Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE - The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Heartland Festival held several auditions recently for the summer 2004 productions of "Annie," "Pump Boys and Dinettes," and "The Odd Couple." On April 12, auditions were for children's roles in the musical "Annie," including the title role of Annie, as well as the tough as nails group of orphans who live with her in a rundown orphanage in depression era New York City. "Annie" is based on the popular comic strip heroine who takes center stage in one of the world's best-loved musicals and includes some of the most recognizable songs in musical theatre.

The festival staff was extremely pleased with the turnout and the talent.

"We honestly did not know what to expect as far as how many young ladies would turn out," said John Hassig, director of performing and visual arts at UWP and executive director of the Heartland Festival. "We were blown away by the talent of these girls and each casting choice was a tough decision."

"Anytime you have 60 people audition for nine parts you are going to have some tough choices to make," according to John McCaslin-Doyle, artistic director for the festival. "This ranks up there with some of the toughest casting choices that I have had to make. If we could have cast 60 orphans we would have." McCaslin-Doyle does double duty as director of the production of "Annie."

The orphan cast for the 2004 Heartland Festival Production of "Annie" includes: Phoebe Moore, Mineral Point; Darby Fitzsimons, Darlington; Alison Ott, Dubuque; Rachel Mcintyre, Galena; Nyssa Duchow, Dubuque; Celine Wienkes, Cobb; with Bethany White of Lancaster in the title role. Understudies for roles are Avalon McCaslin-Doyle, Platteville, and Kasia Runicka-Geniser of Dubuque.

These young ladies join the actors that were cast from local auditions back on Feb. 16-17. These include: Marcia Russell, Chantelle Budack, Mary Gershon, Patrick Hagen, Erin Hassig, John Putnam, Jennifer Wolfe, Janean

Wyse, Jenna Wyse, Phil Wyse, and Nancy Fairchild, all of Platteville, with Coleman from Mineral Point and Kyle Van Haren of Dodgeville.

Several guest artists who will all appear in "Annie" were selected from auditions in Madison and St. Louis, Mo. These guest artists include: Heidi Tiefenthaler of Madison; Jill and Joseph Klinbriel of Dubuque; Marcella Rose Sciotto of St. Louis, Mo.; Mark Brouwer of Rensselaer, Ind.; Matt Connely of Goshen Ind.; Paul Helm of Greenfield; and Ashley Heaston from Memphis, Tenn. The guest artists will perform all the roles in "Pump Boys and Dinettes," which opens June 17.

The festival also auditioned actors for the production of "The Odd Couple" at the February auditions. "The Odd Couple" cast includes: Chris Bierbrauer, Platteville; Steve Brown, Mineral Point; Matthew Harker, Platteville; Matthew Schrader, Platteville; as well as guest artists Heaston, Tiefenthaler, Brouwer, and Helm.

The actors begin rehearsals for all performances on May 24 for an opening performance on June 24 for "The Odd Couple" and July 1 for "Annie." The shows run in a rotating repertory schedule with "Pump Boys and Dinettes" through July 25. Tickets for all Heartland Festival shows are on sale now at the university box office in the Center for the Arts, UW-Platteville. Call the box office at 608-342-1298 or visit Heartland on the web at http://www.uwplatt.edu/arts/heartland for more information about all the performances.