We began with a little less than four hundred submissions for the project. Later, when Tricia came on board, she sent out invitations to a hundred or so actors she knew in the area she thought might be a good fit. Again, we were only casting three characters, and no extras. We wanted to be exhaustive.

I was immediately struck by some of the different interpretations the actors offered in their readings. The script is deliberately lacking in adjectives and adverbs, and very little history between the characters is provided in the dialogue. At the beginning I always just let the actors play and see what they come up with. I usually found they needed a lot of pushing to dig deep and come up with more interesting, more extreme motivations for the characters’ deviant behavior. But occasionally the feedback they gave made me see the script in a different light. Those are my mostest favoritest moments as a director.

After a long, grueling audition period, we narrowed the pool down to fifteen actors for callbacks. I love callbacks because as a writer-director it’s the closest I ever get to seeing my story the way an audience would when watching it for the first time. We had great actors, and now that they’d had the time to absorb some of my direction from the first-round, they were on their way to creating coherent and unpredictable characters. It was very difficult to turn some of these actors away, but the producers and I agreed that three in particular stood out as the most dynamic cast for this film, and I’m thrilled to see where each of them will take these roles as we prepare for shooting.

Jason Lott, Thomas: By the time Jason came in, we weren’t even particularly interested in seeing any more actors read for Thomas. We had seen plenty of great actors read for that role and were pretty sure our callbacks were set. It would’ve taken a jaw-dropping read to change our minds, and that’s exactly what Jason delivered. As we went through the callback process his performance only became more and more interesting. His comic timing is perfect, but he doesn’t rely on stock-in-trade gimmicks. His performance seems brand new from one read to the next, and one never doubts the sincerity of the role he’s playing. In spite of all the great talent competing for that role, we simply couldn’t say no to Jason.

Kevin Hasser, Michael: Kevin is boring. I mean that in the nicest way. All he did was walk in, impress us, and leave. Time for callbacks: he walked in, impressed us, and left. Second callback: walked in, impressed us, left. During his first audition I wrote a note to Tricia: “Love as Michael!” She wrote back: “Mee tooo!” Our interest in him never waned from that point on. Really, the guy’s just boring. Let’s move on.

M.C. Wolfe, Vanessa: M.C. caught us by surprise. She was invited to the audition by Tricia, who wasn’t sure about her for the role but maybe had a hunch. M.C. came in at the end of a long and frustrating session and I don’t think any of us were very receptive at the time. She was reticent during the audition but it was obvious that she was very perceptive about the character and worked very well with the direction. Midway through her third read through the scene, I saw something in her that made me scribble the shortest note I’ve ever written about an actor: “Wow.” After the audition I passed it to Justin and Tricia. They both agreed. After two more callback sessions, she won me over completely. Tricia later explained why she had had a hunch about M.C.: “I feel like she probably is Vanessa in real life.” I hope M.C. takes that as a compliment.

M.C. Wolfe is a DC area native with a background in visual and performing arts. After graduating an art-intensive high school program, M.C. moved to California to pursue an education in photography. A persistent desire to explore other forms of expression led her to experiment with a diverse range of activities, from the study of dance and vocal performance to animal wrangling and student films. She eventually found her way into the independent theater community, where she had the pleasure of portraying quirky and eccentric young ladies. M.C. returned to the East Coast in 2007, shifting her focus to music. She has been playing bass guitar and singing with local bands, and currently is the vocalist for a dance-rock group. She can also be found teaching yoga.

“I became aware of this project after receiving an invitation to audition. I was attracted to the story but what really drew me in were the notes in the audition guidelines, particularly the line, ‘And ladies: do not grab an actor by his neck under any circumstances.’ For some reason, that really appealed to my sense of humor and gave me a new perspective on the dialogue.”

Kevin Hasser enjoys the artistic life and in particular its existence in Washington DC. After graduating from James Madison University, studying theater and English, he returned to DC to pursue a career in theater. Since then he has spent a year as a touring actor with the Olney National Players, and has had the privilege to work with the companies at the Shakespeare Theatre, Studio Theatre, 1st Stage, and more. With backstage roots beginning in college, he also enjoys carpentry, lighting, design, and direction. After theater and film, environmental work occupies a great deal of his time, and he enjoys conservation, cooking, and bicycle repair. In the summer, though, there’s nothing better than biking through town and reading a book in the shade.

“It’s rare when a script of such high caliber floats around this city, and rarer still that a team exists to ground it. Through attending the audition process, I could see the passion this project instilled behind those familiar with it, as well as those who are newcomers to the material. With such intelligent words and an active team behind it, who wouldn’t want to help bring this project to light?”

