"Who Got The Part?" Sheila Karls

BackstageWest Magazine

 

Role: Rona Peretti 

Project: 'The 25th Annual Putnum County Spelling Bee'      

 By Jessica Gardner  

 

                                                                                 

 

 

 

At age 24, Sheila Karls was still in school. She had graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan, studied opera in Greece, worked and took classes in New York, studied acting at the California Institute of the Arts, and was studying musical theater at the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in Los Angeles. "I started to realize I was addicted to training instead of doing," says Karls."....

Karls, who describes herself as an avid Back Stage subscriber and reader, saw an open-call notice for "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee" at 3-D Theatricals in Santa Ana, Calif.......She wore pigtails and a little dress to the audition, thinking she would be seen for one of the kid roles, but director D.J. Gray heard the warmth in Karls' voice and thought, "She's a Rona," referring to the spelling bee's moderator. Gray asked Karls if she could come to the callback prepared to audition for the adult role.....

Gray noticed and appreciated her efforts. "It was lovely to see an actress who is able to say, 'They don't see me as this,' and turn it around so quickly," says the director. At the callback, Karls was paired up with actors reading for the role of Vice Principal Panch. While she was expecting to sing or maybe dance with her partner, she found out they would be doing improv and writing jokes together.

Gray, who was the associate choreographer for the original production of "Spelling Bee" on Broadway, had insight into how to cast this unique show, which comprises many short scenes. "It's a hard show to cast because everything is so piecemeal," she explains. "You have to get as much as you can from the characters in a very short amount of time. Are they going to be able to have the depth of this character? Or will they just make a caricature of them? Panch and Rona are the heartbeat that keeps the show going. I needed to find actors who had chemistry and could work together. So, for the audition process, I had them write jokes together before they stepped into the room. I could see how they worked together and how they bantered off of each other. That's really important. Sheila did great. She really got it."  
A few weeks later, Karls received a phone call....She got the part.