To Whom It May Concern
Here’s the sketch for Aurin Squires’ brilliantly , written play : ” To Whom It May Concern .”
Directed , cast and produced by David Gaard . I was at Davids’ side , as his assistant and set designer from the day he decided to give life to this amazing little gem .
We held readings and chose the cast at a wonderful , little place on W.48th St.
Then we found The Arclight Theater on W.71st St. , which proved to be to have the perfect theater for this production .
David chose Pamela Gittlitz as a his stage manager , Erich Loetterle ; as technical director , Michele Riesch ; as costume designer , Me as his personal assistant , set and graphic designer .
We saw an amazing amount of talented actors and finally chose Israel Gutierrez as Lorenzo the lead . Nicholas Reilly ; as the understudy . A.J. Castano as ; Maurice ; the soldier stationed in Kabul and Carmelo Ferro , as his understudy .
All of these people are very talented and professional and I was flattered to be working with them .
After a few weeks of rehearsals , tweaks here and there , we got into the theater and began to create a space , in which , the young boy ( Lorenzo ) lives , in Kansas .
The soldiers’ tent in Kabul was a few military props and a tan curtain that could be hidden away , easily , because most of the play takes place in Lorenzos’ room .
With lots of paint , muslin , 2×4s and a minimal amount of furnishings we were able to create the right “feel” for this touching piece . Here are a few photos taken right before the preview .
The walls are all hand painted or “sponged ” to look like an old floral print , wall paper and each item and prop were selected to give the feel of a small town boys’ room who
is very intelligent but still in search of his identity . He finds a role model in a newspaper article , who happens to be a young man stationed in Kabul . He writes the soldier a fan letter and sends him some home made cookies . Through a series of misunderstandings , this brings about a funny and touching friendship between two lonely out casts .
The cast and crew are stellar and I recommend you bring a handkerchief with you . You’ll need it to wipe away the tears of laughter and some very tender , tear jerking moments . It’s a very moving little production and I think it’s just the start of this little stories life span .
Tags: TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN / Aurin Squire / David Gaard / Bruce Eyster /