Nightingale Musical Film

About the project and the company

Nightingale: Regarding the Life & Passion of Miss Florence Nightingale by Pamela Gerke is an inspiring musical that follows Florence Nightingale, the progenitor of modern nursing, as she struggles to break free from the expectations of her upper class family and society in Victorian England, and pursue her calling.  A recent touring production of the show was cancelled due to the pandemic and now the musical is being re-created as a film.  The finished film will be offered free of charge to honor nurses and healthcare workers who are facing challenges similar to what Florence faced—inadequate supplies, bloated hospital bureaucracies, resistance to change, and a hierarchical, patriarchal environment that discounts the ideas of those who best understand patients’ needs.

We recently completed a week-long workshop, after which two male actor/singers had to drop out due to personal commitments.  Most of our rehearsals are over Zoom, and each performer will meet individually in person for staging, audio recording, and filming.  We will film in front of a green screen and edit all individuals together in front of backgrounds suggestive of the different locales (but impressionistic, rather than realistic), and also use historic photos, paintings, and other images in the film editing.  The creative team includes Lauren Goldman Marshall, director, Ben Kerns, director of photography, Sam Peters, musical director, Tom Fallat, sound designer, and Pamela Gerke as composer/playwright and producer. 

Our rehearsals are currently meeting over Zoom M-TH, 7-10 and Saturdays or Sundays, 1-5 PM, although not everyone is called for each rehearsal or for the whole time, and we have flexibility to work around scheduling conflicts.  We hope to be able to wrap up the filming in 2020.

Location of Audition

Zoom

Audition requirements

We are looking for people who can jump into this project ASAP with a cast who has been working together over the last couple of weeks; someone who can read music or otherwise learn their music parts quickly; feels confident with both audio recording and filming; takes direction well, is able to commit to the completion of this project, and values the artistic and historic value of this piece.