CAST AS: Willy, Ag. Inspector, Weedpatch Camp Director in Grapes of Wrath
About this performance:
This was a gigantic production in that there were 35 of us in the cast! We functioned very much as an ensemble, morphing into and out of characters and situations as the Joads made their way to California. 27 performances total.
Not a blooper, but the theatre had just installed a new lighting system, which went out twice during (during performances!) the run! Amazingly, the audiences just went right along with the journey and didn't mind the worklights.
Advice for others:
Read the book: It offers so much background and answers so many questions about the characters. Also, study the wonderful photographs of the era (Dorothea Lange and others, easily found on Google). Our cast even did an encampment out in a field one evening during rehearsals to get a stronger sense of what we were portraying.
