Meet the Cast of A Steady Rain

John Palmieri (Joey) - This marks the fourth time John has been knocked around on stage by Anthony Parise. The first was A Streetcar Named Desire over 12 years ago. It’s also the first time John has been directed by wife, Elaine.  John thanks the countless friends who have made this production possible, including Tom, Mike, Rich, Devon, Marc, Stefan, and Anthony. Thanks mostly to his partner-in-crime, Elaine, and to the joy that is their daughter, Gracie. Past favourite roles: Sanchez - Cactus Flower; Uri - The Innocent Eye Test; Jerry - The Full Monty; Rooster in Annie; and Mozart - Amadeus. "Say goodnight, Gracie."

Anthony Parise (Denny) - Anthony makes his return to the stage after a long hiatus during which he played the role of father to his two young children. Previous credits include: Stanley Kowalski, A Streetcar Named Desire; Oberon, A Midsummer Night's Dream; Aaron Levinsky, Nuts; and The Writer, The Good Doctor. Anthony has been nominated for two ACT-CO awards and a Theatre Ontario Festival award , all for best actor in a lead role in a drama. He is thrilled to be a part of Paper Moon Productions' inaugural show. 

Serendipity

We earmarked the Christmas break to do "producer-y" type stuff for A Steady Rain. Quite an adventure in serendipity.

For one thing, our go to set rental place, Marty Millionaire, announced on December 18 that it "was closing its doors next summer after almost 50 years in business." Two days later, though, news came out over Facebook that the store had been bought out and was closing immediately. Lucky for us, we discovered another furniture rental company has bought Marty's stock and, after a quick meeting, we discovered they had what we needed. The meeting happened actually at Marty's as they were moving stock from there to the new location in Mississauga. It was so strange to be back in there with the furniture in total disarray. I have many fond memories of pawing and peering through decades of furniture for the perfect set piece. "Mark" at the new location showed us pictures of the new setup: clean, bright, and huge. A part of me will miss the beautiful chaos that was Marty's, but I'm so glad the furniture has a new home and will continue to be used by Toronto arts community. [The entire inventory was purchased by Frasier Huntley located at 790 Dundas St East, Mississauga; phone number 647 521 6164]

Next up, renting an integral prop from The Prop Room. We showed up bright and early one morning only to encounter a note on the front door from "Fritz" indicating they were on vacation until January 5. However, there was also a phone number to call as Fritz lived nearby. We called, and eventually hooked up with Fritz who turned out to be a charming Austrian who had emigrated to Toronto in the early 70s with his British wife and had many stories to tell about his world travels and experience in the industry and a tour through his facilities. The Prop Room is a fabulous resource for pre-1960s furniture. (And if you're looking for wooden pallets, check out the area around The Prop Room's location on Industrial Street.)

What started out as a potential nightmare ended up neatly wrapped up.