Laughter on the 23rd Floor
Written By: Neil Simon
Directed By: Ida Zecco
Stage Manager: Vicki Yates
AUDITIONS:
Wednesday, February 26, 2025
Thursday, February 27, 2025
6:00 – 8:30 pm
Auditionees do not need to come to both days of auditions.
PRODUCTION DATES:
Thursday May 15, 2025 – Sunday May 18, 2025
Friday May 23, 2025 – Sunday May 25, 2025
Thursday May 29, 2025 – Sunday June 1, 2025
(11 Performances)
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday shows are at 7:30 pm
Sunday shows are at 2:00 pm
Tech Week: REQUIRED
Saturday May 10, 2025
Monday May 12, 2025 – Wednesday May 14, 2025
We are looking for strong, passionate actors, and all ethnicities are encouraged to audition. Auditions will consist of readings from the script.
The Arctic Playhouse stands firm on the fact that strong actors with strong direction can play a role, no matter what their type, look, or ethnicity. Those interested should bring a resume (not an option) with photo/headshot. Auditions will consist of readings from the script.
CAST SIZE: 7 men 2 women, all ethnicities. Auditions will consist of readings from the script.
SYNOPSIS:
This play is based on television history.
The play combines the writing staffs of two Sid Caesar television programs – Your Show of Shows, which ran from 1950-1954, and its successor, Caesar’s Hour, which ran from 1954-1957 The plot arc of Laughter on the 23rd Floor leans more towards the trajectory of Your Show of Shows..
The play is based on Simon’s days as a young writer. It takes place in 1953, when Your Show of Shows was widely considered by audiences and critics alike to be the best, most sophisticated comedy on TV. It shaped the way America thought of TV comedy – sitcoms and variety shows alike – for generations to come, and most of the writers who passed through its doors continued to wield an outsized influence through the 1980s and beyond. The show was performed live, without cue cards, and nobody ad-libbed. It was tightly scripted, scrupulously rehearsed and highly professional, with high-quality costumes and sets. Apart from this play, Your Show of Shows was the inspiration for The Dick Van Dyke Show (its creator, Carl Reiner, was a regular both in front of, and behind, the camera on Your Show of Shows), as well as the 1982 Peter O’Toole film My Favorite Year (produced by Mel Brooks).
The historical notes on the people behind the characters that follow the descriptions will help provide perspective and context when you audition. (Please see historical notes after roles)
Audition Preparation:
- All auditionees should come prepared to the auditions with a current theatrical resume and headshot (please note headshots will not be returned).
- Auditionees will be asked to fill out an audition form and include all conflicts from the audition date to the end of performances.
- Auditions will consist of readings from the script.
- For Audition related questions or accommodations, Stage Manager, Vicki Yates (vickiyates74@gmail.com).
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Lucas Brickman (mid-late 20’s): Lucas has just started his second week as a writer on The Max Prince Show. He’s on a four-week “try-out” contract. He’s very much “the new guy” among an already-legendary writing staff, trying to fit in, become one of the group, and impress everyone enough to be hired permanently. He is also among the least neurotic of the bunch and narrator of the story.
Milt Fields (30’s+): Milt is a rapid-fire joke machine. He considers himself to be a cheap “wholesaler” among the other writers, who are “Tiffany” quality. Highly insecure, he tries to stand out by dressing flamboyantly and attempting to be a ladies’ man.
Val Slotsky (40s+): Val is the senior member of the staff, and the most politically aware of the bunch. As a Russian immigrant, he speaks with a strong accent. He is self-deprecating in an in-your-face kind of way. He states his philosophy in the play: “All humor is based on hostility.”
Brian Doyle (30’s+): A chain smoker and heavy drinker, Brian epitomizes the cynical, hard-living writer. He’s acerbic, bitter and has grandiose ideas that, any moment now, Hollywood will come calling. He and Ira Stone are constantly at each other’s throats.
Kenny Franks (late 20’s+): Kenny is the golden boy of the group – highly respected by all despite the fact that he’s the youngest, he’s sophisticated, worldly and self-assured.
Carol Wyman (30+): Carol is the lone woman on the writing staff. She is a veteran of the industry, having survived, and thrived, in this male dominated environment. In the first act, she’s been trying to get pregnant. In the second act, it is obvious she has succeeded. She is more mature and self-aware than most of her colleagues but is every bit as passionate and quick witted.
Max Prince (mid-30’s+): Max Prince is the star of the most popular show on television: The Max Prince Show. Like the characters he plays each week on camera, He is larger than life off camera as well. When he enters a room, he FILLS the room. He has a brilliant madness to him that is exacerbated by his use of alcohol and sleeping pills to fight his perpetual insomnia; increasingly, it either dissipates into disorientation or devolves into crazy paranoia. He is a comic genius with a work ethic that is equally impressive. He is a serious professional – and a seriously funny man. He does everything with gusto, exuberance, passion and abandon.
