The NEXT AUDITION OPPORTUNITY for Actors:
PROJECT:
Feature Film Trailer – The Italian American Love Affair.
Producer / Director: Rich Benfante aka Ricardo Del California
Also Casting for Web Series Trailer.
SYNOPSIS:
Genre: Classic Romance.
Project Description: Movie Trailer for the potential film (approximately 2-4 minutes).
FEATURE FILM to be shot in San Diego area.
AUDITION DATE
3/12/22 3-5 PM at Actors Workshop Studios
AUDITION:
Cold Read / Improv.
TALENT OFFER:
Gas compensation, Acting credit, and Meals
CHARACTERS:
Talent Requirements:
Creativity and dedication to performance.
Ability to swim.
In montage there may be a short snorkeling scene.
Katherine (20-30)
Katherine was born in Queens, New York, in the mid 1930s. She is the youngest of 7 children. She had 2 sisters and 4 brothers. Her father was in the building trades and was a plasterer by trade. He came to the United States in 1924 from Sicily, Italy, on the Rex steamship. He was 1 of 12 million people that arrived in Ellis Island. He came to this country with little means, big dreams, and eventually bought a home for his family. Her mother was a homemaker and raised the children.
From a young age Katherine was adventurous and mischievous. At 2 years old she decided to explore the house and disappeared. Her parents and siblings were frantically looking for her. They meticulously went through the house, back yard, the stable, and went to the neighbor’s house. Prior to her mother calling the police, she was found in the family cellar asleep and drunk. She sat under one of her father’s wine vats and drank from the dripping wine he was making. Katherine’s mother said she stunk like a drunk. Katherine would enjoy making snowmen in the winter. One time she decided to light candles in the front yard igloo her brothers made. After a while the igloo collapsed. She dug her way out.
At 12 years old her brothers built a row boat, and sailed it in a local harbor. She was assigned to be the “can girl” and throw water out of the boat if it leaked. After an hour of sailing in the harbor many leaks were sprung. She did her best, but the boat sank, and the local harbor police fished them out of the ocean.
Katherine was a tomboy growing up. As she developed into a woman she embodied a Sophia Loren-esque appearance, and had a very jovial personality. She came to the attention of her future husband after he saw a picture of her. His sister, who lived in Italy, was friend’s with her mother, who lived in New York. His sister and her mother would often correspond and occasionally send pictures to one another. He decided to write to her. They embarked on a 7 year writing relationship. She was 15 years old and he was 22 years old. Paolo, her future husband, would write to her from around the world as he was a merchant marine. He would send her postcards from the exotic places he visited.
Her senior yearbook caption captured her presence and personality as follows, ”knowing Kathi is a pleasure – her personality is a pleasure.” She went to a high school that was a trade school. Katherine studied sewing and considered being a seamstress. Shortly after high school she went to Cosmetology school.
In December 1958 she bought a plane ticket to meet Paolo as he was ending his career in the merchant service after 13 years of service, and many voyages around the world. Katherine did not tell her father she was leaving as he was strict, and would have never let her go to Europe without a chaperone. Before she flew to Italy she secretly told her mother. Katherine was given a big reception by her aunt in Italy, and 22 of her other relatives who came to see her at the airport.
Katherine traveled to Messina, Sicily, where Paolo ended his last cruise. He accompanied her back to Palermo, where they dated for a few weeks where he proposed to her atop of Mt. Pelligrino. It was a romantic proposal over the Mediterranean. Katherine told Paolo she would have to check his record with the police before she could give him an answer. The following day she went to the local police precinct, and found out he had a clean record. She accepted his proposal, and they were wed in Manhattan in January 1959.
She later worked on 5th avenue in Manhattan and became very successful as a hairstylist. She would cut hair for prominent businessmen, show girls from the New York Rockettes, and was the personal hair stylist for movie actress Zsa Zsa Gabor. Katherine later won an international hair styling competition in the mid-1960s. Katherine had their first child. Their daughter was born premature, but she grew into a charming young girl. Her husband and she later decided to move to San Diego where her parents retired in September of 1968.
