Posts Tagged ‘auditions’

Initial auditions for AVT’s production of THREE DAYS OF RAIN, by Richard Greenberg, will be Saturday, August 20th, from 9am to 12pm in the AVT garage blackbox studio. Additional audition times may be announced at the directors’ discretion. Please contact the stage manager, Claudia Herrera (claudia@avthespians.org), if you intend to audition and/or for further information.

Six roles will be played by three actors (2M, 1F, one role each per Act). All characters are in the general age range of late twenties to early thirties. Sides will be provided at audition time and no preparation is required, though auditioners are welcome to purchase script copies on their on in advance if desired.  Prepared monologues, theatrical resumes, or headshots are unnecessary; AVT values individual creativity, ability to interpret and apply artistic direction, personal reliability, and teamwork.

The time commitment is expected to be 4-6 hours per week in rehearsal, all tech rehearsals (evenings week of Oct. 31), and all shows (as listed below). This does not include additional line learning and character work expected of all actors on their own time.

Rehearsals will be in AVT’s garage blackbox studio. All performances will be in our blackbox spaces at the Antelope Valley Winery.

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NOVEMBER 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 18, 19, 20
THREE DAYS OF RAIN
by Richard Greenberg

Produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, New York.

A year after he disappeared on the day of his father’s funeral, Walker Janeway returns to New York. He takes up temporary residence in the unused space where, thirty-five years earlier, his architect father lived and designed the great house that would make him and his partner famous. Here he finds a clue to his troubled past: “April 3-5: Three days of rain.” So begins the curious journal of Ned Janeway, the father that Walker thought he knew. Long-overdue confrontations with his sister and best friend slowly force new meaning as they reinterpret their relationships to each other and their respective pasts. In Act II, we travel back in time to the mid-1960’s, where we are offered an alternative, unexpectedly romantic perspective of the family story. A many-layered drama peppered with witty moments that make us smile, Three Days of Rain ultimately questions the foundation of all those little stories that we tell ourselves—the ones we often need in order to make sense out of life.

Produced and directed  by Nalin A. Ratnayake
Nicelle Davis, Asst. Director / Dramaturg
Claudia Y. Herrera, Stage Manager
Kara McCollum, Artistic Director
Kevin J. Hogan, Technical Director

AVT announces auditions for HUNGER FOR PARADISE, by local writer Eric M. Martin. The play will have its premiere production run AUGUST 19, 20, 21, 26, 27, 28.

Auditions will be TUESDAY, MAY 24TH from 6pm to 8pm at AVT’s garage blackbox studio. Please arrive as close to 6pm as possible. A prepared monologue is not necessary, though you may prepare one if you’d like. All roles for all AVT productions are cast by open audition.

For any further questions, please contact the director, Jessie Hassan, by emailing jessie@avthespians.org.

HUNGER FOR PARADISE
by Eric M. Martin

Producer Nalin A. Ratnayake
Director Jessie Hassan

Winner of the 2010 AVT New American West Play Competition
Produced by arrangement with Eric M. Martin, Quartz Hill, CA.

AVT is pleased to bring to the stage the premiere of this new, character-driven drama by local playwright Eric M. Martin. The history of the American West is replete with nostalgia and stories of the migration westward to a promised land of opportunity in California, Oregon, and the bounty of the western frontier. Many of these settlers built new lives and made transformative changes to themselves, our society, and to the land itself. But what about those for whom the promise failed to deliver? Set in the modern day, this play explores the hunger for something new that often drives us to break for greener pastures… only to discover that, sometimes, the emptiness inside from which we run cannot be filled so easily. Rather, it pursues us despite all superficial remedies — and instead of looking forward in the way we hoped, life sometimes leaves us to wonder might have been.

Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 4pm.

Jose: 30, male, hispanic. Lower-middle class, college drop-out who was persuing a major in criminal justice. Often very political and has large dreams but very little ambition. Just recently had an incident with his cousin, stabbed him and fled the scene. He later hears from another cousin that he recovered. Loyalty is the center of his morals. To Jose, there is only the present moment and this is fun for him.

Allison: 22, female college graduate. Moved from the midwest and quickly found work. She is self-reliant but still looking for herself. Her father died when she was young, leaving Allison and her mother alone in the house. There was no second marriage or siblings. She is suprised to find herself in a relationship with Tuba and doesn’t think it will last although she is intrigued by him.

William: Tuba’s older brother. Found himself as a college professor after spending many years in school, undecisive of what he wanted to do. An underachiever who used to get in a lot of trouble as a young man. He has relationship problems from never being able to accept responsibility for anything.

Robert: 35, male from Oklahoma. Deaf in one ear. Has a son in Oklahoma that he hasn’t seen in about 7 years. His step-mother tricked him into moving to california by saying his father was sick and Robert never went back. The mother of his son refuses to accept Robert as the father even though there are no alternatives. As a child he was passed around by family members and when he was 18 tried to enlist but was denied because of his ear. Robert wants to lead a simple life and settle down with someone like Allison. He isn’t the brightest bulb in the pack but not stupid.

