WHISPER HOUSE: Kyle's Blog - Double Bill: ON CHILD ACTORS and OLD GLOBE, HO!

Grammy and Tony award-winning songwriter and composer Duncan Sheik returns with his new album WHISPER HOUSE, which hit stores on January 27 from Victor Records/Sony Music. WHISPER HOUSE marks Sheik's first solo album since 2006's critically-acclaimed White Limousine and comes on the heels of the success of Spring Awakening. The idea for WHISPER HOUSE came about when actor Keith Powell (30 Rock) approached Sheik about developing a musical theatre piece with him.

Following a trip Powell took to New England, a story began to emerge centered around a lighthouse, and up-and-coming young playwright Kyle Jarrow, already an Obie winner for A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, signed on to create the book. BroadwayWorld is excited to bring you Kyle's exclusive WHISPER HOUSE Blog following the show from it's inception through the tentatively scheduled Broadway Production in 2010, now continue the journey with Kyle to WHISPER HOUSE!

Part One: ON CHILD ACTORS

This week in Whisper House news: we're gearing up for the New York Stage & Film workshop of the show, so we're deep in the casting process. Today we're holding auditions for the role of Christopher, the 11-year-old boy who sits at the center of the piece. It's a tricky role to cast-it's important that it's someone who doesn't have that "child actor" gloss. But at the same time it's a large, and demanding, role. Finding someone who can deliver on that, and still has a certain natural-ness to him, may be a challenge. But I'm confident we'll find someone.

A couple years ago, I did a show called A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, for which the cast was all children. With that piece, we had similar needs as Whisper House-we wanted actors who could handle some fairly demanding material, but at the same time felt like reAl Young people and not hyper-polished "Hollywood kids." When we were first holding auditions, I was petrified that we wouldn't find anyone who fit the bill. I had been a child actor myself, and having recently watched a couple old videos (on VHS!) of some of those youthful performances, I realized that I came across as glossy and cheesy in the worst kid actor-y way. I mostly watched through my fingers, mortified.

What I realized in auditions for Scientology Pageant was that it doesn't have to be like that. That there are two kinds of child actors: those with training and polish and those whose the talent is still raw and unadulterated. That second group is an incredible privilege to watch onstage. And awesome to work with as well.

That's the great thing about being a kid. You haven't yet grown into that adolescent self-awareness where you're conscious of your every move and worried about the way you look from every angle. If you've received a lot of training, sometimes you can prematurely develop that kind of awareness (that's the "Hollywood Kid" thing). But if you're going on instincts, you can turn in a performance that's honest and natural beyond what almost any adult actor can deliver. Especially with a strong director guiding you.

So that's what we're hoping for in today's casting session. A lofty goal? Maybe. But I think we can do it. Fingers crossed.

Part Two: OLD GLOBE, HO!

It's now been officially announced that WHISPER HOUSE will have its world premiere at the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego in January 2010. This is exciting for a bunch of reasons: one, the Globe is a top-notch theater that does top-notch productions and is a great pre-NYC starting point for a show. Two, Lou Spisto, who's the Executive Director at the Globe, is a hell of a nice guy and a very talented producer. Three, Jack DePalma, who's the Play Development Director at the Globe, is one of the nicest and smartest people I've met in the theater industry . Four, it means I get to spend the heart of winter in sunny California, which kind of rocks.

This news also lays out the direction of this blog in the months to come. It'll follow WHISPER HOUSE through its workshop production this summer at New York Stage and Film at Vassar (we're working on casting now!), then through the pre-production stages, rehearsals, and production at Old Globe in the winter. Throughout the process, I'll bring Keith (director) and Duncan (songwriter) into the fold as contributors to the blog, and we'll supplement the text with photos and maybe even some video uploads.

Speaking of photos: David Poe, who's playing one of the ghosts in WHISPER HOUSE, took some photos of a workshop we did of the show last May. He put them up on his flickr account, and you can see them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/mockstar/sets/72157604938695362/. The album highlights, if you ask me, are David Poe sitting in a chair in his dressing room looking incredibly intense and borderline demonic-and George Farmer, bass player, standing on the stage looking majorly badass. Check them out, and check back here soon for more updates.

-Kyle Jarrow

Kyle Jarrow is a writer and musician based in New York City. He writes for the stage as well as film and television, and he plays in the bands The Fabulous Entourage and Super Mirage. He won the prestigious OBIE Award at age 24 for his Off-Broadway hit A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant, which has subsequently been produced all over the country. Kyle's play Armless won the Overall Excellence Award at the New York International Fringe Festival. Other plays include Love Kills, Trigger, President Harding is a Rock Star, Rip Me Open (co-writer), Hostage Song (music & lyrics), Gorilla Man (script available from Samuel French), and the upcoming Big Money (with Nathan Leigh) and Whisper House (with Tony-winner Duncan Sheik, record now available from RCA/Victor).

For more information on Whisper House visit: www.duncansheik.com/whisperhouse

For more information on Kyle visit: www.landoftrust.com

Visit these links for exclusive newsletters:

Whisper House Newsletter: http://www.duncansheik.com/whisperhouse/signup.html

Masterworks Broadway Newsletter: www.masterworksbroadway.com

Photo of Kyle by Sarah Sloboda