Below is the information for the next table read. From filmmaker Anna Maria Hozian, we are pleased to announce that we are reading “Anchor Baby”. If you are interested in putting yourself on tape (audio or video), for consideration to read one of these roles, please email atthetable@ifachicago.org to request the sides for the specific role you are intereseted in.
Deadline for submissions is Monday, July 13, 2020 at 5:00 pm. Please upload your audition tape, resume and headshot via dropbox to:
https://www.dropbox.com/request/2Ok4txqbbw9zzD4xeQLQ
The Table Read is on Thursday, July 30th at 6:00 pm via ZOOM with a rehearsal on Monday, July 27th at 5:30 pm. You will need to have a strong internet connection on your home computer.
Logline:
After witnessing his father nearly beat a Mexican immigrant to death while patrolling the desert border, a 13-year-old boy growing up in the Arizona Border Militia finds solace in the last place he ever thought he would -- the arms of the new migrant girl in town.
Synopsis:
The world of thirteen-year-old ISAIAH JENNINGS revolves around his small Arizona town, his friends, and most of all his father, PERSHING JENNINGS, a leader in the local border militia. When he discovers his mother, EUGENIE, is delivering “anchor babies” as a midwife for undocumented mothers, Isaiah is determined to tell his father, but soon realizes it will tear his family apart. Instead, against his mother’s wishes, Isaiah joins his father looking for immigrants crossing the border. But while in the desert, Isaiah witnesses the militiamen nearly beat an undocumented Mexican migrant to death. Isaiah’s family begins to fracture under the weight of these secrets and he finds refuge in an outsider, JULIA DELGADO, the new migrant girl in town. Armed with the power of a first love, Isaiah must choose whether to stay loyal to his father and the world he has always known, or to step outside and determine for himself what is right and what is wrong. But his father’s unraveling may cost them all too much in the end, and Isaiah's world could implode just as he begins to understand it.
Character Breakdown:
NARRATOR: Latina woman, 30s and above.
ALBERTO: Julia’s father, Colombian, 30s/40s. Works around the clock to provide for his family. Does not like the idea of his daughter going anywhere near the boys and their families in this town. Believes that the U.S. will provide opportunities for them, but he’s not buying into the American Dream, either. He does not look back and pine for Colombia - he simply wants to move forward with his life, and his wife and daughter’s lives. Fluent in Spanish a plus.
EUGENIE: Isaiah’s mother, Caucasian, 30s. To keep her family fed and together, she works every job she can find, including delivering babies to undocumented migrants, which she keeps from her husband (Pershing). She was young when she fell in love with Pershing, but now feels trapped in her marriage — they have no money and nowhere to go.
FITZ: Grandfather of Isaiah and Father of Pershing, Caucasian, 50s-70s. Served in Vietnam and is a Marine through and through. Finds his son’s (Pershing’s) actions as an Arizona Militia member to be embarrassing. He wants his grandson (Isaiah) to follow in his footsteps as a Marine, not his father’s, and has come back to Arizona to be sure that he does.
ISAIAH: Caucasian, a 14-year-old boy growing up in the Arizona Border Militia. His father (Pershing) is one of the founders. He believes his father walks on water — that is, until he sees him beat a man in the desert. Enmeshed in this world, he tries to avoid getting pulled deeper into it, but can only find an escape through Julia, the new girl in town.
PERSHING: Isaiah's father, Caucasian, later 30s. A man who wants nothing more than to raise his family, but with a failing economy and no education, he blames the rest of the world, particularly immigrants, for his station in life. After losing his job, instead of facing the tough decision to start over somewhere else or in some other field, he chooses to found a border militia group to try and stop immigrants crossing from Mexico.
JULIA: Colombian, 14/15-year-old, the newly arrived girl in school. She has been in the U.S. since she was young, but is new to town here in Arizona. She wants to learn as much as she can and grow independent, not needing people like those in this town. She has as many assumptions about Isaiah as he does about her — many are true, but many are not. Fluent in Spanish a plus.
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