At the end of the winter, playwright/actor Jeff Ircink will be opening a program of shorts. He's looking to cast the show next week.
Auditions run Sunday Febraury 17th from 1 - 4 pm and Monday, February 18th from 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm at the Underground Colaborative on 161 West Wisconsin Avenue.
Bring a headshot and a resume. Actors will be reading from the scripts. This is evidently a paying gig. For more information, visit the show's website. And don't forget to listen to the Tom Waits while you're doing so. There are script samples in the website. I don't ever specifically recall seeing any of Ircink's stuff before. For reasons I probably don't understand, the style reminds me of Sam Peknipah, David Mamet, whiskey and well-worn leather.
The 6 short, dark plays that he's written will open March 21st.
This is actually a huge relief for me personally. I was beginning to get concerned. Being a theatre critic, you kind of take what's given to you as the calendar unfolds for a given year. I was worried that the only thing opening the weekend after my birthday next month was going to be a tribute to Tony Bennett at Sunset Playhouse . . . not that I don't like Tony Bennett or the solitude of a nice, long bus ride out to Elm Grove, but I was really hoping to see something a bit more appealing to me as winter turned into fall this year.
Thankfully, Jeff Ircink is there to inadvertently help me out here . . . he's opening a program of shorts he's written the first weekend of Spring. Hashtag Mayhem is program of shorts written by Ircink that will make it to the stage of the Alchemist Theatre March 21st- April 8th. Al shows are at 8pm.
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There are 6 shorts on the program that cover certain moods of interaction including Pass the Salt, Please--which sounds like it might be an interesting contrast between casual small talk and something much more theatrically passionate. That one's going to be directed by the playwright. Billy Barfoor Wants An Apology which is evidently a tale of captivity and revenge served cold. That one's being directed by Gretchen Mahkorn of The World's Stage Theatre. Jason Waszak directs Conor Francis Comes Home To Ballycullen is a tale of an Irish gentleman coming home to tell his parents that he's gay. Mary Ryan directs Jesus Pushed A Grocery Cart . . . a conversation between a man and a man who is homeless. Milwaukee theatre icon Bo Johnson directs what could be the most challenging bit of drama in the program A Promiscuous Rape which plays on subtleties in human interaction between a playwright named Jeff who meets a woman at a party and invites her back to his place to watch a rare 1965 Gregory Peck film . . .
Looks like a really fun combo of shorts. Really looking forward to this one . . .
