Aspiring actors seek role in King Arthur's Court

Children's theater holds auditions for 30 parts

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
They are intangible qualities: effervescence, sparkle, presence.
But for a group of aspiring children and teen actors, they are key to landing a role in a Traverse City Children's/Teen Theater production of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court." Participants were vying for 30 parts, with 15 or so being speaking roles and the rest part of the company. Students chosen for a role will attend classes with director Margaret Schaal through the play's scheduled production in June.
Waiting her turn Monday afternoon at the Old Town Playhouse, Carina Saxon, 15, had a handle on what it took to be called back for a second look.
"It takes bounce to get a call back," she said. "You can't hold back, an audition is not the time to be shy."
A tenth-grade student at Central High School, Saxon debuted on stage at the tender age of four, playing an angel in a production at a children's theater her grandmother runs downstate. She later honed her acting skills during three years of studying at the Traverse Bay Community School, which puts on at least one major production every year.
It was there she learned all aspects of theater production as well the need to be larger than life.
"You have to almost shout and have these huge, ridiculous facial expressions and it still may not be enough," Saxon said.
Lily Prentice, an eighth-grade student at Interlochen Pathfinder School, agreed that auditioning requires you to project and overdue everything: gestures, voices and expressions. These skills are required to not only get the part, but to play it on stage.
"You've got to be noticeable," said Prentice, who was on hand Monday afternoon for a call back.
Margaret Schaal, director of the show, took 75 kids through their paces Sunday and Monday afternoon during the audition. Assisted by Mike Kelly and Kathy Verstrate, two Playhouse veterans, Schaal facilitated hours of organized chaos. First, groups of five or six auditionees read lines on stage, swapping parts at her prompting. Even if they found themselves reading a part completely unsuitable for them, for example, a young girl reading King Arthur, Schaal told them to do their best.
"When I hand out readings, you get a chance to really act," she told the assembled hopefuls Monday afternoon. "Just read a part, even if it is not a part you want."
Kelly urged the kids on stage to speak to the back of the house.
"Those who do will probably get the parts and those who cannot, well, that's one of the elimination points," he said, before positioning himself in the back of the auditorium.
Meanwhile, another group of five or six students was in the 'green room' staging a short improv skit. Led by George Beeby, the students created a short mechanical skit using only the items in the room. Creativity abounded as a humidifier and a stool became a car built by robots, with two students inflated for tires, while another group had a vacuum cleaner powering a helicopter, whose rotors were four of their members.
'Helicopter' pilot Thomas Baird, a ninth-grade student at Traverse City West Junior High, was attending his first audition. He was inspired to try out for a role in this play after his younger brother landed a part in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" last year.
"I have never acted before but seeing my brother up there made me think that I could be up there, too," he said. "I really liked the creativeness of working with the group."
While sweaty palms and butterflies in the stomach are standard lore of auditions, Saxon was not nervous about the audition process. Naturally outgoing, she quietly did her homework while waiting for Monday afternoon's activities to begin.
"Being in the theater is a great way to gain self confidence," said Saxon, who does not plan to pursue a career in acting but hopes to continue in the theater all her life.
The theater has been a lifelong love for Schaal, who told the assembled that she was captivated by it during high school. Over the years she has been involved in every aspect of the Old Town Playhouse and she recently directed productions such as "My Fair Lady" and "Whose Life Is It Anyway?"
"In high school I got my Ph.D. in ushering and then I moved on to spotlight, painting sets and everything else," she recalled. "I'll pass on to you some tricks people have passed on to me and we'll make up some new tricks together."