Lotus Flour Cafe

Lotus Flour Café: Overbooked is a one-half hour sitcom pilot by award-winning writer Les Golden of Oak Park, Illinois.

A ghost saves a struggling café from a corrupt Chicago building inspector.

The ghost of its founder is the Lotus Flour Café guardian angel.

Logline

After the distressed ghost of the founder of a struggling café emails the Chicago newspapers that the Rolling Stones will make a surprise appearance, hopeful opening acts and middle-aged Hell's Angels appear and join a raucous, free-spending crowd.

Cast Breakdown

Of the recurring roles in "Lotus Flour Cafe," 5 are women and 7 are men. The ages of the characters ranges from about twenty to Golden agers. The play was written by an actor/playwright, for actors. As a result, every actor has a “meaty” role. Note that the “musicians” need not actually play the instruments described.

ESTHER, 50’s to 60’s, owner of the Lotus Flour Café. Lotus Flour regular.

RICH, about 25, plays drums in the house band. He is the bartender and Esther’s son. Lotus Flour regular.

ART, about 25, plays keyboards in the house band. Lotus Flour regular. Lives upstairs of the Lotus Flour Café with his pet hamster.

DAVE, about 25, plays guitar in the house band.

JUDITH, about 20, waitress and aspiring dancer. Lotus Flour regular.

HARVEY, about 45, a fashion designer and investor/partner in Lotus Flour Cafe. A Lotus Flour regular.

RAY, about 30, an immigrant from India, cab driver, and engineering student. Speaks with Indian accent. Lotus Flour regular.

ORA, about 60, a spiritualist and Lotus Flour regular.

KARL, 40’s to 60’s, a believer in extraterrestrials, Lotus Flour regular.

MR. RYAN, about 60, corrupt City of Chicago building inspector (sorry for the redundancy). Lotus Flour regular.

STANLEY PRYZBLYSKI, about 45, polka band leader and accordion player. Speaks in thick Polish accent.

KIM, about 25, spacey dancer and choreographer. Lotus Flour regular. Lives upstairs of the Lotus Flour Café.

LIZ, about 30, free-lance writer. Roommate of Kim. Lotus Flour regular.

LANCE STEELE, about 30, self-absorbed, fastidious host of the Friday night radio show broadcast from the Lotus Flour. Lotus Flour regular.

SUBRAHMANYAN BERKOWITZ, about 35, stand-up comedian from India, Ray’s cousin. Speaks with Indian accent.

UFO ABDUCTEES, various ages and types.

ENOCH HUBER, 40’s to 70’s, a Leonard Nimoy celebrity look-alike.

SIR MALCOLM LONGHAIR, 50’s to 60’s, British astronomer. Speaks with thick British accent.

DOROTA, a Marilyn Monroe look-alike, singer and accordion player with polka band.

FORMER HELLS ANGELS, assorted men and women, 60’s, overweight, thinning or balding hair.

VARIOUS EXTRAS at the café.

The Project

Because the pilot will be shot at an actual bar, we can avoid hassles by only those of legal drinking age in Illinois submitting materials. The filming of the pilot will occur in September or October, 2013. All those cast will be provided a copy of the edited pilot.

Non-union actors will be paid if the project is sold. Members of the Screen Actors Guild will be paid on a deferred basis. Actors selected for the pilot will also be provided call-back status for the actual filming if the pilot is bought.

The edited pilot will be submitted to production houses and will be marketed at film marketing fairs. We plan on marketing the pilot at the American Film Market in Santa Monica, California, in November, 2013, as well as through other channels.

Audition Process

Please email a headshot and resume to [email protected]. If you have no prior acting experience please do not submit. Those with improvisation background are especially encouraged to audition. This is a sitcom; we hope you have a comic flair and a sense of comic timing.

We are looking for all ethnic and national types. Note the roles for which you would like to be considered. If your type is appropriate, we will send you a portion of the script which we would like you to record and send via email. Please do not go to the expense of fancy sets, costumes, or hard media sent by U.S. mail. You can ask a friend or family member to read the other parts in the scene. If we like your interpretation and comic intuition, we will then ask you to come in for a live audition with other actors being considered.

About the Author

The award-winning writer Les Golden learned his craft under Ann Woodworth, the distinguished professor of theatre at Northwestern University, and Del Close, the legendary guru of Chicago’s Second City improvisation nightclub, among others. He has over 100 professional theatre and film credits and is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists.

The many references to astronomy and extraterrestrials in the script result from Les Golden’s second career as an astronomy professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

He is also the author of “Never Split Tens,” a screenplay based on the life of the M.I.T. mathematics professor who developed the card counting system at casino blackjack, “Murder by Mistletoe,” a full length murder mystery/comedy, and “The Skull Caper,” a noire script based on Del Close’s bequeathing his skull to the Goodman Theatre for use as Yorick in Hamlet.

Bantam/Doubleday provided him a contract for "The Scientific Approach to Creativity: The Techniques of the Chicago School of Improvisational Theatre," based on his work with Del Close, and he is also preparing a humor book, "The Non-Linear Mind of Professor Les Golden," and a book of essays, "The Body Shapes of Extraterrestrials and Other Essays in Science and Math."