AUDITIONS - Spring Main Stage production of Medea

The Lewis & Clark Theatre Department production program is dedicated to nurturing a diverse and inclusive artistic and scholarly community. The selection of plays for our season our productions include new works, as well as notable contemporary, modern, and classical plays. The Department is committed to choosing material that represents the diversity of our community. Students are encouraged to participate in the program, regardless of ethnicity, race, religion, age, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, socio-economic status, or ability. All plays we produce are open to all members of the Lewis & Clark community and we practice a nontraditional, identity-concious casting policy, which takes into consideration the role of race, ethnicity, gender and class in the stories that we tell.

AUDITION: Medea - by Euripides

Directed by Jenna Tamimi
Fir Acres Theatre Main Stage
Performance Dates:

Friday and Saturday, March 11 and 12 – 7:30pm,
Sunday, March 13– 2:00 pm Matinee,
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, March 15, 16, 17 – 7:30pm

Auditions:  Submit videos and audition forms to jtamimi@lclark.edu by 6pm January 20th.

Callbacks:  January 21st & 22nd

Cast List:  Will be announced by the evening of January 23rd

WHAT TO PREPARE

You are welcome to pick one or both the monologues for your video audition. I will consider everyone for every role, not just the character you read. If you are interested in a singing role, please sing about 30 seconds of a song of your choice.

Jason- Medea’s husband, handsome, arrogant, unfaithful, power hungry
This is not the first time- I have often observed that fierce temper is an evil
that leaves you no recourse. You could have stayed here in this land, you could have kept your home by simply acquiescing in the plans of those who are greater. You are now an exile because of your own foolish words. To me it makes no difference. You can keep on calling Jason the very worst of men. However,
the words you spoke against the royal family- well, consider it a gain that nothing worse than exile is your punishment. As for me, I wanted you to stay. I always tired
to calm the king, to soothe his fuming rage.

But you, you idiot, would not let up your words against the royal family. That’s why
you are now an exile. All the same, I won’t let down my loved ones. I have come here looking out for your best interest, woman, so you won’t be without things you need when you go into exile with the children You’ll need money-banishment means hardship. However much you hate me, I could never Wish you any harm.

Greek Chorus- Women of Corinth, campy June Cleaver type 1950s housewives
Do you hear, O Zeus, O sunlight and earth, the terrible song, the cry
of this unhappy bride? Poor fool, what a dreadful longing, this craving for final darkness. You’ll hasten your death. Why do it? Don’t pay for this ending. If your husband revers a new bed, a new bride, don’t sharpen your mind against him You’ll have Zeus himself supporting your case. Don’t dissolve in weeping for the sake of your bedmate.

Content Warning: Medea is a difficult play. It is about a woman in emotional distress who kills multiple people including her two young children. As is customary with Greek tragedy, the violence all happens off stage, however, it is described in detail. You should read or otherwise familiarize yourself with the play to ensure that you are comfortable working with the material before auditioning. You can email
chelseabushnell@lclark.edu for a PDF of the script and the audition form.

Synopsis: After Medea sacrifices her homeland and family for her husband Jason, he leaves her for a young princess. Devastated, Medea takes revenge by killing the
princess, the king, and her and Jason’s children. The production will use a translation of the ancient text and have a 1950s aesthetic with music from the era interjected into the action.

**The Spring Main Stage Production has a relatively short but intensive rehearsal period.  We will be casting the first week of the semester and the show opens March 4 th . That leaves us with less than six weeks of rehearsal. I am planning to rehearse four-six evenings a week. In addition, I may be scheduling daytime “coaching sessions” with individual actors.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email the director, Jenna, at
jtamimi@lclark.edu