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IN THE ROOM WITH
Spotlighting the people and projects you need to know
In the Room With
James and Rosie Pearson and Ian Subsara
The newly formed U.K.-U.S. operation defied a pandemic shutdown to create new opportunities for performers
By Elyse Roth
PEARSON CASTING WAS DOING JUST FINE AS IT WAS. RUN BY
husband-and-wife team James and Rosie Pearson, both former performers-turned–casting directors, they had a long list of work to their name, especially in the London theater world, with shows like smash hit “Six” as well as live performance experiences and film and television work. Their profession took them around the globe and had them casting in the U.S. enough that they felt they needed to open an office across the pond. They ultimately connected with Ian Subsara, a New York–based casting director who they felt shared their interests and audition-room ethos. Together, the three CDs spoke with Backstage about expanding Pearson Casting and how COVID-19 affected their operation.
What changed for you when COVID-19 hit? Rosie Pearson:
Everything just ground to a complete halt for us. We’ve been lucky to cast some feature films through lockdown, which was done mostly by self-tape. We won a grant that we applied for, and we were able to start a free training platform for the industry. We managed to connect with so many incredible people across the industry that we just haven’t worked with, and we met actors we didn’t know. We all had to reprogram our brains around Zoom auditions. Singing auditions on Zoom are very tricky, with sound issues and lagging and all kinds of stuff. It’s been a real process for everyone in theater to pivot their mindset around that. You have to adapt; you have to keep moving forward and working with what you have. Now, we can see so many more people without forcing them to travel across huge chunks of countries. Those processes will become more streamlined as we all work together to forge new ways of casting. I don’t think online [casting] is going anywhere.
What changes will stick going
forward? James Pearson: I think self-tapes are here for a while. In a normal audition process, we can see maybe 100 people in the first round. Now, we can have 200 people tape in their own time. The whole Zoom thing, I think, is great so we can meet people. I think it’s a really great way to be able to see lots of people who only need a smartphone in order to audition; and most people have one of those.
What can actors expect from auditioning for you?
Ian Subsara: Performers can always expect me to be kind to them. An audition setting is a vulnerable place for an actor; and having been a performer myself, it’s essential that actors can feel safe and comfortable in order for them to be at their best and most successful. I also want to think that my audition process is extremely organized. I have learned from some of the best in the industry. My passion for casting has led me to a process that I believe is as efficient, clear, and warm as possible. JP: Unless we’re running crazy behind, we will hear the material that we send to you. We’re always very respectful of trying to give people time—not just in the room, but to prepare as well. There’s a big culture of sending material out the night before and asking people to prepare, like, 15 pages of sides. We’re trying to manage that as much as possible. Where possible, we’ll get feedback on auditions. You will always hear from us, whether we’re taking you for the project or not. That should be a standard expectation of coming into our audition room.
Want more?
Read the full interview at backstage.com/magazine
Back on Broadway
After a grueling shutdown, the Main Stem returns with old favorites and splashy new shows alike. Presenting: your fall 2021 theater guide!
By Diep Tran & Casey Mink
HISTORY IS HAPPENING IN MANHATTAN AS BROADWAY WAKES
from an unprecedented year-and-a-half shutdown. After former Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave New York theaters the go-ahead to reopen at full capacity beginning on May 19, Broadway shows began to announce their return dates. In a joint announcement, “Hamilton,” “Wicked,” and “The Lion King” shared on “Good Morning America” that they would all be resuming performances on Sept. 14.
Those shows join other productions that have also locked in their returns, including “Six,” “The Phantom of the Opera,” “Chicago,” “Come From Away,” and “Company.”
The return of Broadway means many new protocols that would have been unimaginable to prepandemic theatergoers. Most notably, all Broadway actors and audiences will need to be vaccinated against COVID-19. Additionally, audience members will be required to wear masks when seated and moving about the theater; they can only be removed when eating or drinking.
Many productions will now allow ticket buyers to refund or exchange their tickets for any reason, in contrast with prepandemic rules. Furthermore, the Nederlander Organization— which owns nine Broadway theaters, including the home of “Hamilton”—says it has upgraded its air filtration systems “to comply with CDC guidelines for hospitalgrade filtration and [increased] fresh outdoor air and air exchange to the greatest extent possible.”
