BY LUCIA MAURO
Okay, class, define UMLAUT? A) A light, fruit flavored Teutonic liquor of amazing potency? B) Beowulf’s half-sister, the heroine of the recently discovered and much debated saga fragment? C) A diacritical mark used in German? D) Chicago’s newest casting company? Time’s up. The answer(s): C and D.
Yup, Chicago has a new casting company headed by industry veteran Peter Oestreich. The company–which will concentrate on commercials, industrials, voice-overs, print and trade shows–opened May 1. At the moment all submissions are coming through agents, but postcards are welcome. The address is: Umlaut, c/o Beautiful, the Agency, Inc, 935 Chestnut, Suite LL12, Chicago, IL, 60622. Needless to say, do not telephone.
Look for Jane Alderman’s bookings for Joshua in the next issue. But now, congratulate those cast in the new series "The Mind of the Married Man" which will be stopping by Chicago frequently–a la "ER." Booked were Rich Talarrco, James Saltouros, Caitlin Hart, Claire Coffee and Justin Ochonicki.
Chicago Casting Company cast for Cleveland Playhouse and Great Lakes Theatre Festival and booked eight actors for "Elimidate."
And it’s 13 more episodes of "What About Joan?" Hoo-Ray! Claire Simon will continue to man that project’s helm. In the meantime, she’s casting commercials for Sun America, Pharma, CocaCola and John Deere. She also cast a music video and booked Lorado Sheppard in a documentary.
A lot of commercial bookings from Lily’s to report. Spots went to Ricardo Talavera, Lily Perez, Evelina Navaro, Taylor Smith, Lisa DiGangi, Phillip Sanchez, Jerry Williams, Chloe Nourbash, Heather Richey, Darbe Canady, Liz Rodriguez, Maria Arredondo, Charles Browning, Brett Cory, Charin Alvarez, Sean Mitchell, Grace Dunaway, Joe Wakeman, and Anthony Hill. Industrials went to Madrid St. Angelo, Cory Blount, Candace Thomas, Tom Lally, Elizabeth Arcineaux, Larry Kuchank, Eva Pietns, Gary Goodson and Rula Gardinier. The "Lucky Seven" for June are (drum roll, please): Alison Hart, Amanda Rempert, Elizabeth Arcineaux, Thibaut Peters, Nate Noggle, Josh Pace and recent Roosevelt grad Parvesh Cheena.
Now hear this! Lily’s is looking for new talent ages 2-24 years old, of all ethnicities for their summer open call. That open call will be held Saturday, June 16th and Saturday, June 23rd at their offices at 1301 West Washington, Suite B, from 1 a.m. to 4 p.m. Talent are asked to bring two photos and a resume if available.
And Emilia Lorrence sent word that Jocelyn Chambers, Keith Dutton, James Womack and Jenna Jimenez booked commercials. Sophia Thomas had a voice-over and industrials went to Angie Stavrianos, Bob Kaliebe, Pam Mack, Cathy Breslin and Tom Higgins.
Peace.