June 2026

OFFSTAGE

Where are they now?

You’ve seen them onstage in character, but for those who don’t know the actors personally there has always been some fascination as to what they look like in real life and how they live offstage. Movie actors especially are profiled and hounded in their private lives—paparazzi and camera phones ablaze with sightings and intrigue. Now that we’ve finished the inaugural season of The Classics Company, a season in which thirty-five Rochester actors were seen in our productions, you might wonder what they’re up to now!

Auditioning

Most of them have been involved in the casting process for our Moliere Season in 2027. We had first auditions in April for Classics veterans and for new actors where everyone had to prepare a minute and a half monologue in verse. Classics associate director Don Brenner—who will be directing The Miser—and I then decided what roles in the three plays the selected actors would prepare for a late May “callback” audition. Some were asked to prepare one role and others up to four or five across all three Moliere plays. Just as each actor has a different preparation process, each director does as well when they approach casting. All directors choose “sides” from their plays—these are the scene excerpts that actors have to prepare for the callbacks. “Sides” comes from the Shakespearean era when full scripts were expensive to hand copy so actors were only given their “side” of the play.

Directors then have the auditionees act those sides with either other auditionees or with a seated “Reader,” who simply reads the other parts in a scene but doesn’t move around. While I tend to use both methods, matching up actors in the same scene with others when I can, Don had all his auditionees play their characters with a Reader after he had meticulously broken down each scene’s intentions and shifts with the actor beforehand. It was wonderfully instructive to watch. (Pro Tip: Both Don and I had to urge some of our Chekhov actors to shed their Russian temperaments and have more fun!)

I learn so much about the play and about the actor by stumbling around a bit.

On the other hand, I tend to let the actors do it once without my guidance to see how they’ve prepared and then ask them to try it another time with some direction that I’ll give. Again, both methods lead to the same objective: to tell the director which actor might succeed in each role. I have found during auditions and rehearsals that I learn so much about the play and about the actor by stumbling around a bit. I ask more questions than give answers. I’ve always described my thought process as a kind of spiral: starting slow and wide and then getting more targeted and faster as we go along until we reach our solution. 

One more note about our Classics casting process: We audition for the entire season of plays at the same time so that we can slot actors into just the right roles where they can succeed. Having the characters in all three plays available at auditions allows us to be confident from the start that each actor is matched up with a role that might stretch them but also in which they can fully inhabit. We now have all but one or two roles filled for 2027 and the time for research and understanding of Moliere’s era in France begins—long live King Louis XIV! (We will be announcing the three casts next month.)

Summering

As for our actors’ post-Chekhov summer plans? Some are teachers looking forward to deserved breaks. Some are spending time with family without an acting gig taking up their evenings. And some are acting in other theatre productions both indoors and outdoors. All are looking forward to enjoying warmer weather.

Before we dispersed for the summer, we had a May Soiree in our Swillburg Studio rehearsal hall. Do you want to know what actors look like offstage? Well, see if you can match the people in these party candids with the roles they played in our Chekhov season. Good luck!

(Photos by Donald Brenner.)

★★★★★

Can you recognize them offstage?

★★★★★

photo 1 ↖️ ↗️ photo 2

photo 3 ↖️ ⬆️ ↗️ photo 5

photo 4

photo 6 ↖️ ↗️ photo 7

Season Subscription Renewals ongoing through June 30.

(If eligible, you’ve already been sent a secret code to access our store early!)

New Subscribers can purchase starting July 1.

★★★★★

ANSWERS

★★★★★

PHOTO #1 (L to R)

Lyubov Renevskaya (Kerry Young) from The Cherry Orchard

Varya (Claudia Coonan) from The Cherry Orchard

“Unofficial Rehearsal Baker” (Molly Briggs) 

PHOTO #2 (L to R)

Yasha from The Cherry Orchard and Fedotik from Three Sisters (Fred Pienkoski)

Gaev from The Cherry Orchard and Chebutykin from Three Sisters (Jerry Bradley)

Kulygin from Three Sisters (Connor McGuire)

PHOTO #3 (L to R)

Costume Designer for Three Sisters (Shelly Jo Stam)

Costume Designer for The Seagull (Diane Spacher)

PHOTO # 4 (L to R)

Play Sponsor for The Seagull (Kieth Reas)

Pischik from The Cherry Orchard (Michael Whistler)

TCC Artistic Director (Mark Cuddy)

PHOTO #5 (L to R)

Firs from The Cherry Orchard (Tomas Hernandez)

Charlotta from The Cherry Orchard (Feliza Bascara-Zohar)

PHOTO #6 (L to R)

Stage Manager for The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters, Assistant Stage Manager for The Seagull (AnneMarie Giannandrea)

TCC Administrator from January 2025 through May 2026 (Claudia Nolan)

PHOTO #7 (L to R)

Polina from The Seagull (Tracey Atkins Ulterino)

Shamraev from The Seagull (Brad Craddock)

Lopakhin from The Cherry Orchard (D. Scott Adams)

PHOTO #8 (L to R)

Production Photographer for Three Sisters (Kevin Spacher)

Masha Prozorov from Three Sisters (Darby Williams)

Assistant Stage Manager for The Seagull (Jackie Amigone)

Vershinin from Three Sisters (Reuben J. Tapp)