.”
Playing the Roles
The are other production houses in the Ohio Valley that also put on summer theater or musicals. But those open auditions are for all ages, and you’ll generally see adults playing adult parts and teenagers playing teenagers.
The Parcel Players allow teenagers to flex their acting chops and branch out into more complex, adult roles.
Case in point, the play Clue is based on the 1985 feature film starring Tim Curry as Wadsworth, Madeline Kahn as Mrs. White, Christopher Lloyd as Professor Plum, Eileen Brennan as Mrs. Peacock, Michael McKean as Mr. Green, Martin Mull as Colonel Mustard, and Lesley Ann Warren as Miss Scarlet.
It’s a dark comedy game of who-done-it, fittingly also based upon the beloved board game of the same name.
Given the film came out in 1985, there’s a chance not all interested auditioning parties have seen the film, which may come in handy. Tim Curry’s iconic take as Wadsworth would be nigh impossible to replicate, nor should it be. Thompson believes those auditioning should give their own interpretation of the role and not try to copy Curry or any of the other stars of the film.
“If you’re trying to be Tim Curry, or Ellen Greene in Little Shop, that’s a tall order. They are icons,” Thompson said. “But watching can give an actor the idea of what the story is and what the style is, but when it comes to the part.”
For more information visit Oglebay Institute’s Towngate Theatre on Facebook.
