Director Brian O’Sullivan has put together a very strong cast for my show “57 Hours in the House of Culture,” which premieres at Studio Roanoke May 16-27.
Here it is:
* Andrei, a retired engineer in the audience: Gary Reid
* Svetlana, his wife, a retired teacher: Diane Heard
* Irina, a mother in the audience: Heather Sexton
* Ivan, the usher: Peter Colbert
* Dmitri, the pit musician: Owen Merritt
* Barayev, the terrorist: Tim Kennard
* The Black Widow, a female terrorist: Kelly Anglim
* Olga, the perfume sales clerk who comes in off the street: Cadie Burks
Cadie is a newcomer; all the others are well-known from previous roles at theatres in the Roanoke Valley. Owen most recently appeared at Studio Roanoke in “The Emancipation of Alabaster McGill” by Jeff Goode; I believe he, Gary and Kelly are all in “Monkey Wrench,” which opens this month. Gary I know, all the others I’m looking forward to getting to know — and seeing in action (again).
We’re still looking for two young men to play small parts as Russian soldiers; they have a few speaking lines. If interested, please contact the director (or me, and I can relay a message.)
We’re also looking for a violinist willing to record four short segments of a particular piece of Russian classical music (we have the sheet music available.)
The show is a dream-like account of the 2002 Moscow theatre seige, where Chechen terrorists seized a theatre during a musical and held hundreds hostage until Russian authorities pumped the place full of poison gas.
dwayneyancey 