Helen (late 20s): Helen is the quintessential secretary for the group. She is kind-hearted and in awe of the talent she is privileged to be so close to. Her dream is to become a comedy writer herself. Unfortunately, she does not possess an ounce of comedic talent. But she is amiable and, although she is uneducated, she is self-possessed and unafraid to speak her mind.
Ira Stone (late 20s+): Ira is the most annoying member of the writing team – by far. He is a chronic hypochondriac and shameless attention seeker who is also extremely argumentative. Although he is late for work every day, and generally disruptive it is always he who is the victim. Unfortunately, he is also extremely funny and very inventive. If you don’t kill him, you kind of like him. He and Brian are always at each other’s throats.
THE ACTUAL PEOPLE BEHIND THE CHARACTERS IN THIS PLAY
Lucas Brickman: Is based on Neil Simon, himself. Simon was born in The Bronx, NY, to Jewish parents. The family moved to Washington Heights in upper Manhattan, where Simon grew up during the depression. Due to financial problems and his parents’ strained marriage, it was an unhappy childhood; Simon took refuge in the movies; Charlie Chaplin’s comic genius was an inspiring distraction from his troubled childhood. At one point, his father abandoned the family, and Neil and his brother, Danny, were forced to live with different relatives, which inspired Simon’s play Lost in Yonkers. Simon said that part of what made him a writer was the need to block “some of the really ugly, painful things in my childhood and cover it up with a humorous attitude.”
Milt Fields: Based on Sheldon Keller. Keller was born in Chicago to Jewish Polish immigrants and attended the University of Illinois, where he began writing comedy. He served in the Pacific Theater with the United States Army Signal Corps, where he met Carl Reiner. After the war, he moved to New York in the hopes of becoming a comedian. He soon began writing for television and in 1955 was hired to write for Sid Caesar’s, Caesar’s Hour. Fields wrote specials for Frank Sinatra, Danny Kaye and Carol Channing, as well as episodes of The Dick Van Dyke Show, M*A*S*H and other TV series.
Val Slotsky: Based on Mel Tolkin, who was the head writer on the show. Originally named Shmuel Tolchinsky, Tolkin’s family emigrated to Montreal, Quebec in 1926 from a Jewish shtetl near Odessa, Ukraine. After serving in the Canadian Army military orchestra during World War II, he moved to New York City, teamed with Lucille Kallen, and began writing comedy for performers at the Jewish resort Camp Tamiment in the Pocono mountains in Pennsylvania, which was the incubator for many future stars (including Danny Kaye, Imogene Coca, Jerome Robbins, Carol Burnett and Woody Allen, among others). As a team, he and Kallen were the sole writing staff for NBC’s variety show The Admiral Broadway Revue, out of which Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows was born. Tolkin wrote for many TV shows, including All in the Family, Archie Bunker’s Place, and Tony Randall’s sitcom Love, Sidney.
Brian Doyle: Based on Tony Webster, who was the only non-Jewish writer on the staff. He was born and raised in St. Louis and attended the University of Missouri before being drafted into the army. Upon his discharge, he moved to New York and quickly became one of the more reliable gag writers in the business. He got a high-profile job as a writer for TV on The Phil Silvers Show, and from there was hired on to Your Show of Shows staff. He is quoted as having said “Comedy goes right past tragedy,” and “I try to make people identify with a situation in comic terms where it would be too painful on a serious level.” He left Your Show of Shows in 1954 and went to Hollywood, where he was a prolific writer for shows such as Car 54, Where Are You?, That Was the Week That Was, The Red Skelton Hour, The Kraft Music Hall, Love American Style, Doc, and The Love Boat. He also wrote specials for Art Carney, Bing Crosby, Steve Lawrence and Jonathan Winters.
Kenny Franks: Based on Larry Gelbart, who was born to Jewish immigrants – his father from Latvia and his mother from Poland. During his childhood, the family moved to Los Angeles. After attending high school, Gelbart was drafted into the army just after World War II ended, where he worked for the Armed Force Radio Service in Los Angeles. He was honorably discharged after serving one year and 11 days. He began writing comedy at 16. During the 1940s, Gelbart wrote for Jack Paar and Bob Hope; and when Your Show of Shows was launched, he was hired immediately. Gelbart attained even more acclaim in the 1970s as one of the main forces behind the creation of the M*A*S*H television show. He wrote the pilot and several episodes; he produced the show and occasionally directed during its first four seasons. He also co-wrote the screenplay for 1982’s Tootsie, and several other films, including Oh, God, Bedazzled, and Rough Cut, to name a few. Additionally, he co-wrote the book for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
Carol Wyman: Based on Lucille Kallen, who was born in Los Angeles. As a teenager, she went to the Juilliard School in New York to study classical music, but abandoned her studies after being told her fingers were too short for the piano. She remained in New York and turned to writing sketches for musical reviews. In the audience one night was Max Liebman, who had already launched the careers of Danny Kaye, Mel Tolkin, Imogene Coca, Jerome Robbins, Carol Burnett and Woody Allen, among others. Throughout 1948, Kallen co-wrote a new review each week with Mel Tolkin, who would go on to collaborate with her on Your Show of Shows. As one of the few female comedy writers of her time, Kallen said, “I’d have to stand on a desk and wave my red sweater for attention. Let’s face it, gentility was never a noticeable part of our working lives.”
