Open Auditions West End Players Guild

West End Players Guild Announces Auditions

June auditions will be for the first two plays of the 2010–2011 season

West End Players Guild will hold open auditions on Saturday, June 5th, for the first two productions of its 2010-2011 season: Jeffrey Hatcher’s A Picasso and A Woman’s Place, an evening of four one-act plays. The auditions will begin at noon at WEPG’s performance space at the Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 Union Blvd.
Roles are available for four adult men (acting age range 25–60) and four adult women (acting age range 17–35). All roles will be cast from the open auditions. WEPG is a non-Equity professional company. A stipend will be paid to actors in these productions.
A Picasso will be directed by Steve Callahan and performed Sept. 24–Oct. 3, 2010. A Woman’s Place will be directed by Renee Sevier-Monsey and Carrie Phinney and performed Nov. 5–14, 2010.
A Picasso takes its audience back to Paris, 1941. Pablo Picasso has been summoned by German occupation forces to a storage vault for an interrogation. But when it is revealed that his paintings are to be burned by the Nazis as “degenerate art,” Picasso becomes desperate to save his work. It is a cat-and-mouse drama about art, politics, sex and truth, with a twist.
A Woman’s Place will include four one-act plays presenting women in extraordinary circumstances. The plays are Trifles by Susan Glaspell, Australia by David Mamet, Hello Out There by William Saroyan, and the hauntingly beautiful Ashes to Ashes by Harold Pinter.
Auditions will consist of cold readings from the scripts. Auditioners will have the opportunity to read for both productions and for multiple roles. For this reason, auditioners should plan to arrive at the beginning of the session and to be available to read several times during the session.
Further background on the two productions and roles to be cast follows.
Jeffrey Hatcher’s A Picasso, directed by Steve Callahan
Plot summary: Pablo Picasso has been summoned by German occupation forces to a storage vault for an interrogation. But when it is revealed that his paintings are to be burned by the Nazis as “degenerate art,” Picasso becomes desperate to save his work.
ROLES TO BE CAST:
Pablo Picasso, at age 59.
Fraulein Fischer, late thirties to early forties—may look younger. Very attractive, a cool face. A German, she’s an “adjunct to the Ministry of Culture.” Her assigned task: to identify one authentic Picasso painting for destruction as an example of “degenerate art.” Her problem: she is secretly an admirer of Picasso.
A Woman’s Place, directed by Renee Sevier Monsey and Carrie Phinney
This production will consist of four one act plays. Three men and three women will be cast for multiple roles. Each actor cast will appear in at least two of the plays, and will have at least one major role.
THE PLAYS AND THE ROLES TO BE CAST ARE:
Trifles by Susan Glaspell
First performed by the Provincetown Players in 1916, Trifles is the story of a farm woman arrested in the murder of her husband. While the male investigators look for clues, their wives find answers in simple women’s chores dismissed as ‘trifles’ by the men.
Mrs. Hale (age range 25–35) Feels guilty for not visiting Mrs. Wright more often. Discovers clues to the murder among trivial items found in the kitchen. Usually more comfortable in surroundings, but a little hesitant now.
Mrs. Peters (age range 25–35) Wife of Sheriff. She also discovers clues to the murder. A bit of a nervous woman, always wanting to stay within in the confines of the law, but also willing to hide evidence from the Sheriff and County Attorney.
Mr. Hale (age range 35–45) Tells the Sheriff and the County Attorney that he stopped at the Wright place on his way to town with his helper Harry. He discovered the body of Mr. Wright.
Sheriff Peters (age range 35–45) County lawman who holds Mrs. Wright in jail. Prides himself on his power of detection and logical reasoning. Good ole boy…married to the law. Perhaps a bit pompous.
George Henderson (age range 25–35) County attorney. He and Peters scour the farmhouse for clues that will hold up in a court trial. Also prides himself on his powers of detection and logical reasoning.
Australia—A Scene by David Mamet
Two women discuss the murder of a woman and her children by her husband. Did they pick up on something the wife should have known in order to save herself?
Woman A (age 25–35): rather judgmental, yet excited by the possibility that she could have been endangered by a man she once knew.
Woman B (age 25–35): a follower rather than a leader, loves to gossip
Hello Out There by William Saroyan
A man is jailed in a small Texas town for rape. He says the sex was consensual and the woman only wanted to be paid for it afterwards. Who will be believed, and how will justice be served?
Photo Finish (the Young Man) (age 25–35)—cocky drifter, has gotten in over his head this time (he’s always managed to charm his way out of danger before) ? his story is the sex was consensual and she got mad when he refused to pay her; her story is rape.
Ethel (the Young Woman) (adult actor who can play age 17)—has never been anywhere but the town she lives in, ripe to fall in love with anyone who says she’s pretty.
The Man (age 35–45)—pivotal scene, it’s his wife who is crying rape.
Ashes to Ashes by Harold Pinter
Devlin is questioning his wife, Rebecca, about a former lover. What she recalls is a hypnotic mixture of genocide, mass murder and sadomasochism. Are these truly memories, or only dreams? Where are they coming from?
Rebecca (age range 25–35). Tells of memories or dreams throughout play with symbolic references to the Holocaust. Possibly mentally unstable.
Devlin (age range 35–45) Husband to Rebecca. Questions her regarding the validity of her memories or dreams and her mental stability.
Echo (adult actor who can play age 17): At end of play. Younger Rebecca.