WORKSHOP CASTING CALL INFORMATION

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Thank you for your interest in our inaugural Workshop for "Pop's Diner" at the Brook Arts Center, 10 Hamilton Street, Bound Brook, NJ. This is a unique opportunity to be involved in a brand-new theater project from the very beginning, from inception. After running several virtual table reads of our show during COVID, this is the first time ever that we will be facilitating a live, in-person workshop to act, sing (and maybe even dance a little) our musical, so we are looking for actors/actresses for each and every role, from leads thru ensemble. 

Please note: This is a non-paid, non-Actors' Equity workshop!

We've completed all our In-Person Casting Calls and our first round of casting, but we are still looking for new talent to join us and fill some spots! Currently, we are accepting Video Auditions for:

ADULT MALE LEAD: playing mid-to-late 40's - 50's, father

ADULT FEMALE LEAD: playing mid-to-late 40's - 50's, mother

TEEN MALE LEAD: playing 19yo/20yo

TEEN MALE SUPPORTING LEADS (2): playing 17yo - 18yo 

ADULT ENSEMBLE: Male/Female Actors/Singers, 30's - 70's

TEEN ENSEMBLE: Male/Female Actors/Singers/Dancers, 16yo - 18yo; due to some mature themes and language, anyone under 18yo must have consent of parent or guardian to audition/participate. 

Please start your video by "slating" with your full name, age and the name of song that you are singing, followed by your 32-bar audition cut of a 1970's pop song (no musical theater songs, please!) When ready to submit, click the link to complete the on-line electronic form below using this link: https://forms.gle/nGe3XJBqoTuR53768 . If you logged into the form using a gmail.com email address, then you can upload your audition video, resume and headshot on the last page (Section 5 - FILE UPLOADS). If not, then after submitting the form, please email your video audition, resume and headshot to: info@popsdinermusical.com

Your submission will be reviewed, and if called back for a role, you must attend in person in order to be considered for this workshop! If you run into any issues, please chat with us via this website. 

For a synopsis of Pop's Diner and the cast of characters, please click the About Pop's Diner button below: 

If you are selected and accept to be part of our workshop, rehearsals are being held Wednesday evenings from 7:30pm until 10:30pm at the Brook Arts Center. As things progress, and further down the line we move to a staged read, we might require more rehearsals/week (TBD). 

All participants will be required to bring a laptop, iPad/tablet, or smartphone to use to access the Pop's Diner script and vocal score. The script and score is subject to change throughout the Workshop so are not expecting to be printing hard copies.

As mentioned above, the end goal for our workshop is to perform a staged read of Pop's Diner. Our current target date is January/February 2026.

This staged read will be a stripped-down performance version of Pop's Diner for an invited audience to gain the feedback necessary to determine if we are ready to bring our show to the local stage in full production mode: sets, scenery, costumes, choreography, orchestra, etc. It's our dream to see Pop's Diner come to life and grow, and we hope you will take this journey with us . . .   

Not an actor, singer, or dancer but love the theater? If you have a passion and want to help be part of this ground-breaking new musical experience right here in New Jersey, then Pop's wants you! 

We are looking for volunteers to help us out with this upcoming workshop, as well as our production later this year. Right now we are looking for potential production assistants to help out our director, choreographer, musical director at rehearsals, volunteers for props and sets/scenery, etc. Please email us at info@popsdinermusical.com with your name, email address, phone number, your age, and how you might want to help. Anyone under the age of 18 must have the permission of a parent or guardian to participate in this adventure.

Thanks, in advance, for your interest . . . 

Marty Alen Angstreich!

For those who might be new to the term "Workshop," let me explain exactly what we are doing:

A musical theater workshop is often how new shows are born; It is in some ways a script "incubator." Many of the big Broadway productions that you might have seen have gone through this often long, tedious and sometimes painful process. Shows like Jonathan Larsen's "Rent" spent ten years in workshops at the Public Theater until it found a home on Broadway. Lin-Manuel Miranda's "Hamilton." started as a workshop based on a mixtape. And most recently, the Bobby Darin musical, "Just in Time" spent seven years in development before making it to the Great White Way. Look at "Smash," a TV show (now a Broadway show about the making of a Broadway show) that was basically about a workshop of a Broadway show! This is often how shows go from an idea to (if you are lucky) a hit, by workshopping until the show has legs and someone decides it's ready and needs to be produced for stage!

In my case, I have an original script and a large number of vocal arrangements for popular songs written by other composers/lyricists (ergo "jukebox musical") that need to be fully fleshed out. Our workshop will consist of:

• table reads of the script/dialogue
• learning and singing through the musical arrangements
• applying staging/blocking - scene by scene, act by act
• adding some simple choreography where we can (TBD)

Our desired end goal for this workshop is to eventually perform a staged read to determine next steps for bringing Pop's Diner to the stage for a full-blown production (see below.)

How long will this Workshop run?

Great question! I don't know. Some workshops only last a couple days; those are more likely where the playwright is looking to hear his/her work read aloud. This workshop, as I've described above, is a much more in-depth and lengthy process, as I am looking to see this show run end-to-end, book and music, so I am expecting the workshop to run for about four to six months. So if you are interested in going on this journey with us, then you should take that into consideration. However, for the foreseeable future, the rehearsal schedule will only be one night a week so that it won't be highly intrusive to our actors and other participants. 

Why do a Workshop and not just put on a show?

Another great question! The answer is simple, but complex at the same time.

Mounting a show - especially a musical - takes not only a lot of time and people, but a lot of money! For frame of reference, it costs on average approximately $10 million to mount a Broadway show! Obviously, a community theater show is way less expensive, however, the numbers are not cheap given the costs of the theater and staff, creative team, costumes, props and scenery, lighting, tickets, programs, publicity, etc. etc. etc.

The bigger issue is the success factor: no one wants to mount a show that you don't know will be a success! When you have a brand new work - like Pop's Diner - from a brand new playwright - like me - you want to make sure what you have before you throw a lot of money into a production. The smart move is a Workshop like this, to help work through every aspect of what will hopefully become a production.

What I do know is that going into this Pop's Diner Workshop I have a script that is twenty years in the making that has already on its third major update and dozens of minor ones with possibly more to come, and sixteen musical arrangements that will go through refinements as needed. I am thoroughly confident and highly passionate about this project, I have an amazing historic theater to work in and a great team behind me, and as one of my favorite contemporary musical theater geniuses has aptly said, "I am not throwing away my shot!" And if you read this far and want to go on this journey with us, I hope you'll attend our casting call and take your shot, too!