Presenting The Cast of Pig Farm

Tom, the owner of the pig farm: Tucker Sparkman

Tucker is new to the DC area and is happy to be making his debut with 1st Stage. Tucker has appeared most recently in Stuff Happens (Donald Rumsfeld), The Visit (TV Anchorman),The Shakespeare Project (Hamlet), and the Huntington Theatre Company's production of Streamers  (PFC). While studying in London Tucker appeared in productions of The Man of Mode (Sir Fopling Flutter) and Hamlet (Claudius) at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. Tucker is a 2008 graduate of Boston University's School of Theatre with a BFA in Acting.

Tina, his wife: Belen Pifel

Belen Pifel (Tina) is excited to make Pig Farm her debut performance with 1st Stage.  Previous theater credits include Hope in Anything Goes, Betty in Sure Thing, the Player in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Germaine in Picaso at the Lapin Agile, and Katherina in The Taming of the Shrew.  Previous film credits include Mrs. Max in MVP (2006 DC 48 Hour Film Project), an agent in Codeword Secret (2007 DC 48 Hour Film Project - Winner, Best Film), and Woman in XXX (Corry Chapman, Director).  Ms. Pifel has trained at the Studio Theatre Actor Conservatory in Washington, DC and is currently a vocalist for Kid Goat, an alt-country/roots rock band based in Washington, DC.  Belen would like to thank her wonderful friends and family for their love and support.

Tim, their farm hand: Charley Mann

Charley Mann (Tim) Credits include: Doorway Arts Ensemble (May 39^th – Page to Stage); Theater of the First Amendment First Light (Boxes, Death of the Fourth Estate); GMU Players (Giving a Troll a Green Card – Page to Stage, Shakespeare in Hollywood, Measure for Measure, Sweeney Todd, The Boys Next Door, Three Days of Rain, The Shape of Things, Trojan Women); Shakespeare in the Grove (A Midsummer Night's Dream, Romeo and Juliet, Two Gentlemen of Verona).  Charley is pursuing his BA in Theater at George Mason University.  He also teaches acting with Acting for Young People and Adults, Inc.  He is thrilled to be making his 1^st Stage debut.

Teddy, an agent of the Environmental Protection Agency: Lucas Beck

Lucas Beck (Teddy) NY Theater: The Cascade Falls (Bat Country), Trelawney of the 'Wells', Love's Labour's Lost (Hudson Warehouse), Seascape with Sharks and Dancer (Marksman), Idiot's Delight, Richard & Anne (Mirror Rep), Stop Kiss, Venus-Sensation-and the Pope (Wooden I.), The Statue (NYC Fringe), Others. Regional/Tour: A Midsummer Night's Dream (Stratford Arts), The Color of Justice (TheatreworksUSA), Romeo & Juliet (National). Thank you M& M.

Casting

We are still in the casting phase of Pig Farm, and intend to have the cast settled upon by the beginning of next week. It is a surprisingly involved process, both in terms of getting the word out to the actor community and hopefully a large turnout, as well as finding the right actors for the roles.

The latter of the two is an interesting issue, really, because of how incredibly subjective it is, but also because it isn’t something one tends to think about when seeing the show as a final product. Hopefully the production will be engaging and unified enough that it wouldn’t occur to an audience member to wonder about how the particular actors were chosen; it’s just a necessary fact that these are the people portraying the characters on stage. But there is such a plethora of factors that go to determine it—everything from chemistry between actors to hair and eye color—that the odds that it could have been some other combination of actors on stage (and therefore, a completely different show) are pretty great.

For anyone who’s curious, here’s how our process works:

Director (in this case, Mark) and casting director (in this case, me) sit down and talk about what the director is looking for in each of the roles. Depending on the director, this can be a very clear picture, a wide open question, or some combination of the two. Actors are then brought in both by open call announcements and by invitation, which is based on familiarity with the actor or the actor’s work. Or a hunch, or a recommendation.

Whatever the reason, the actors then prepare scenes from the play and are paired with other actors under consideration, or a designated reader, and perform them, sometimes several times. After this, the director and whoever else is present confer, decide who fits the roles best, and schedule callbacks, which is essentially a more intense version of the same process.

Once callbacks are completed, practical considerations like schedule availability, salary, and (in some cases) union status come into the discussion; the director et al makes the final decisions; and the casting director contacts all the actors to either offer them a role or graciously thank them for coming and ask that they come back for future auditions.


Seems fairly straightforward, right? It never is. There are so many actors of talent who come to these things that talent itself is the least relevant factor in making the decisions—it comes down to things like how well an actor physically fits the part, how they take direction, their particular chemistry with other actors. Things largely out of the actor’s control.

We’re nearly at the end of this one. Check back with us at the start of next week for an update.