If 12 bad actors doing bad auditions translates into audience laughs, director Tony Thomas decided adding two more bad actors to his cast for a total of 14 funny failures works even better.
“This script calls for 12 people in the cast, but I increased it, which I think works even better,” said Thomas, who is directing a new run of “Bad Auditions by Bad Actors” at Fourth Street Theater in Chesterton.
“One of the aspects of this playwright that I love so much is he has a note at the start of the script which reads: ‘Change anything you want as long as it makes the play even funnier.’ He gives directors a lot of leeway.”
Written by Ian McWethy, “Bad Auditions by Bad Actors” has performances at 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays June 7-23 at Fourth Street Theater.
Thomas said he first discovered McWethy in 2019 when he directed a production of McWethy’s earlier work “12 Incompetent Jurors” at La Porte Little Theatre.
Thomas said he gathered talent for a Zoom reading of “Bad Auditions by Bad Actors” in early 2023 and was “immediately hooked on the insider humor.”
The premise of the 90-minute, one-intermission stage comedy centers on a small town with three rival community theater groups. The least-favored of the three shaky, thespian companies is doing a new production of “Romeo and Juliet,” and it’s up to a frazzled assistant director to quickly audition and cast the entire play with just a one-day window of opportunity.
“Even though I liken this play as an insider comedy for the theater world, it’s really so much more since all audiences can relate,” Thomas said.
“For any person who has ever had a job interview, it’s easy to relate on what it’s like to be part of an audition process.”
Thomas said during the audition process in April, he quickly realized that Carrie Bertch of Chesterton was the perfect personification of a nervous and uneasy novice director with high expectations.
“Carrie had just recently moved from Kalamazoo to Chesterton, and she was ready to be involved with our area community theater, so she showed up to the auditions,” Thomas said.
“I knew she was right for this role because it seemed like she had already lived it before.”
Bertch said her past 15 years working in community theater was helpful during her audition because her own memories of “interesting” auditions of others she has crossed paths with during her decade and half of stage bows.
“I moved to Chesterton during the pandemic in 2020, so I spent some time getting to know the area theater groups before going out on auditions,” Bertch said.
“There are definitely some nuggets of truth to some of the outrageous moments of the auditions that are portrayed in this comedy.”
Thomas said even though the cast has the opportunity to utilize their scripts in stage moments for various scenes, most have been eager to never look down at scripts because the dialogue is so “fresh, funny and natural.”
“I’ve said it often during our rehearsal process; this cast has been so dedicated to this production, we could have been ready for our first performance after just a few weeks of rehearsals,” Thomas said.
“The irony of this production for me is that I had so many good auditions while casting for characters who are meant to be so bad at their stage craft.”
Philip Potempa is a freelance reporter for The Post-Tribune.
‘Bad Auditions by Bad Actors’
When: June 7-23
Where: 4th Street Theater, 125 N. 4th St., Chesterton
Cost: $20
Information: 219-926-7875; 4thstreetncca.com
