Looking North

Tags

acting, Development, God, Jesus, Looking North, Television, The Holy Spirit, TV Show

The original promotional piece for the show.

I was lost. Wandering the parking lot of an apartment complex in Sherman, Texas. Where could this be? I was on my way to an audition for a television show called “Looking North.” I wasn’t sure what I was in for, but a friend had encouraged me to look into it. So I found a number on the Facebook page and gave the director a call that week. Because of work that Saturday, I would only be able to make it in the afternoon, after the initial auditions had taken place. She said it was okay and invited me to join the call backs.

It was January 2010. I was in my freshman year of college and continuing to pursue God’s calling on my life. It was slightly cold outside. I didn’t know any of the people at the audition, but I was excited to audition. I wasn’t sure what the details behind the production were or who was involved, but to be honest, I wasn’t expecting anything too great. Then we were given sides, and as more sides came, I was impressed. The writing was actually solid. The story revolved around a newly widowed pastor and his two children as they adapted to a new town, new school, and new church. During the auditions, we were given different roles to read for, but I quickly became attracted to the role of Adam. I had very little formal training in acting still at that point, but the emotions that were elicited during my audition were nothing short of God moving through me. I was nailing it, as I felt they should be nailed.

It was several weeks before cast lists were revealed, but I am happy to report, almost five years later, that I was cast as Adam. The son of the pastor, who was dealing with schizophrenia. His ‘friend’ Drake had followed him from his early childhood years, after the other kids lost their imaginary friends, although he eventually went away before recurring after the mother’s death. My sister was played by Marissa Dodd, who I would later cast in Consumed. I love Marissa and still hope to work with her in some capacity in the future. The project was directed by Brianna Davis, who is now a dear friend. There were several other notable cast and crew involved. We had to sign forms agreeing that we would uphold our character on and off the set, as we represented the show. It was going to be a good project.

The project carried for several months until November or so. It was during this time that we discovered the project had been cancelled before shooting a single episode. Brianna was juggling several tasks in her life and the writer had come out as a homosexual and left the faith. Doing a show overtly involving faith, it was a controversy waiting to happen and the show would have been given no credibility. It seems that the enemy was against us from the beginning and to this day, I am disappointed that the show didn’t get off the ground because the material and story were so good. I have lost contact with a lot of the cast and crew in the succeeding years and I sit here wondering what happened with some of my co-stars. Marissa left acting shortly after Consumed. I asked her to be in Consecrated as well, but she bowed out shortly before filming and was replaced by Hannah Victoria Garner. Brianna attempted to adapt a play called “Adam’s Letter” (no relation to the Looking North character) into film, which I was attached to as Director of Photography before bowing out to pursue Consecrated.

The Facebook page still exists and every so often I will stumble upon someone’s page and see that “Looking North” is among their likes. It always brings a pleasant memory when I see it. We had scripts for two episodes, but a couple of years later, I asked Brianna and was able to get my hands on the third. All I can think about as I reflect on this is nostalgia. It was a good time in my life and that was a role that I will hold tight to for some time. It’s a reminder of what God could do through a nobody. At the end of episode two, Marissa’s character sat at the piano in the church and sang Kutless’ “That’s What Faith can do,” and as I sit here, I understand.

Photo by David Reagan