AUDITIONS - Theatre Thesis Festival

Audition for the 2023 Theatre Thesis Festival

SUNDAY, JANUARY 22ND
12-5PM
BLACK BOX THEATRE

Call backs Monday, January 23rd & Tuesday, January 24th

Featuring projects by

Ava Schmidt
Anna “AC” Campbell & Tucker Uriarte
Patrick Lee
Nathan DeStigter

Theatre Thesis Festival Audition Details

• Please choose one side to read and prepare for the audition
• To be considered for Fun Home and Born to Live, please prepare one minute of a song that is significant to you in addition to your chosen side.
• All actors auditioning will be considered for all 4 productions
• Please sign up for an audition time on the call board

Our Town

by Thornton Wilder

Lead Artist: Ava Schmidt
Directed by Robbie Rodriguez

“In our town, everybody knows the facts about everybody,” and one stage manager can’t let go of them.  Through the script of this American classic, we’re exploring the ways memory and liveness are simultaneously the key ingredients to theatre (and perhaps life), even when they are at total odds.

The piece involves movement, both realistic pantomime and expressive vocabulary. We will be casting four actors in a variety of doubled roles, including:

• • Emily Webb – naïve yet ready to grow
  • George Gibbs – sweet and silly, caring
  • Mrs. Webb – Emily’s mother, intense and protective
  • Mrs. Gibbs – George’s mother, gentle and concerned
  • Dr. Gibbs – George’s father
  • Rebecca Gibbs – George’s sister
  • Joe Stoppard – the undertaker
  • Simon Stimson – the choir director, a grouchy “troubled soul”

FUN HOME

by Lisa Korn based on graphic novel by Alison Bechdel

Lead Artists: Tucker Uriarte (Director/Designer), AC Campbell (Actor/Producer)
Music Director: Ben Stormer ’23
Intimacy Coordinator: Haley Wildhirt ’22

About the show:
Fun Home—book and lyrics by Lisa Kron, music by Jeanine Tesori—is based on the graphic memoir Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel. It is the first Broadway musical to feature a lesbian protagonist.

“Graphic novelist Alison dives deep into her past to tell the story of [her late father,] the volatile, brilliant, one-of-a-kind man whose temperament and secrets defined her family and her life. Moving between past and present, Alison relives her unique childhood playing at the family’s Bechdel Funeral Home, her growing understanding of her own sexuality, and the looming, unanswerable questions about her father’s hidden desires.”

Characters:

• • Alison - 43 years old, a cartoonist (played by AC)
  • Medium Alison - 19 years old, a college freshman
  • Small Alison - around 9 years old
  • Bruce Bechdel - Alison’s father, a funeral home director and historical restorationist
  • Helen Bechdel - Alison’s mother, an actress
  • Christian Bechdel* - Alison’s brother, around 10 years old
  • Roy* - a young man Bruce hires to do yard work
  • Joan* - a college student and cool lesbian
    * The roles of Joan, Roy, and Christian are performed by the same actor.

Content Warning: Suicide, internalized homophobia, sexual scenarios, mention of pedophilia, alcohol consumption.

Intimacy Statement: This show includes staged intimacy for the characters Medium Alison, Bruce, and Joan/Roy. Medium Alison and Joan have a staged make out which will include mouth contact and clothing removal for both characters (but no nudity). Bruce and Roy have a moment of physical intimate contact which may include mouth contact and possible shirt removal for Roy. There will be an intimacy director facilitating all intimate interactions.

We want anyone auditioning for these roles to know what they’re signing up for if they are offered the part, and we are happy to adjust the intimacy in the show to fit the actors’ comfort levels. Physical intimacy will depend on the pandemic-related restrictions in place at the time of performance. If there are any questions about intimacy in the show, direct questions to AC Campbell (lc20-0292@lclark.edu).

Notes from the Lead Artists:

• This production is a full musical. Please audition regardless of singing experience, as we are looking for actors with varying levels of training!
• Queer actors are particularly encouraged to audition
• We encourage you to check out the soundtrack before auditioning to familiarize yourself with the musical style of the show!
• Script available in advance of auditions by request. Email AC at lc20-0292@lclark.edu for a copy

Audition Information:
To be considered for this production, please prepare one minute of a song that means something significant to you, sung acapella, in addition to your chosen side.

Born to Live!

A new play written by Patrick Lee

Directed by Ezri Reyes

Kingdom Come, a cult that promises immortality, learns that they’re wrong.

Characters:

• Sandy: Leader of Kingdom Come. He also started it. Smiles too often. Smells overwhelmingly like leather, lavender, and hot dogs. 40s.
• Addie: Leader of Kingdom Come. 40s. Laser-focused; it feels as though she can (but won’t) blow you up with her mind.
• Luis: Leader of Kingdom Come. 40s. Just happy to be here.
• JJ: Sandy’s child (referred to in the script as his son, but that can be changed). A D.J. Early 20s.
• River: Sandy’s child (referred to in the script as his daughter, but that can be changed). Died recently. 20s.  *NOTE: This character may be double cast with JJ.

CONTENT WARNING: Contains mention of suicide, and some description of suicidal ideation (especially relevant for River). Also involves some parental emotional abuse.