Tuba: 24, male from Iowa. Having no luck after college, he moved west under the suggestion of William. As kids, William was the irresponsible “bad child” and Tuba was the behaved “good kid.” After Tuba moved west and met his new friends, the roles reversed. He writes poetry and reads poetry novels. The only apparent artistic outlet that Tuba has are his webcasts. He makes these video monologues, in part, as a way to bring together his life with the life of the work he consumes.

Noboyuki: Late Twenties, Male who moved from Japan to US as a student. He studied long enough to recieve a bachelor’s but doesn’t produce any degree. He is kicked out of the appartment near the college that he no longer attends and is taken in by Jose. Noboyuki is arrested and deported under the hand of his ex-landlord. Noboyuki is belligerent, humorous, and just a bit dim.

AVT is holding open auditions for CROSSINGS by Barbara Schneider.  Rehearsals will be twice weekly for approximately 2 hours per rehearsal, starting as soon as roles have been cast.  There will be 6 performances from November 12-21, Fri/Sat 8pm and Sun 2pm.

Auditions will be by cold reading on Tuesday, September 7th, from 6:30-9:00pm in the AVT garage black box at 6521 Almond Valley Way, Lancaster, CA 93536.  Please contact the stage manager, Courtney Marietta (cam@avthespians.org) if you intend to audition.

A probing and compassionate look at the constantly changing relationship between a German musician who lived through the Second World War in Nazi Germany, and his daughter who emigrates to the United States to become a political activist.  The play begins in postwar Germany with a father telling his young daughter the old and familiar story of his escape from a prisoner-of-war camp. In ensuing scenes, the daughter grows up and begins to question her father’s passive behavior during the war. Though he tries to defend his actions as a rational response to the time and place he lived, his daughter remains skeptical. It is only when the daughter realizes her own vulnerability to the easy habit of indifference, in present-day America, that she truly begins to understand her father.

There are four roles available, each of which must be able portray a range of age:

Katja (young) – female, character age is 8-12.

Katja (grown up) – female, character age is 20-30.

Papa – male, character age 40+.

Anna Marie – female, character age 40+.

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CROSSINGS is produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc., New York.

Producer: Nalin A. Ratnayake
Stage Director: Karen Gruca
Artistic Director: Kara McCollum
Production Stage Manager:  Courtney Marietta

From left: Joe Gruca, Courtney Marietta, and Derric Neal star in AVT's production of BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT, on stage June 4-13 in Quartz Hill.

AVT June 2010 Update

AVT Podcast #11 - June 2010 Update [ 11:01 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1137)

In this episode:

* BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT opens Friday, June 4th for a six-show run through June 13th! Two lawyers duel over the nature of justice… and face a shared past that may undo them both. Tickets available online via secure credit card, or a limited number of physical tickets are available via cash/check at Sagebrush Cafe in Quartz Hill.

* Interview with Karen Gruca, production stage manager for BEYOND A REASONABLE DOUBT.

* Auditions have been announced for THE INTERROGATION OF NATHAN HALE, which will open in September. Please see our website, under the “Happening Now” box at right for a link to more information.

* Our first Musicians Night was held in the garage blackbox on Saturday, April 24th. Check out our blog for photos and podcast sound clips. We had a great time and have future Musicians Nights lined up! Stay tuned for further updates.

* Updates for playwrights – $300 bounty continues, several playwrights are wrighting furiously as we speak. Next Playwrights Expo will be July 24th. Short scripts for staged reading and limited production due June 26th. AVT is moving towards a phased set of event types to help bring locally written work from concept to full production.

* As a 501(c)3 nonprofit company, we depend on your support – ticket revenues recover only about 65% of what it takes to operate AVT. The generosity of our Patrons is what allows us to continue producing unique, original, and experimental drama. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation easily by credit card on our website today.

AVT announces auditions for THE INTERROGATION OF NATHAN HALE, by David Stanley Ford, on Saturday, June 19th from 9am to 1230pm.  The format will be cold reading.

There will be 6 shows during the run (Sept 17-26, 2010).  Two rehearsals per week of 2-3 hours each will be scheduled starting in July, time which does not include memorization and character work expected of all actors.

You must contact the stage manager in advance with your phone number and email if you intend to audition: juliana@avthespians.org.

It is the morning of September 22, 1776. Nathan Hale is waiting to be hanged as a spy. A British captain, John Montresor, invites him to spend his remaining time in the captain’s tent.  Hale, a rifleman and spy for the American Revolution, was captured and executed by the British almost exactly 233 years before our opening night.  What is freedom? What is courage? What is the value of a life? This is a play that seeks to understand the values of our nation—their flaws, as well as their wondrous virtues.  Mr. Ford has taken the circumstances of Hale’s last hours and used them to probe our country, using both points of view -that of cynic and idealist – to try to understand who we are.

