Caitlin Emma Photo
Throw the script on the ground, the auditioner told Ashley Blatche. She did — then broke out of her shell, switched to improv, and grabbed the attention of everyone in the room.
The 21-year-old (pictured) started yelling, pouring forth anger and panic — acting out a tense moment in which she played a girlfriend reacting to the news that her boyfriend just shot two people.
Blatche was competing with 40 – 50 young people Wednesday in auditions at at Hill Regional Career High School for roles in a short film co-sponsored by the cops and the feds on gun violence.
The classroom walls faded as Blatche continued. When asked to sing, she didn’t bat an eye. The fire alarm even sounded during her audition; she launched into song anyway. It became clear that her pipes mirrored her penchant for acting.
“Despite the interruptions, you were here,” said Charles Grady, a retired law enforcement officer and a current film and television actor. “You’re the kind of people we’re trying to reach. You just raised the bar.”
His one criticism?
“Stop playing with your hair!” he said. “It isn’t going anywhere!”
Grady conducted the auditions along with M. Antonio “Twice Thou” Ennis and Ed “Edo.G” Anderson,- two members of a rapping duo from Boston known as “4Peace.”
The auditions followed a day of presentations about gun violence, the result of a collaboration between the New Haven police department, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and a not-for-profit called Stop Handgun Violence and 4Peace.
Blatche thought her auditions went “excellent.” If the former student of James Hillhouse High School felt nervous, she certainly didn’t show it.
“I’ve been singing all my life,” she said.
The short film will depict the challenges felt by girls and women in distressed neighborhoods. It will serve as an educational piece at schools, outreach events and detention centers — possibly nationwide.
Lori Vernali, of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut, said the office hopes to complete the film by the end of March. She’s not sure about the callback dates because Grady and 4Peace want to revise the script a bit to include as many of the kids as possible, she said.
Almost 50 young people showed up for the audition, said Shirley Ellis-West of the New Haven Family Alliance (NHFA). Ellis-West serves as supervisor of the alliance’s street outreach program.
“It was a powerful day,” she said. “They experienced something they won’t soon forget.”
And the judges of the audition won’t soon forget some of the performances. A number of acting, rapping and singing hopefuls made an impression.
Two brothers in particular probably landed themselves a bigger gig than just the video.
Solomon and Henry Green, a.k.a. Novokane and Renegade, came prepared with a CD of their work. It was clear that the two brothers, 18 and 21, weren’t amateurs when it came to performing in front of a crowd. They put on a powerful, poetic a capella rap skit. In it, they each played a gang member from different sides of a neighborhood. The brothers built conflict, their rapping back and forth almost like reciting poetry, until the scene just about escalated into violence. But as they passed each other on the “street,” they realized they’re not so different.
Their skit floored Grady and 4Peace. Video aside, Grady offered to work with them directly.
The brothers have made gun violence a part of their message for a while now. Renegade was shot two years ago and both brothers gave up a life of drug and gun-related violence for a career in performing.
“We need to take this on the road,” Grady said.
Moenisha Hamilton.
Total acting newcomers also tried their hand. Brother and sister Moet Bacote and Moenisha Hamilton auditioned together.
“I just wanted to try something new,” Hamilton said.
“This opportunity could be the first step of fulfilling a lifetime dream,” Bacote said.
And as the auditions went on, most everyone acknowledged the message behind the moments they acted out. Amanda Rattigan, 16, from Hillhouse High School, was the only girl who tried out for “hustler #1.”
“We gotta make a change,” she said. “It’s got to start. Too many people are dying.”