KEEP IN MIND:

• All actors will sing at some point in the show– though not all need to be GOOD at it.
• It’s a very dialogue-heavy show for Sandy, JJ, and Addie.
• Rehearsals will be about 9-12 hours a week.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

by Tom Stoppard

Lead Artist: Nathan DeStigter

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have arrived at the final leg of their journey, accompanying the young prince Hamlet to his death in England. As they barrel their way toward the inevitable end of their story, they meet The Player and The Tragedians once again, recurring figures from earlier in their story, as well as a group of pirates who kidnap the young prince. With their childhood friend gone and their death warrant unknowingly written, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern end up face to face with what happens to all characters when the curtain are closed and the house lights dim to nothing.

Characters:

• Rosencrantz - A childhood friend of Hamlet. Has a carefree and artless personality that masks a deep dread about his life. The self-described supporting half of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
• Guildenstern - A childhood friend of Hamlet. Possesses a firmer grasp on reality than Rosencrantz and can be easily angered and bossy but is often fearful and foolish. The self-described leading half of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
• The Player - The eccentric leader of a “theatre troupe” that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern keep meeting.
• Hamlet - A prince who is better seen and not heard. 

Notes:

• Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead is a tragicomedy where the tragedy really comes into play in the third act. So while this act is extremely funny, it also deals with a lot with death and hopelessness.
• The roles of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are extremely dialogue heavy and rely significantly on comedic timing and actor chemistry.
• Hamlet does not speak during this act of the show but does appear on stage physically for most of the third act.
• The Player is the only Tragedian with lines and is therefore the only Tragedian that will be cast in the show. The other Tragedians will be appear in a different form.
• While all the characters in this act are written as men, casting will be gender blind.

See Call Board for further information and audition sign up
Performances April 19, 20, 21, 22, 2023

Sides:

Our Town

GEORGE:

In other places and meeting other people … Gosh, if anything like that can happen I don’t want to go away. I guess new people aren’t any better than old ones. I’ll bet they almost never are.

Emily, I’m glad you spoke to me about that … that fault in my character. What you said was right; but there was one thing wrong in it, and that was when you said that for a year I wasn’t noticing people, and … you, for instance. Why, you say you were watching me when I did everything … I was doing the same about you all the time. Why, sure,-I always thought about you as one of the chief people I thought about. I always made sure where you were sitting on the bleachers, and who you were with, and for three days now I’ve been trying to walk home with you; but something’s always got in the way. Yesterday I was standing over against the wall waiting for you, and you walked home with Miss Corcoran.

Listen, Emily, I’m going to tell you why I’m not going to Agriculture School. I think that once you’ve found a person that you’re very fond of … I mean a person who’s fond of you, too, and likes you enough to be interested in your character …

Well, I think: that’s just as important as college is, and even more so. That’s what I think.

Fun Home

HELEN.

(to Medium Alison.)

He bought that old shell of a house out on Route 150. Years ago he talked about buying it and said it wasn’t worth it, it was too far gone and that was back then so I don’t know why now that it’s even more broken down he’s decided he can fix it up. I’m sure he probably can. He’s out there day and night, like a maniac, not eating, I don’t think he’s sleeping. Sometimes I walk into a room and he’s standing there, not moving, frozen, like a statue. I’m sick of it. I’m sick of cooking for him and I’m sick of cleaning this museum.

You know, shortly after we were married we took a drive from Germany where we were living to Paris. He wanted me to meet an Army buddy of his. We had a beautiful drive. And then, just outside of Paris, he just started screaming at me. Why couldn’t I read a simple fucking map? I was a stupid, worthless bitch. I was dumbfounded. I was terrified– it came out of nowhere as far as I knew. Of course, I learned later that this man had been your father’s lover.

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead

ROS: Nor do I, really…. It’s silly to be depressed by it. I mean one thinks of it like being alive in a box, one keeps forgetting to take into account the fact that one is dead … which should make a difference … shouldn’t it? I mean, you’d never know you were in a box, would you? It would be just like being asleep in a box. Not that I’d like to sleep in a box, mind you, not without any air - you’d wake up dead, for a start and then where would you be? Apart from inside a box. That’s the bit I don’t like, frankly. That’s why I don’t think of it… Because you’d be helpless, wouldn’t you? Stuffed in a box like that, I mean you’d be in there for ever. Even taking into account the fact that you’re dead, really … ask yourself, if I asked you straight off - I’m going to stuff you in this box now, would you rather be alive or dead? Naturally, you’d prefer to be alive. Life in a box is better than no life at all. I expect. You’d have a chance at least. You could lie there thinking - well, at least I’m not dead! In a minute someone’s going to bang on the lid and tell me to come out. (Banging on the floor with his fists.) “Hey you, whatsyername! Come out of there!” (Pause.) I wouldn’t think about it, if I were you. You’d only get depressed. (Pause.) Eternity is a terrible thought. I mean, where’s it going to end?

Born to Live!

SANDY:

(to the audience.)

We’re pervasive. Me, I… you can’t ignore my truth, not forever. I’m no Messiah, no guru, no master. No man, either. Bold, huh? I am the word, the word of eternal life. Like Jesus– not to compare myself, this is just a metaphor and all– you must eat of my flesh. How? My words are living flesh. This is why many who have eaten of me, and tried to turn away for one reason or another, will never get away from me. Unless they choose death, literally. But none of you have chosen death, huh? Hell yeah, you’re on OUR boat! And our boat is the SS Together Forever going down the True Love River heading towards infinity.