The Grand Theater in Salem, Oregon is also a large office building. I do not know the ownership details except that it is generally believed that the Meduri family owns the building and Enlightened Theatrics is a tenant. 27 year old Vincenzo Meduri is the director and founder of ET. Vincenzo graduated with a theater degree from Elon University.
ET has a history of producing musicals at the Grand for about three or four years. We attended Vincenzo’s production of “Hair” in 2015 and were very impressed with the quality of that production. I discovered by accident, while attending a dinner with an ET board member in January of 2016, that ET intended to produce another summer musical. The Royal Shakespeare version of “The Wizard of Oz” was on tap.
The unique thing about ET is that it produces professional shows in Oregon’s state capital. While there are as many as a dozen other theatrical venues in Salem, ET is the only professional venue.
Vincenzo typically holds auditions in Salem, Oregon, in Portland, Oregon and in New York City. He typically runs an ad in a NYC paper listing his needs for professional auditions. ET then casts a show and flies Broadway professionals to Oregon for the 2 1/2 months it takes to rehearse and to produce a show.
Salem auditions for WOZ took place in the Grand Ballroom of the Grand Hotel. Audition requirements included bringing an 8×10 glossy, three or four pieces of sheet music and a theatrical resume. After auditions, Vincenzo held call backs several weeks later.
I had played the dual part of Uncle Henry/ the Emerald City Guard in a 2010 production of the same script at Little Theater on the Bay in North Bend, Oregon. My initial ET audition seemed to go well. I shook hands with all of the directors and with the accompanist before leaving my audition. It had not been a “cattle call”. It was a private, individual audition.
ET’s call backs for actors were held the same day as call backs for dancers. There is some crossing over of parts in this script, but noticeably, the parts of Professor Marvel/The Wizard and the Wicked Witch are the only parts that do no singing or dancing.
I was to later learn the name of the actor who was called back for the part I also had auditioned for – David Mitchum Brown. David and I were called into the Grand Ballroom at the same time during call backs. David had also been called back as a dancer. We each performed our musical numbers as directed. Then, Vincenzo asked if I would be interested in any other part if I were not cast as Uncle Henry/Guard. I asked if that would be a ranch hand or something.
Vincenzo answered that it would be more like the part of The Wizard. I said I had never played that part before. Vincenzo answered, “All the better.”
Many weeks later, I received an email from Vincenzo asking if I would in fact play The Wizard. I told him I would be honored to play that part. In fact, I was later the first person to pick up a script at the ET office.
What would follow would be my experiences in my first professional role where I would be on a paid contract.
Coming up next – First meeting with the cast and crew.
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