GRAND RAPIDS — Agatha Christie is one of the most famous figures in literature, so it seems only right her work would be adapted in other art forms. The Grand Rapids Players are tackling her famous Murder on the Orient Express early next year and will begin the audition process on Monday, Dec. 9.
The story takes place in the 1930s on the Orient Express train with passengers from all over the world. Stopped by heavy snowfall, the passengers find out there has been a murder onboard. It is up to the Belgian detective Hercule Poirot to solve the case.
Grand Rapids Players director John Schroeder said numerous reasons drew him to the play. The play adaptation is new, and Schroeder believes it is a good one. Watching the 2017 star-studded film adaptation filled with amazing characters and a great story by Agatha Christie also provided inspiration.
Schroeder said there are both benefits and challenges to producing a play that has famous film adaptations already. “If somebody's seen the movie, spoilers, they may know how it ends.”
He also said adaptations can be different. Some characters will have some variations from their source material. There are also certain things done in the novel or in the films that cannot be recreated on stage. “The film can be great inspiration, but we're not bound to that. We can do our own thing, and we have to do our own thing,” Schroeder said.
For the auditions — scheduled from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. on Dec. 9 and 10 at the Ives Studio Theater at the Reif — actors will read snippets of scripts, available on the Grand Rapids Players website.
“So if people want to do their homework and preparation, especially for dialects," Schroeder said. "If people are interested in auditioning, they might want to practice those.”
As for what they’re looking for at auditions, Schroeder said, “We're looking for the people that are just like the typecast that fit the general character; the age, the gender, the look of the character, if you will. Then there's just general stage presence and performing ability. We want to know that you can act. That you can play a role.”
One mistake Schroeder notices people make early in auditions is remembering to perform for an audience, instead of a one-on-one conversation with someone on stage. “You don't actually talk right to them like we would in real life. You're going to be ‘cheating out,’ as we call it.”
This is not the first play Schroeder has directed. He started in theater as an actor as a kid and throughout high school. This led to performances in college and a year on the road as a circus clown with the Ringling Brothers. When he returned to the area around 2009, he took some directing workshops and directed his first show, My Fair Lady. He’s been directing sketches, musicals and plays ever since.
Schroeder’s favorite part of the play process is the production design. Because the Grand Rapids Players are a smaller theater company, participants end up wearing a lot of hats.
“Something I really enjoy is creating the world that the play lives in between the set, the general aesthetic... Run the mood through lighting and sound and all of that and then call upon the various people in their expertise. So, whether it's the lighting designer or the set builder, the costume designer, working with their elements of skills and pulling the whole show together with all the different talents that a production brings.”
One challenge they’ll encounter is recreating a train set with different compartments. The plan is to have a stationery set that moves. “It's basically a platform that swings in and out and changes one room to another with a few platforms that slide forward to bring in the bedrooms,” Schroeder said they plan to share behind-the-scenes photos of their progress creating the set.
Murder on the Orient Express performances will be over two weekends at the end of February and beginning of March. Schroeder looks forward to the challenge of a smaller intimate space in the Ives Theater.
“Basically, everything scenically that you see is going to be right in front of you. So we have to use all of the other tricks of the theater to bring different spaces in front of you.”
For questions about auditioning or performances, you can reach the Grand Rapids Players at info@grplayers.com.
Tell us about upcoming arts events where you live in Northern Minnesota by emailing psa@kaxe.org.
Area Voices is made possible by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund and the citizens of Minnesota.
