Casting for the Discovery Channel’s The Colony will come to Denver this Saturday.
An open audition will run from 9 a.m.-5 p.m. at the Denver Pavilions on the 16th Street Mall.
The Colony, a show that follows a group of 12 “survivors” in a simulated post-apocalyptic scenario, enjoyed a successful first season last year. In the show, the cast members must rebuild – there is no water, food or communication available.
“The psychology of survival remains a key focus,” said Thom Beers, creator of The Colony and CEO Original Productions. “It’s truly fascinating to see how people behave and how they change when their phones are taken away, there’s no light switch to turn on, there’s no clean flushing toilet and there’s no food. Those who have survived a major disaster can relate to this, but for the rest of us, there’s a lot we can learn.”
Beers said that it was a goal of the show to diversify the cast this season.
“We’re looking for moms, couples, neighbors, college students, people with civil leadership qualities and people with genuine survival skills,” he said. “We want to mix it up a bit more this time.”
Engineering was a main focus of the show’s first season, with the cast creating a shower complete with hot water, a radio device and a machine that used an alternative fuel for power.
“What they build and how they build it will continue to be a critical educational component of the series,” Beers said. “It was pretty cool to see the guys in season one come up with the gasifier alternative fuel source. And what’s great about it is we’ll have a new cast who’ll want to go one better, who knows what they’ll come with?”
A theme of the show as a social experiment also emerged last season.
“Relationship dynamics are critical to the show,” Beers said. “We can learn an awful lot by watching these people get through a pretty tough situation for a couple of months, albeit an experimental one. It’s the psychology of survival. We can learn important lessons from the ‘colonists’ on how to behave and how not to behave, what to do and what not to do.”
In setting the show up for this season, the producers have delved further into explaining the “catastrophe” the survivors are dealing with. “Some of America’s leading disaster and virus experts have been helping us over the past few months design this scenario,” Beers said.
Beers added the season two would be filmed “in the south,” but didn’t offer any additional details.