Interestingly, some shows will be operating on a truncated schedule. Instead of the usual eight shows a week, “Six” on Broadway will be doing six shows a week, with some exceptions for holidays and previews. “Chicago” will be running five shows a week most weeks, beginning Sept. 14.
The 2021–22 season will be filled with opening nights, as shows that were in previews in 2020 but never got to open (such as “Six” and “Company”) will finally get the red carpet treatment. There will also be entirely new productions headed to the Great White Way, including “MJ: The Musical,” a new jukebox musical about Michael Jackson, and a revival of “The Music Man” starring Hugh Jackman and Sutton Foster (the latter, notably, no longer driven by disgraced producer Scott Rudin).
What follows is a list of Broadway shows that have announced their return or premiere dates. Some shows will also have a preview period, in which case their official opening date is subsequently noted. This list will be continually updated on backstage.com as more productions confirm their dates.
Who better than the Boss to reopen Broadway? He did just that earlier this summer. His oneman show played a limited return engagement at the St. James Theatre, which concluded on Sept. 4.
“Pass Over”: AUG. 4; OPENED AUG. 22
“Waitress”: SEPT. 2
Singer-songwriter-actor Sara Bareilles is bringing her bakedfrom-the-heart hit back to Broadway, even though it closed in January 2020, months before the pandemic-induced shutdown. Bareilles is once again starring.
“Chicago”: SEPT. 14
“Hamilton”: SEPT. 14
“Wicked”: SEPT. 14
“David Byrne’s American Utopia”: SEPT. 17
“Six”: SEPT. 17; OPENS OCT. 3
When Broadway abruptly shut down on March 12, 2020, “Six” was literally hours away from its official opening night (and subsequently, its reviews). The pop tuner, about the six wives of Henry VIII—all of whom are modeled here after various pop stars—is finally getting its royal opening this fall at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre.
23; OPENS OCT. 10
“The Lehman Trilogy”:
SEPT. 25; OPENS OCT. 14
Director Sam Mendes is following up his last familial epic, “The Ferryman,” with another one. Stefano Massini’s “The Lehman Trilogy” (adapted by Ben Powers) opens on Broadway following sold-out runs in London as well as in New York at the Park Avenue Armory.
“Aladdin”: SEPT. 28
OCT. 5
“Freestyle Love Supreme”:
OCT. 7
OCT. 8; OPENS OCT. 27
“Tina—The Tina Turner Musical”: OCT. 8
“Ain’t Too Proud—The Life and Times of the Temptations”: OCT. 16
OPENS DEC. 5
OPENS NOV. 18
Whether Broadway’s reckoning with systemic racism will spur lasting industry change remains to be seen. However, there is a marked, invigorated push to produce more work by Black writers on the Great White Way than in years past; this includes the Broadway premiere of Alice Childress’ “Trouble in Mind,” starring Tony winner LaChanze.
“Diana: The Musical”:
NOV. 2; OPENS NOV. 17
“Clyde’s”: NOV. 3; OPENS NOV. 22
“The Book of Mormon”:
NOV. 5
“Flying Over Sunset”:
NOV. 11; OPENS DEC. 13
“Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”: NOV. 12
“Company”: NOV. 15; OPENS DEC. 9
Phone rings, door chimes, in comes…Patti LuPone, Katrina Lenk, and the rest of Marianne Elliott’s gender-swapped cast of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company.”
OPENS FEB. 1, 2022
OPENS FEB. 10, 2022
OPENS JAN. 12, 2022
“Plaza Suite”: FEB. 25, 2022; OPENS MARCH 28, 2022
Real-life husband-and-wife duo Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are committed to bringing their Neil Simon farce to Broadway. Another show that was in previews at the time of the shutdown, “Plaza Suite” finally opens next spring at the Hudson Theatre under the direction of John Benjamin Hickey.
Patti Scialfa and Bruce Springsteen in “Springsteen on Broadway”
2022; OPENS MARCH 20, 2022
OPENS APRIL 7, 2022
2022; OPENS APRIL 4, 2022
18, 2022; OPENS APRIL 10, 2022
MARCH 29, 2022; OPENS APRIL 19, 2022
If all had gone according to schedule, Mary-Louise Parker would likely have been in Tonys contention with herself for the 2019–20 Broadway season, for her fall run in “The Sound Inside” and her spring turn in “How I Learned to Drive.” The pandemic, of course, had other plans for Parker; she’ll finally open Paula Vogel’s two-hander opposite David Morse next April.