Max Prince: Based on Sid Caesar, was born to Jewish immigrants from Poland who settled in Yonkers, New York, where they ran a luncheonette. Sid was the youngest of three sons. When he wasn’t at school, Sid helped out at the restaurant. Since the area was filled with a melting pot of immigrants, Sid learned to mimic their patois – the language traits and dialect that were characteristic of their homelands (primarily Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Russia, Spain, and Hungary) – to perfection. Although non-speakers of these languages would swear he was speaking them fluently, it was nonsense. In truth he only spoke English and Yiddish. Caesar’s childhood dream was to become a musician; when he was 14, he went to the Catskill Mountain resort area as a saxophonist. He would occasionally perform in comedy sketches as well. In 1939 he enlisted in the Coast Guard and was stationed in Brooklyn, where he played in military revues and shows. Back in New York, he was the opening act for many stars of the day at the Copacabana nightclub. His TV career began with an appearance on Milton Berle’s Texaco Star Theater in 1948; in 1949, producer Max Liebman had gotten NBC to produce Your Show of Shows, which today is still considered one of the best live shows in the history of television. Although Caesar spent a great deal of time with his writers, he didn’t write the material – he acted it out and improved upon it just by his presence. He was very close to his writers, but the conflicts were also titanic – one time he dangled a terrified Mel Brooks out an 18th floor window until colleagues restrained him. He really was as mercurial, unpredictable and occasionally as paranoid as his counterpart, Max Prince, is portrayed in this play. His friend Mel Brooks, said that the pressure of performing live for almost 10 years had “ground him into sausage.” His addiction to alcohol and sleeping pills deteriorated his health and in the 80’s he quit his addiction. Caesar continued to appear on various television shows and in movies throughout the 2000s, receiving honors, awards and tributes along the way. Of his own life as a comedian, Caesar once said, “Learn to laugh at yourself, and you will find yourself laughing at things that would make other people cry.” He died in 2014 at the age of 91.
Helen: Is not based on any historical person.
Ira Stone: Based on Mel Brooks, who was born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn, New York. His father’s family were German Jews from Danzig (now part of Poland), and his mother’s family were Jews from Kyiv in Ukraine. Brooks grew up small and sickly and was often bullied and teased by his classmates. Brooks once said “I’m sure a lot of my comedy is based on anger and hostility. Growing up in Williamsburg, I learned to clothe it in comedy to spare myself problems – like a punch in the face.” He went to work at the age of 14 in the Catskills as a “pool tummler” – tummler is a Yiddish word that, in this context, means a combination busboy/social director/entertainer at Jewish resorts who would entertain people who were lounging poolside or around other common areas. He was taught by Buddy Rich to play drums and started to earn money as a musician. Upon his discharge from the army, Brooks returned to the Catskill resorts as a drummer and pianist, then started doing stand-up comedy. Brooks followed Sid Caesar from the Catskills to Your Show of Shows. Brooks became very close with fellow Your Show of Shows/Caesar’s Hour writer/colleague Carl Reiner. They began improvising a bit they called The 2,000-Year-Old Man. The act became a regular on comedy albums and TV specials – for decades afterward. For several years, Brooks had toyed with the idea of a musical comedy about Adolph Hitler, which became his first feature film, The Producers (1967) Although a huge hit in underground circles, the film was only moderately successful due to its brazen subject matter, although, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for 1968. He later turned it into a Broadway musical garnering 12 Tony awards. Brooks followed with several parody films – some are now classics, some lesser known – The Twelve Chairs (1970); Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein (both 1974); Silent Movie (1976), High Anxiety (1977), History of the World Part 1 (1981), Spaceballs (1987), Life Stinks (1991), Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993) and Dracula: Dead and Loving It (1995). Brooks also produced non-parody comedies – 1980’s Fatso, starring his wife, Anne Bancroft, and 1982’s My Favorite Year, which was based on Brooks’ experiences during Your Show of Shows. Brooks also produced more serious fare, such as 1980’s The Elephant Man; Frances (1982), The Fly (1986), and 84 Charing Cross Road (1987). Brooks is still alive and kicking and is one of the few people receiving an Oscar, Emmy, a Tony and a Grammy.
