Producing Harriet's House 10: First set of auditions

This past weekend Jocelyn Wickett and I held our first set of auditions for Harriet's House at the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education (OISE) at the University of Toronto. We had two excellent days of monologues and cold readings from the play and were delighted to hear what wonderful talent we have here in Toronto. We are going to hold another set of auditions on Monday April 12, 2010. Here is the second audition call. If you're interested in auditioning on Monday April 12, 2010 please contact: gaileyroad@gmail.com

All the best,
Tara

***
Harriet’s House: Hart House 2010

Second Audition Call

Director: Jocelyn Wickett
Playwright: Tara Goldstein
Produced by: Tara Goldstein/ Gailey Road Productions

Synopsis

Harriet’s House dramatizes the story of a Toronto mother with three daughters, two adopted from Colombia and the challenges they face as they negotiate three family worlds: the world of their own “global family” in Toronto, the world of the daughters’ birth country, Colombia, and the new world Harriet, finds herself in when she comes out as a lesbian. Gailey Road is planning to produce Harriet House as an affiliated event with the 2010 Toronto Pride Festival.
The play opens with Harriet reluctantly giving her 17-year old adopted daughter Luísa permission to visit the orphanage in Bogotá where she spent three years of her childhood so that she can find out what happened to her birth mother. While Luísa is in Bogotá, Harriet comes out as a lesbian and introduces her new partner Marty to her two other daughters: 14-year old Ana, also adopted from Colombia, and 7-year old Clare, Harriet’s birth daughter. Afraid of Luísa’s rejection of her new relationship, Harriet doesn’t tell her about Marty until Luísa returns home from her visit to the orphanage. Heartbroken that she still hasn’t found out what happened to her birth mother, and angry that Harriet didn’t tell her about Marty sooner, Luísa returns to Bogotá to continue her search. When Harriet falls seriously ill, however, she decides to travel to Bogotá with Marty, Ana and Clare to bring Luísa back to Toronto.

Characters

HARRIET: A school teacher and mother of three daughters, the first two adopted from Colombia. During the
course of the play she comes out as a lesbian. She ages from 44 to 46.

LUÍSA: Harriet’s eldest daughter, adopted from Colombia at the age of 10. She ages from 17 to 19. *We are
seeking an actor who identifies as Latina or Latin Canadian*

ANA: Harriet’s middle daughter, adopted from Colombia at the age of 7. She ages from 14 to 16 .*We are
seeking an actor who identifies as Latina or Latin Canadian*

CLARE: Harriet’s youngest daughter, not adopted. She ages from 9 to 11. *For Clare, we are seeking a girl who
is at minimum between the ages of 12 and 14, but can play younger. Previous acting experience is not
required*

Show Information:

Harriet’s House will be staged at Hart House Theatre in Toronto from June 24 – 26 2010. (Full availability of actors cast will be required from June 23 – 26 2010). Actors cast in the production will be provided with an honorarium (amount TBA).

Rehearsal:

Rehearsals begin in April on Thursday evenings and Sundays at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, 252 Bloor Street West, Toronto.

Audition Information and Requirements:

Please email a head shot and resume to gaileyroad@gmail.com to arrange an audition time. Auditions will occur within the next two weeks at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education. For the audition, actors are asked to prepare a one minute contemporary monologue. Actors may also be requested to do a cold read from the play at the audition. For girls that are auditioning for Clare, no preparation is required in advance of the audition.

Thank you for your interest! Please do not resubmit if you have already submitted for this production.

For more information about Harriet’s House and Gailey Road Productions please visit www.gaileyroad.com.

Producing Harriet’s House Episode 9: Our Image for Harriet's House

This week Harriet's House graphic designer Lisa Rupchand completed the image that will grace our publicity poster, postcards and ad in the Pride Guide. The double tree image speaks to the multiple roots that ground Harriet's transnational adopted family and the vibrant colours speak to the vibrancy of their family. Look for the double tree image on our website: www.gaileyroad.com Our posters, postcards and ad in the Pride Guide are set to appear soon!

All the best,
Tara

Producing Harriet’s House Episode 8: Our Community Support Campaign

Last week was a busy week for Gailey Road Productions. As mentioned in my March 1 blog, the audition call for Harriet's House is now out. To view the call and express your interest in setting up an audition visit Work in Culture (www.workinculture.ca).

Last week the Sound Designer for Harriet's House, Dan Parker, came to town for a week to compose the sound track for Harriet's House. Jocelyn, Gillian and I had an opportunity to hear some early samples of what Dan was working on and were delighted with the music he composed and performed. Dan finished his work on Friday and he and I went to Hart House to hear what it would sound like in the theatre. We were really pleased with the results. We want to extend our thanks to Hart House Theatre General Manager Doug Floyd and technician Christopher Wilson for their assistance on Friday.

Our community support campaign begins this week. There are three ways to support our production of Harriet's House:

Become a Community Supporter! As a Community Supporter you will be able to promote the presentation of Harriet’s House through your organization’s social networks. This may mean passing on information about the play to members on your listserves or other social networking sites. In exchange for their promotion of Harriet House, all Community Supporters will be recognized in the program.

Become a Community Sponsor! As a Community Sponsor you will be able to support the presentation of Harriet’s House with discounted tickets to the show. Specifically, Community Sponsors will have the option of purchasing blocks of 15 tickets for $150. This represents a discount of $8.00 from each regularly priced ticket. In exchange for their support, Community Sponsors will also be recognized in the program.


Become a Community Partner! As a Community Partner you will have the opportunity to make a great contribution to the production of Harriet’s House. Community Partners are invited to support Harriet’s House with the purchase of a quarter of possible house sales (100 seats), a third of house sales (150 seats), or half of possible house sales (225 seats) at the price of $10.00 a ticket, also a discount of $8.00 from each regularly priced ticket . In return for their support, Community Partners will be recognized in the program and given space for a half/third/quarter page advertisement of their organization in our program.

If you are interested in supporting Harriet’s House please contact Monica Nunes, Assistant Producer at: monica.nunes@utoronto.ca

All the best,
Tara

Audition call for Harriet's House is now posted

The audition call for Harriet's House is now posted on the websites of the following organizations: Theatre Ontario, Equity Showcase, and Work in Culture. Audition applications will be accepted until the end of March.

All the best,
Tara

Zero Tolerance Performance a Great Success

Our rehearsed reading of Zero Tolerance at Hart House last week was a great success. About 125 people attending the reading which was followed by an address by University of Toronto PhD candidate and Vice-Principal Dean Barnes. Topics that came up for discussion included how zero tolerance polices lead to the creation of a culture of fear in schools, the role of police officers or liaison officers in schools, and engaging students through critically relevant and responsive pedagogy. Our rehearsed reading of Zero Tolerance launched a new course in the Equity Studies program at New College at the University of Toronto, which is called Equity and Activism in Education. The course is intended to provide third and fourth year students enrolled in the Equity Studies Program an opportunity to spend some time in Toronto classrooms and learn about the ways teachers can be advocates and activists in schooling. The course will be taught by me next year and will include other guest teachers from the Ontario Institute of Studies in Education at the University of Toronto, including Lance McCready, Jeff Kugler and Nicole West-Burn.

All the best,
Tara