Regional Theaters Collaborate on Auditions for 2012 Season
For the first time ever last August, Ed Sayles, Kerby Thompson and Peter Flynn, the respective artistic heads of Merry-Go-Round Playhouse (MGR)/Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival, Cortland Repertory Theatre and The Hangar Theatre of Ithaca got together to exchange ideas. One of the fruits of that discussion was the idea to coordinate not only the scheduling of their Upstate New York auditions, but also the promotion of the events.
The three theaters are the largest professional summer theatres in Upstate New York and collectively they perform for an audience of over 100,000 each summer. At this year’s auditions, the total of acting roles available for all three theatres is over 200. In the years to come, it is hoped that the auditions could all take place at one site, perhaps alternating between the cities of Cortland, Ithaca and Auburn. This year’s auditions happened at two venues at the end of January; MGR and the Black Box Theatre of Ithaca High School.
