Conejo Players Theatre peeked out from underneath the COVID-19 shutdown by presenting its first virtual play, Ian and Carrie McWethy’s one-hour production of “Bad Auditions . . . On Camera.”
Although the results in no way approximate the atmosphere of live theater, CPT’s production shows that the creative instincts of its crew and cast are still active and cautiously making inroads into salvaging what they can of local community theater.
The premise for the play is explained by its title. A harried casting director, played by Leslie Upson, is scrambling to fill the role of a prosecuting attorney for NBC’s hit show “Crime Court.”
Unfortunately, she and her breezy assistant Roger (Steven Silvers) don’t have a wealth of talent to choose from.
In desperation, they hold auditions on Zoom, resulting in a variety of wacky applicants coming forward to read from a prepared script.
The fun in the show is the anticipation of the disastrous auditions that are to follow.
Gina Marie (Sara Oliveri) is a busty bimbo from Brooklyn whose off-camera son keeps interrupting her attempts to perform. Kellin (John Webber) is an egotistical, overly dramatic actor who sees the attorney character as Richard III, overplaying the part in excessive Shakespearean fashion. Tandy (Hayley Silvers) is a speed talker who races through her lines with monotonous enthusiasm.
At this point in the play, Upson, as the casting director, pours a snifter of wine and implores Roger to “bring me actors with credits.”
The avalanche of non-talent continues with Jeff (Spencer Frankeberger), who not only reads his lines but inserts his own Dragnet-type musical cues. Valley Girl Carmen (Corazon Montanio) decides to reword her lines in her ditsy, Kardashian-like dialect to please members of her “Carmen Nation.”
By now the casting director is in a near frenzy, fearing she will have to move to Arizona to work for her mother as a sign twirler.
The procession of atrocities culminates with an audition by Uma (RaeAnne Carlson), who turns out to be the queen of malaprops, inadvertently substituting “prostitution” for “persecution,” despite being the best performer of all.
Unable to select a winner from the ghastly parade of uber-failures, the casting director leaves it to the audience to select the winner via an on-screen survey, which results in a different resolution in each performance.
After the play’s conclusion on opening night, June 12, the actors stayed online to field questions and comments from the audience.
When asked what they missed the most in a virtual performance, the consensus was unanimous: the audience.
Although the camaraderie among the actors appeared to be intact, performers are often influenced by audience reaction. During the course of a play’s run, actors make nuanced adjustments to the timing and inflection of their lines, depending on what works and what doesn’t.
With no audience on hand, it’s understandable that the performers can feel like they are flying blind with no feedback to help them make those subtle changes that perfect a performance. Laugh tracks are one way of filling that void, but this is anathema to anyone in live theater.
Upson added that what was also missing was the energy provided by an audience. Theater is a two-way dynamic that is next to impossible to replicate using the limited devices the internet can supply.
The intrepid volunteers of Conejo Players have persisted for more than a half century to overcome the tragedies of the real world (the Borderline massacre occurred just across the street two years ago during a rehearsal) and will continue finding ways to practice their craft.
More power to them.
“Bad Auditions . . . On Camera” was produced by Jeremy Zeller and directed by Olivia Heulitt and Kyle Johnson.