Director David Livingston recalled that they had a difficult time finding somebody to play Ishka; at one point, he even made the unpopular suggestion that Wallace Shawn (Grand Nagus Zek) appear in drag as Quark and Rom's mother [REF].
When, at the last minute,[REF] Martin could not return for "Ferengi Love Songs", the show held auditions for the role and saw "a lot of people".