The Pemberton Valley is about to host its first-ever community theatre group. The Pemberton Arts Council (PAC) has put out a casting call for May 17, from noon until 4 p.m. for aspiring local actors.
While the ultimate play they’ll tackle is still up in the air (depending, in part, on the number of actors the PAC gets out), organizer Renata Zablotney said the play will undoubtedly be a musical.
“There's nothing that unites actors more than singing together, really,” she said.
“It's a very rare occurrence where you can actually be together with a group of people and sing and really create something beautiful like that. So I try to create those experiences, and I think especially that's very special for the audience too,”
Zablotney brings an extensive theatre background to the new group: She has led at least three plays a year for the last decade as a teacher at Pemberton Secondary School (PSS). She has a background in musical theatre, performed in community theatres before moving to Pemberton, and has put up a series of independent plays in Pemberton—two Shakespearian shows at the Pemberton Farmers' Market and a one-man show featuring a former student who’s gone on to become a professional actor.
She said those independent plays caught the eye of the Pemberton Valley Seniors Society, who pushed her to put on a similar production. Zablotney wanted to open her next project to all ages, so she took it to the PAC, which jumped at her offer to run a community theatre program on a volunteer basis. She’s since become a PAC board member.
Show off your entertainment chops
The casting call is open to anyone interested. Actors are asked to prepare one short monologue that showcases as much of their range as possible—from emotion and accents to other skills in their toolbelts.
“It’s mainly to bring it out and try to see how well you can entertain,” said Zablotney. “If you have a 1930s New York accent, that’s a huge skill. If you could talk like Donald Duck, absolutely that’s a huge skill. If you can sing, that’s perfect.
“I know I am going to be absolutely enraptured by whatever happens.”
To help actors show their skills and entertainment abilities, she’s thrown in an additional recommendation: prepare a 1930s-style song. While Zablotney is keeping her chosen play under wraps for now, she’s certain it will be a musical. She noted 1930s songs will not only offer you a chance to show off your vocals, but will give you a chance to let your personality shine through.
“The fun thing about the 1930s-style songs too is that they're not hard, but that they're relatively jingly, right?" she said. "You can't really sing them without having some kind of personality to them—swaying your hips or snapping your fingers.”
Zablotney has a couple of plays up her sleeve. After a decade of teaching drama at the high school, and previous community theatre experience before she moved to Pemberton, she’s never at a loss for ideas on which plays to take on next. A key determinant for the final choice will be the number of people who respond to the casting call.
“I maybe have seven that are all different cast sizes, and because it's really dependent on how many people I get. If I have 30 people coming to an audition, I definitely have a play for like 30 people. But if I get 10, I’ll be thrilled, too.”
She encourages everyone who’s interested to come out. Even if the number of actors who sign on exceeds the required number for a given play, she’ll happily double-cast roles.
The PAC is acting as a producer.
Rehearsals will run once a week on Saturdays, from noon until 2 p.m.
Zablotney recognizes scheduling can sometimes be a barrier to participating in adult community theatre. She reassured potential actors that, even if you have to miss a week or come in late, there’s still a place in the troupe for committed members.
“[Never missing a day] isn’t necessarily what commitment is,” she said. “If you're going to give your energy and you're going to show up for the plays, and you’re going to memorize your lines, that's all I could ever ask, right?
“When I have actors that really want to give it more and pour 100 per cent in, I will give that extra 110 per cent to make sure that we go that extra mile together.”
The group is targeting a late November staging of their first show.
Find more info on the PAC's Facebook page.