Her husband and she bought a home. In 1973 she had a son named Roger when she was 36 yo. Katherine’s family enjoyed hosting holidays, parties, and would often sing in the home as she was cleaning and tending to her children. She had an operatic voice and would sing at church, wedding, and funerals.
Paolo (20-30)
Paolo was born in Sicily, Italy, in the early 1930s. He was the youngest of 4 siblings. His mother was a homemaker, and his father was a merchant marine. Paolo’s life drastically changed in July of 1943 when the Allies bombed Palermo, Sicily. Paolo lost his mother at 13 years old. She died of pneumonia in the bomb shelters, and his sister fell to the same demise shortly after. Paolo lived in poverty for 3 years after the war. He had limited food, and used tires to make sandals. Paolo’s life changed dramatically when he joined the merchant marine service at 17 yo. He sailed around the world delivering merchant goods to different countries. During his service he sailed all over the globe to Europe, Africa, and to the United states learning about different cultures. He also had an affair with a lovely English woman he met in Curacao. Paolo cherished the time there with her drinking wine and swimming in the coral reefs.
When he returned to home town of Palermo he visited his sister and her family. Paolo came across a letter and family pictures his sister’s friend sent to his sister from New York. Paolo saw a beautiful young teenager named Katherine. He wrote to her mother and requested to write to her with permission. Paolo corresponded with Katherine for 7 years. Their letters started off as a friendship, but grew into a romantic relationship.
Paolo told her of his journeys, dangers, and the excitement of the merchant marine life. Paolo wrote to her about how he saw his first Christmas tree in Scotland, and how he visited the exotic island of Madagascar. Paolo would often send her postcards from places such as Egypt, France, and Mississippi. Paolo nearly lost his life while on the merchant vessel, the Zancle, during a strong tempest in the Indian Ocean. On a stormy September night he was nearly washed overboard by waves trying to secure cargo on the deck of the ship. After pondering his mortality, Paolo decided to retire from his 12 years in the Merchant service to pursue marriage and domestic life. In December of 1958 Katherine flew to meet him in Messina where he ended his seafaring career.
Paolo and her dated each other for a month before he proposed to her. Paolo and Katherine were wed in New York in January of 1959. Paolo took on the challenges of learning English and embarked on his life’s career as a welder. Katherine and Paolo had their first child, Cecily, in 1965. Their daughter was born premature at 3lbs, and was in an incubator for a few months before coming home. Paolo and Katherine’s lives and faith were put to the test, but brought their beautiful new born home a month later. Paolo and Katherine decided to move to California in the fall of 1968. They bought a beautiful home in San Diego, CA. They found the perfect house. The house was very unique in that it was on an island street. The front of the house was on one street which looped around to the backstreet where their garage door faced. They loved taking walks and riding bikes with their daughter around their neighborhood island.
Paolo celebrated his 40th birthday at a barbeque in their backyard with their friends. One of Paulo’s dear friends, Vern, was there with. Paolo saved Vern from getting his leg nearly torn off when he went lobster diving. Costume parties and other holidays were celebrated in their island house. Unfortunately, their home was robbed on one Halloween night in 1970, and Paolo lost many of his prized tools. Paolo later engraved all the new tools he bought afterwards.
Paolo and Katherine faced another life changing encounter where his wife nearly lost her eyesight due to a previous fall from ice skating injury in New York years prior. After a miraculous surgery Katherine and Paolo struggled to have another child until the birth of their son, Roger, in 1973. Paolo often told his friends and family about an experience where he was visited by a man riding his bike on spring day. Paolo was mowing his lawn when the man shared his faith with him. Paolo looked down briefly to ponder a question, and when he looked up the man was gone. Paolo had an encounter with an angel. Paolo credited this experience to finding his faith in God. Paolo’s life seemed to go full circle when he went to visit his father back in Italy at the end of his life. Paolo’s father had dementia and did not recognize him. Paolo spent the final days of his father’s life with the man who inspired Paolo to pursue the sea merchant’s life.
Notes:
Must be willing to travel between San Diego and Long Beach.
Please see theitalianamericanloveaffair.com for more background on the potential film.