There are two male roles available:

Captain John Montresor.  A character in his forties or fifties, Montresor is a jaded, darkly humorous, disillusioned officer in His Royal Majesty’s Expeditionary Forces.  He uses cynical sarcasm and needling wit to “play with his food” – simultaneously interrogating and taunting American rebel prisoners before their imminent hangings.  Montresor personifies the counter-argument to the romanticized ideal of our county’s birth.

Nathan Hale. A young and idealistic rifleman in his twenties.  Hale is full of fire and passion for the revolution, and embodies the traditionally American characteristics of daring, can-do spirit, and determined optimism, even in the face of execution.  His spirit is inspirational, despite a glaring streak of naiveté that makes him prime fodder for Montresor’s mind games.

Producing Director: Nalin A. Ratnayake
Artistic Director: Kara McCollum
Stage Manager: Juliana Katzman

Produced by special arrangement with THE DRAMATIC PUBLISHING COMPANY of Woodstock, Illinois.

There have been a few requests for more information pertaining to auditions for “Beyond a Reasonable Doubt”.  I am happy to oblige with some interpretation of the work and characters.

Basics: there are two main roles, Ruth Ballard and Kenneth Hayes, both early to mid-thirties.  A smaller male role for a Guard is also available.  The setting will be the interview room of a women’s prison in the mid-1980′s.  There are 2 acts of about 45-50 min each.  Ruth and Ken are onstage almost 100% of the time, so the line load is heavy. There are no roles suitable for youth.

Rehearsals will be determined after casting by agreement, as we have a small cast to work with.  Expect 2-4 hours total per week in rehearsal, not including memorization and character work expected of every actor on their own time.

Synopsis: Two dynamic lawyers are locked in a clash of wills and morality. Ruth Ballard is an embittered radical, now in jail, accused of participating in a bank robbery and the subsequent killing of a police officer.  She chooses to represent herself as attorney. Kenneth Hayes is the assistant district attorney assigned to prosecute her. Once, they were classmates, and more,  in law school—now they are two lawyers with very different views on the nature of justice. Their conflicts, legal and personal, probe the nature of our criminal justice system and the  dichotomy between logic and compassion.

Kenneth Hayes: Born into a poor family, Ken has pulled himself up by his bootstraps to get where he is today.  He is searingly intelligent and methodical, and has been taught by a life of hard work and study that there is no excuse for cheating the system or opposing law and order.  Ken would believe that there is no fundamental difference between stealing because one has need and stealing with criminal intent. The law is the law.  He is not a malicious person; rather he simply believes strongly that one must draw a hard line and have an equal standard, or society simply cannot practically function.

Ruth Ballard: Ruth is an in-your-face, assertive woman and a strong activist for social justice.  She is easily as intelligent as Ken, but much less calculating.  Her strength lies instead in her indomitable passion for what she believes is right.  In contrast to Ken’s carefully constructed and sometimes subtle methods, Ruth makes no apologies for her intentions and prefers to argue on principle, rather than via procedure.  Her view on the law is that ignoring the human element inherent in each and every case coldy avoids what is essentially pertinent to every case – intent and motivation.  These, in her view, are what determines ethical culpability – not an action in and of itself.  Ruth has a criminal record of minor offenses associated with her various advocacy movements.

Note: At one point in the play, the script does call for Ruth to briefly strip down to bra and panties (in a non-sexual context).  The actual blocking may be somewhat more conservative than this, but if the concept bothers you, you are advised not to audition for the role of Ruth.

Guard: While having far fewer lines than Ruth and Ken, Marty the prison guard is by no means a two-dimensional character.  He knows of what this woman is accused… she is a cop-killer.   Ruth and Ken were personally involved with each other in law school.  But this case is personal to Marty too; he likely knew the officer killed in the crime under trial, and the struggle between his emotional anger and his sense of duty to the rules of his profession is apparent in every scene.

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Open auditions will be held Saturday, March 20th.  The format will be cold reading.  Please contact the Stage Manager (karen@avthespians.org) if you intend to audition or if you have further questions regarding audtions.

It was a marathon run yesterday with a full day of auditions for our production of “Crime and Punishment”.  After several surprises and some deliberation, we have decided on the following cast:

Raskolnikov – Kevin Hogan

Porfiry / Marmeladov / Koch – M. Steven Felty

Sonia - Anna Delrosario

Alyona / Lizaveta / Mother – Kara McCollum

Karen and I were very pleased with the turnout.  Every single candidate impressed us for different reasons, and we had multiple good options for every single role… a director’s dream, and a difficult decision.

Congratulations to the cast, and a big thank you to all who auditioned!  I appreciate your willingness to be a part of something new, and your enthusiasm for our project.