After months of developmental work and rewrites since the 29-Hour Reading at the York Theatre in October 2019, the team at TRUE NORTH (formerly known as Come Find Me) assembled on Monday, November 9, 2020 for a private, internal Zoom reading. Directed by Ilana Ransom Toeplitz, the team of some of Broadway’s best spent several hours on a read-through followed by table work to get feedback on the newest updates to songs and script.
For this reading, the creative team brought on a young actor on the autism spectrum, Jimmy Afolabi, to read for the main character, Ben Patterson. Jaden Waldman (Caroline or Change) sang as Ben for the music portion of the show.
The cast was also made up of returners Jacob Keith Watson (Carousel, Phantom of the Opera) as Charley Elf, Richard H. Blake (Wicked, A Bronz Tale, Legally Blonde) as Harry Patterson, and Amanda Jane Cooper (Wicked) as Skittle Elf.
New to the cast was Major Attaway (Aladdin) as Snap Elf, Christy Coco (Fiorello) as Kami Patterson, and Holly Reed as Carol Patterson.
The Zoom was stage managed by Xavier Khan, and stage directions were read by Amara Breisch. TRUE NORTH Executive Producers Sue Gilad and Larry Rogowsky (InFineCompany) were also in attendance.