Beowulf Alley Theatre Auditions for 3 Plays
for New Summer Program
Program Contact:
Michael Fenlason
michaelfenlason@aol.com
Beowulf Alley Theatre at 11 S. 6th Avenue, Downtown Tucson, is launching a new summer program for playwrights. Page to the Stage: The Outrageous New Play Workshop Series will introduce 3 new plays presented in repertory from June 30-July 18, Wednesday through Sunday evenings with 2 matinee performances per week on Saturdays and Sundays. Each play will workshop with the playwright and a director according to a schedule of workshop rehearsals determined by those cast in each play and will have 7 presentations over a three-week period. The schedule of each play’s audition times and performance dates and times is listed below.
Auditions for the 3 plays will be held on Saturday, May 8. Play #1, The First Third by John Vornholt (johnvorn@aol.com), will audition from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. along with Play #2, The Language of Flowers by Gavin Kayner (brit4@mindspring.com). Play #3, A Work of Art by Jonathan Northover (than_northover@hotmail.com) will audition from 3:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. Sides from the play will be used. Actors who auditioned for our 2010-2011 season may contact the playwright to indicate interest. You may be asked to attend auditions to read with others. If you have not previously auditioned for Beowulf Alley, please plan to attend. Stipends will be paid.
A synopsis, character breakdown and schedule of performances for each play is as follows:
Play #1, The First Third:
On December 1, 1969, at the height of the Vietnam War, the Selective Service held a nationwide draft lottery on prime-time TV in an attempt to make the draft more fair. Almost all deferments were canceled, and every able-bodied man between the ages of 19 and 26 faced a certainty of being drafted to go Vietnam if his birthday fell in the First Third of the capsules drawn. On this fateful night, we join five college seniors as their lives and futures are determined by a TV game show, hosted by retiring General William B. Hershey.
Character Breakdown
"Haze" Hazelett - college senior
"Shoe" Tidrow - college senior
"Moose" Pierson - college senior
"Bud" Litzinger - college senior
Craig "Spaghetti Leg" Kurtz - college senior
Performance Dates
· Evenings at 7:30 - Wed., June 30; Sun. eve. July 4; Fri. July 9; Thurs., July 15; and Sat eve, July 17 plus
· Matinees at 1:30 - Sat. July 3 and Sun. July 11
Play #2, The Language of Flowers:
Think of this: It's the dead of night. Two sisters, one channeling Emily Dickinson - the second trapped in a delusion that her doll is a living baby - drag a body across the floor and stuff it into the refrigerator. They swear each other to secrecy. At dawn an escaped convict breaks into their home, into their private lives and all hell breaks loose. Of course, it's a love story. And a mystery. Waiting to be plucked.
Character Breakdown
Emma - a twenty-some-year-old channeling Emily Dickinson
Maria - Emma's older sister, late 20s-early 30s, immersed in the delusion her doll is a living baby
Walter - an escaped convict
Performance Dates
· Evenings at 7:30 - Thurs., July 1; Sat. July 3; Wed, July 7 at 7:30p; Sun., July 1; and Fri., July 16
· Matinees at 1:30 - Sat. July 10 at 1:30p, Sun. July 18.
Play #3, A Work of Art:
London, England, in the world of high art as inhabited by Danny, Helen and Gornstoun and Helen’s Aunt Brailey, an eccentric gallery owner with a taste for good art. That is, as long as everyone realizes that it’s good. Led by bouts of arson, the exploitation of underage Chinese artists and a level of violence that can only derive from love, the plot centers around the disappearance of a unique original painting by the famous 19th century artist, Anton Von Holk Koopercheck. This is not just a play. It is an essential study of how far we might go in pursuit of a new idea, especially if it’s been done before. A study of our fascinating with originality, even if it doesn’t exist. And a study of not just what’s on the surface of art, but what’s supposed to be on the surface.
Character Breakdown
Helen Brailey - F, 20s – mid 30s, pretty, sensual, sassy, lost.
Gornstoun Wright - M, 30s, an artist of sorts, scruffy, intense, clever, a rogue.
Daniel Breedlove - M, 30s, clean cut surface, career man, indecisive, slightly
dangerous. But not really.
Performance Dates
· Evenings at 7:30 - Fri., July 2; Thurs., July 8; Sat., July 10; Wed. July 14; and Sun. July 18
· Matinees at 1:30 - Sun., July 4 and Sat, July 17