Jason Lott has been working as an actor in the Washington DC area for the past ten years. In addition to roles in various independent films and television programs, Jason has appeared in numerous industrial and training films. He has also appeared with many regional theaters, including The Kennedy Center Theatre for Young Audiences, Folger Theatre, Studio Theatre, Everyman Theatre, and Imagination Stage. He has also appeared in two original productions at the Edinburgh Festival Theatre Fringe in Scotland and has been nominated along with his fellow cast members for a Helen Hayes Award for Best Ensemble for Longacre Lea Productions’ Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. He is a proud member of the Actors’ Equity Association and the Screen Actors Guild.

“I’m definitely excited to be a part of The Anniversary. I think it’s a fantastic exploration of the illusions and delusions that can exist in a relationship. How well can you truly know another person? How do you know what they’re thinking? Is trust everything it’s cracked up to be? It’s going to be a lot of fun to step into this world and see where it all leads.”

Andrew Sadtler began working in the film industry full-time in early 2007, working in both the grip & electric and camera departments. Learning quickly, he started gaffing full-time in late 2008. Since then he has had the opportunity to key on many productions with name talent, both in front of and behind the camera. As a director of photography, Andrew has always been drawn to projects that will test his abilities. In November 2009 he had the opportunity to shoot his first feature The Fall. The story centered on a small Amish community haunted by ghosts. The opportunity to shoot a horror film that takes place in a society without light bulbs intrigued him, and the shoot tested his ability to create and sell natural sources, especially for the nighttime exteriors.

“What I’m most excited to work on in The Anniversary is a scene that takes place on a couch between three long-time friends, revealing one of the big twists of the story. The idea of shooting a scene with relatively stationary blocking while still making it a dynamic scene adds a level of intrigue that most other projects don’t carry with them.”

Stephen Mack studied music at the New School Jazz Program in Manhattan before plunging into the world of film. He wrote and directed his first short film Nathan in 2006, followed by the Super16 feature Last Winter for which he won Peer Silver awards for directing and original composition at the DC Peer Awards in 2009. He was also awarded an Artist Fellowship Grant from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities in 2006, which helped fund the production of Last Winter. He has worked on many narrative, documentary, and television projects in the DC/Baltimore area as an editor, assistant director, as well as in the camera, grip, and electric departments.

“I wrote the first draft of The Anniversary almost as an afterthought. But I sent it off to three competitions and it placed in two of them, so that’s when I went back to it and started to develop it into something I could direct. I decided that if I was going to turn this into a film, it had to be something that would stand out from the pack: something that was uncompromising in every aspect and really aroused the audience. My hope is that it shows people something about themselves that disturbs them, then makes them laugh about it. And if it offends a few people along the way, that’s just a bonus.”

Tricia Homer — that’s pronounced TREE-see-ya — has a deep-seated interest in the arts and arts education. She has worked as a casting director, locations manager, script supervisor, production assistant, and in theatrical stage management. She has also worked as a teaching artist, visual theater artist, dancer, and actor. She attended Wesleyan University where she earned a BA in Government. As Miss US Virgin Islands, Tricia was voted Miss Congeniality at the 2005 Miss Universe Pageant. In 2004 and 2005 Tricia produced The Vagina Monologues in St. Thomas and raised over $13,000 for groups dedicated to ending violence against women. Film credits include Fair Game: The Valerie Plame Story, College Hill Season IV, and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

“I agreed to help produce The Anniversary before I had even read the script. Justin and Stephen contacted me on the recommendation of a mutual colleague, and I was immediately won over by their enthusiasm. After reading the script, I saw that this project truly has great potential: fantastic script, stellar team!”

Justin Adams was working as a producer of a political discussion show on local cable television when he decided he wanted to go into debt. Three years later, he completed his MFA in Film and Electronic Media at American University. After completing his degree, he focused on independent productions and has worked in positions ranging from production assistant, grip, unit manager, editor, director and producer. Justin’s first feature-length film was Logan Circle’s Last Winter, for which he won Peer Gold at the 2009 DC Peer Awards for Field Sound Production. Since then he has been working on “green” video projects at NOAA. He now returns to Logan Circle Films to co-produce The Anniversary. And he is happy to report that he is making progress paying off his student loans.

“When Stephen showed me the script, I felt I had to be a part of this project. So when he and Rob asked me to step in and help produce this project, I jumped at the chance. Since I’ve worked with Stephen and Rob before, I know they share a similar respect for the art of film. This was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.”