Virginia Stage Company 2018-19 - NYC EPA
Virginia Stage Company
**Updated Personnel**
AUDITION DATE
Wed, Aug 15, 2018
10:00 am - 6:00 pm (EDT)
Lunch 1 to 2
CONTRACT
LOA AEA LOA referenced to LORT; Min. $700
SEEKING
All roles for all shows in the upcoming 2018-19 season. Shows include:
Our Town
Fun Home
The Bluest Eye
Native Gardens
Matilda
PREPARATION
To be considered for a play, please prepare a brief monologue in the style of the show/role you wish to be considered for. To be considered for a musical, please prepare a brief cut of a contemporary musical theatre song. An accompanist will be provided. To be considered for both plays and musicals, prepare a brief monologue and a 16-bar cut of a contemporary musical theatre song. Bring picture and resume.
LOCATION
Ripley-Grier Studios (520)
520 8th Ave
New York, NY 10018-6507
Bring ID to enter the building
PERSONNEL
Producing Artistic Director: Tom Quaintance
Casting: Binder Casting/Chad Eric Murnane, CSA
Expected to be in attendance:
Choreographer for Matilda and Associate
Director: Billy Bustamante
OTHER DATES
Our Town 1st Day Rehearsal, 9/25/18; Opening 10/20; Closing 11/4
Fun Home 1/1/19; 1/13/19; 2/10/19
The Bluest Eye 2/12/19; 3/9/19; 3/24/19
Native Gardens 3/19/19; 4/13/19; 4/28;19
Matilda 4/30/19; 5/25/19; 6/2/19
OTHER
EPA Procedures are in effect for this audition.
An Equity monitor will be provided.
Equity’s contracts prohibit discrimination. Equity is committed to diversity and encourages all its employers to engage in a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of inclusion. As such, Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to attend every audition.
Always bring your Equity Membership card to auditions.
BREAKDOWN
OUR TOWN
Emily Webb—Female Identifying, Any Ethnicity. 18+ to play ages 15 – 28, as she matures from a strong willed teenager to a devoted wife and mother. Her serious intelligence hides a lot of vulnerability.
George Gibbs—Male Identifying, Person of Color, 18+ to plays the character from 15-28, as he matures from high school baseball star to grieving widower. Charming boy next door, but a little goofy too.
Mrs. Gibbs—Female Identifying, Any Ethnicity. 30s-50s. An open, large hearted mother and housewife, circa 1900. She gives wonderful hugs and is comfortable making fun of herself.
Stage Manager--Female Identifying, Any Ethnicity, 50-65. Wise storyteller and guide. Needs a lot of charm, sense of humor, and skill with language.
______________
FUN HOME
Bruce Bechdel - Male Identifying. Caucasian. Mid 40s. He’s the local high school English teacher and runs the local funeral home, but his real obsession is the historical restoration of his home. A deeply repressed gay man married to a woman, he is charismatic and complex. He can swivel quickly from being warm and charming to forbidding and tyrannical. Always a perfectionist. Although he is quick to anger, he is also a genuinely caring father. Must be able to move effortlessly from speech to song. Baritone.
Alison Bechdel - Female Identifying. Caucasian or Mixed Race. Mid 40s. Our narrator, we see the world through her perceptive, unsentimental, clear eyes. Now a lesbian cartoonist, she seeks to put her past in perspective and understand the events that led to her father’s suicide. Intelligent, self-aware, analytic, with a wonderful sense of irony. Must be able to move effortlessly from speech to song. Mezzo-soprano.
Helen Bechdel - Female Identifying. Caucasian or Mixed Race. Mid 40s. Alison’s mother and married to Bruce, she has spent her life trying to be the perfect mother and wife and has had to turn a blind eye to her husband’s indiscretions. Emotionally exhausted but trying to hold it all together. Must be able to move effortlessly from speech to song. Mezzo-Soprano.
Medium Alison - Female Identifying. Caucasian or mixed race. Early 20s. A freshman at Oberlin College, she is discovering her sexuality and comes out as a lesbian. Intelligent, incredibly well-read, studious, earnest, serious and adorably socially-awkward. Must be able to move effortlessly from speech to song. Mezzo-Soprano
Joan - Female Identifying. Any Ethnicity. Mid 20s. Student at Oberlin. Confident and self-aware, she’s proudly out and has magnetic sexual energy. Comfortable in her own skin with a great sense of ironic humor. Alto.
Christian Bechdel - Male Identifying. Caucasian or Mixed Race. Alison’s older brother. About 10 years old. Eldest child syndrome. Intelligent and imaginative. Competes with Alison to be the leader of the kid pack, and often loses out to Alison's stronger personality. Prepubescent singer with good sense of harmony and pitch.
