This is the schedule and call list for the filming of Homeless Garden by Matt Minnicino (co-conceived by Graham Miller and originally produced by Refracted Theatre Company) . Note that the actors listed for each session are those who will actually be participating in the filming; however, most of the ensemble will generally be present for the dramaturgical discussion during each session. Each session lasts 90 minutes, and guests are reminded that there will be no late seating. And of course, there must be absolute silence during the actual filming, so unwrap your cough drops before filming begins.
Summaries of Homeless Garden🡢 and Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard🡢 are available below.
| Date | Scenes | Cast for Filming |
| Wednesday, May 1, 7:30 pm |
pp. 1-2. The Raines family reminisces about idyllic memories of their garden pp. 26-29. Liv has a revelation about Ani’s relationship with Tro. Hermes guides Leo, Ani, and Val through recording their interviews. |
Ensemble |
| Thursday, May 2, 7:30 pm |
pp. 6-7. Val and Ani reconnect after their time apart from one another. pp. 30-32. Ani and Val have a more serious conversation about how life has been on the estate for Val, and how living with their mother has been for Ani. |
Kate Kenworthy, Danielle Rhodes, Rachel Sanderson |
| Friday, May 3, 7:30 pm |
pp. 10-14. Pillow talk between Sosh and Dawn. They discuss the finer things and where they’ve each come from. | Jordan Brown, Danielle Rhodes |
| Saturday, May 4, 2:00 pm |
pp. 56-58. Hermes and Val clash over how to deal with Liv’s mismanagement of the estate and its finances. | Sara Barker, Louis E. Davis, Rachel Sanderson |
| Saturday, May 4, 7:30 pm |
pp. 77-80. Hermes and Val take a smoke break and Hermes confirms Val’s speculation about his past relationship with Liv | Louis E. Davis, Rachel Sanderson |
| Sunday, May 5, 2:00 pm |
pp. 16-17. Hermes and Liv reconnect. Hermes tries to tell her something about the auction. p. 36. The auction draws near and Liv and Leo plan the decorations for the party. p. 74. Leo is excited about life after the auction. Liv is nervous, and seeks reassurance from Hermes. |
Louis E. Davis, Sara Barker, Matthew Pauli |
| Thursday, May 9, 7:30 pm |
pp. 32-35. Val is nervous about the auction. Tro and Ani finally have a moment to themselves and discuss their plans for the future together. | Rachel Sanderson, Kate Kenworthy, Lucy Redmon Connell |
| Friday, May 10, 7:30 pm |
pp. 14-15. Liv reminisces with Firs—as best she can with an AI companion, at least. pp. 29-30. Dawn tells her story about life on the estate. |
Sara Barker, Danielle Rhodes |
| Saturday, May 11, 2:00 pm |
pp. 51-53. Tro basks in the beauty of the Garden. Liv tries to connect with Tro. | Sara Barker, Lucy Redmon Connell |
| Saturday, May 11, 7:30 pm |
pp. 54-55. Liv encounters a vagrant, much to Ani’s alarm. | Lucy Redmon Connell, Sara Barker Ensemble |
| Sunday, May 12, 2:00 pm |
pp. 3-5. Introducing: Hermes. We see him recording a message about the Garden for the auction. Dawn admires him. pp. 8-9. Dawn takes dinner orders from Val and Ani; hovers as Ani tries to soothe Val’s nerves. |
Danielle Rhodes, Rachel Sanderson, Kate Kenworthy |
| Thursday, May 16, 7:30 pm |
pp. 72-73. Dawn and Sosh discuss what will happen next in their lives as they say goodbye. pp. 80-81. Val bids the Garden farewell and Hermes tries to help her. Firs is also there. |
Danielle Rhodes, Jordan Brown, Rachel Sanderson, Louis E. Davis |
| Friday, May 17, 7:30 pm |
pp. 37-39. Hermes and Liv discuss the state of the world and Liv gets sentimental. | Louis E. Davis, Sara Barker |
| Saturday, May 18, 2:00 pm |
pp. 18-21. The Raines family has dinner. Dawn serves in Sosh’s place. | Ensemble |
| Saturday, May 18, 7:30 pm |
pp. 22-25. Over dinner, the family reminisces about the past and discusses the state of the world; money anxieties mount. | Ensemble |
| Sunday, May 19, 2:00 pm |
pp. 40-42. Liv tries to connect with Hermes. The reality of what might happen to The Garden begins to dawn on her. | Sara Barker, Louis E. Davis |
| Thursday, May 23, 7:30 pm |
Reshoots and Reflection | Ensemble |
| Friday, May 24, 7:30 pm |
pp. 75-76. Liv and Val prepare to leave the Garden. Val steadies her nerves and braces herself to talk with Hermes. | Sara Barker, Rachel Sanderson |
| Saturday, May 25, 7:30 pm |
pp. 43-46. Ani and Tro tell Liv what their future plans are. pp. 47-50. Hermes and Tro argue. |
Ensemble |
The Origin: The Cherry Orchard
Ranevskaya, a spendthrift aristocrat, must auction off her family’s estate— including its cherry orchard— to pay the mortgage. She has been living in Paris for many years, grieving the death of her son. The play begins as Ranevskaya returns to the estate with her younger daughter Anya and valet Yasha (who soon seduces Dunyasha, the housemaid on the estate). Here she is reunited with her elder daughter Varya (an adopted daughter, who has also been running the estate in Ranevskaya’s absence), her brother Leonid, the old family manservant Firs, and a student called Trofimov— formerly, her dead son’s tutor and now (at least, as the play unfolds), a friend of her daughter Anya.
Also present on the estate is Yermolai, a self-made wealthy businessman whose family were once serfs who belonged to the estate (and by implication, to Ranevskaya’s family). He has a proposal for saving Ranevskaya’s family from poverty: allowing part of the estate to be developed and used to build summer cottages. But this would require the destruction of the precious cherry orchard, famous for its age, size, and beauty: a prospect Ranevskaya cannot face even to prevent bankruptcy – or to help others.
The Set-Up: Homeless Garden
In the near future, where climate change has made huge swathes of the globe uninhabitable (“TriBeCa has been under water since 2029!”), plutocratic heiress Liv must sell her family’s estate, The Garden. She has returned to the estate after time away to deal with a mental health crisis following the drowning death of her son, with her younger daughter Ani in tow. They are reunited with Liv’s brother Leo and her daughter Val, who has been running the estate in collaboration with estate manager Hermes, a self-made man whose family worked the land on estate for generations. Ani is also reunited with her partner, Tro.
When Hermes was a child, Liv was a benefactress to him. Their reunion becomes strained as the auction draws near. Estate household staff Sosh and Dawn watch from the periphery as the family is forced to face the unthinkable: displacement and dispossession. In the face of such a fate, not even Liv’s old AI companion Firs can provide her any comfort.