John Bechdel - Male Identifying. Caucasian or Mixed Race. Alison’s younger brother. About 6 years old. High energy, funny and imaginative. Singer should have good sense of harmony and pitch.
Roy/Pete/Mark/Bobby/Jeremy - 20-30, Male Identifying. Any Ethnicity. The young man Bruce hired to help with yard work; Pete, a bereaved man; Mark, an uncertain high school junior; Bobby Jeremy, the charming lead singer of a Partridge Family-style 70s band. Tenor.
_______________
THE BLUEST EYE
Claudia - Female identifying, 18+; African-American. Precocious, sensitive girl; she must be able to move gracefully between the innocence of youth and the wisdom of the narrator who has lived through it all; dexterity with direct address a must.
Pecola - Female identifying, 18+ ; African-American. A shy, quiet, resigned and somewhat pained presence; she should be completely innocent; we must love her and want to take care of her, but not pity her; perhaps there is a certain quiet pride that won’t let us tip over into pity; it is imperative that she have very dark brown skin.
Mrs. Breedlove - Female identifying, 40s; African-American. An older version of Pecola, also has a dark brown complexion; painfully shy and insecure, and still very adept at addressing the audience.
Frieda/Darlene - Female identifying, 18+; African-American. Claudia’s older sister; somewhat more practical than Claudia; possibly more stern, slightly less personable
Cholly - Male identifying, 40s; African-American. Mrs. Breedlove’s age, the shell of a man who may have been physically impressive at one time, dark brown complexion.
Maureen Peal/White Girl - Female, 18+; light-skinned Mixed Race - African-American. Very pretty; more complicated than merely “snotty”; she is a real person, as complicated as the other characters.
Mama - Female identifying, 40s; African American. She possesses an imposing presence. She loves her children and this should be evident despite her stern manner.
Soaphead Church - Male identifying, 40s; Mixed Race - African American Charismatic, off, charming, mature.
_______________
NATIVE GARDENS
Tania Del Valle - Female Identifying. Latinx. 30s. Smart and likeable PHD Candidate.
Pablo Del Valle - Male Identifying. Latinx. 30s. Smart and likeable, ambitious, savvy young attorney.
Frank Butley - Male Identifying. Caucasian. 50s-60s. Smart and likeable, direct, no-nonsense.
Virginia Butley - Female Identifying. Caucasian. 50s-60s. Smart and likeable, excitable, detail oriented.
_________________
MATILDA
Miss Agatha Trunchbull – Non-Gender Specific. Any Ethnicity. 30s-40s. Baritone with a strong F sharp. Headmistress of Crunchem Hall Primary School. Miss Honey's Aunt. Once a famous athlete, she is described as a gigantic Holy terror, a fierce tyrannical monster who marches like a storm trooper with long arms swinging with an aura of menace. Ribbon dancing, gymnastic vault and hammer throw a plus. Dialect Heightened RP.
Miss Jennifer Honey – Female Identifying. Any Ethnicity. 20s-Early 30’s. Mezzo-Soprano A mild, quiet person who never raises her voice and seldom seems to smile - yet possesses the rare gift of being adored by every small child under her care. She should have a curious warmth that is almost tangible. Dialect RP. Some dance required.
Mr. Harry Wormwood - Male Identifying. Any Ethnicity. 40’s. Baritone A dealer in second-hand cars - a mean crooked crook - with a penchant for wearing jackets with large, brightly coloured checks. Should ideally be a clown and could have an ex-punkish rocker voice.Dialect East London. No dance required.
Mrs. Zinnia Wormwood - Female Identifying. Any Ethnicity. 30s-40’s. Vocal Soprano up to Bb, with a strong and solid belt up to D. Mother of Michael and Matilda, and the wife of Mr Wormwood. She is obsessed with her amateur Ballroom dancing partner and her looks. Like her husband she thinks very little of Matilda’s unique abilities and often berates her. She is as loud in her makeup and dress sense as she is in her voice – must know funny. Dialect East London. Good mover.
Mrs. Phelps - Female Identifying. African-American or Mixed Race. 30s-40’s. Seeking an actress who is comfortable with a Caribbean or African accent. Strong ensemble singer. Warm and nurturing local librarian who encourages Matilda’s love of reading. She has an inner peace and a reader’s curiosity. Appears as a parent in Miracle where there is some dance.
Matilda - Female Identifying. Any Ethnicity. 8-12 to play an extraordinarily precocious five-year-old with telekinesis. Actual telekinesis not required, actual precociousness a must. Matilda is a complicated, fierce, clever child living who deals with her neglectful surroundings by escaping into books. A strong singer and good mover, she's used to being the smallest and smartest person in whatever room she's in.
Equity’s contracts prohibit discrimination. Equity is committed to diversity and encourages all its employers to engage in a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of inclusion. As such, Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to audition.
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