May 27, 2011

Audition for the summer show!

AUDITION NOTICE
Writing in the Sand: An Evening With John Herbert

GSU Theatre and the Players of Georgia State University announce auditions for ten male and female roles, all unpaid, in our summer production, Writing in the Sand: An Evening With John Herbert Tuesday, June 14, and Wednesday, June 15, from 7-9 p.m. in the Alumni Hall Theater in Dahlberg Hall. Callbacks will be held Friday, June 17, at 6 p.m. in the same location. Theatre majors are required to prepare a one-minute monologue. Non-majors may prepare a monologue or do a cold reading from material provided at the audition.

Rehearsals will take place on weekday evenings in the theatre, with an all-day technical rehearsal Sunday, July 17. The production runs Thursday, July 21, through Saturday, July 23, with performances at 8 p.m. in the Alumni Hall Theater. The play is a celebration of survival, presenting three different views of life as captured by John Herbert, the pioneering playwright whose prison drama Fortune and Men's Eyes revolutionized gay theatre.

Writing in the Sand: An Evening With John Herbert consists of three pieces:

· Writing in the Sand--a re-creation of Herbert's 1995 public reading of the first chapter of his memoirs in which he describes the courage it took to be openly gay in Toronto in the late 1940s and survive a prison sentence on trumped up charges. This piece is already cast.
· "Pearl Divers"--a short comic play about an effeminate gay man's attempts to land a job at a prominent downtown cafeteria.
· "Beer Room"--a brief mood piece depicting a night in a prominent gay bar as the characters deal with relationship issues, the past and an uncertain future.

Roles being cast:

"Pearl Divers"
· Queenie: A young, effeminate gay man, tough and sharp-tongued in the traditions of the best old movie "dames."
· Hostess: A conceited young woman working in a prominent downtown cafeteria.
· Miss Burns: An older woman and closeted lesbian who manages a prominent downtown cafeteria.
· Mary: An older Irish-Canadian woman, practical and tough, who runs the dish-washing room in a prominent downtown cafeteria.

"Beer Room"
· Young Man--A handsome young actor, formerly involved in a gay relationship but now married with a child on the way.
· Actor--An older actor, once involved with the Young Man, now alone but on the brink of success.
· Artist--An older, wiser man or woman who frequents the gay bar looking for models and possible pick-ups.
· Waiter--A straight man working in a gay bar, comfortable fielding passes from the patrons and keeping the few difficult customers under control.
· Stranger--A very handsome young man, new to town after growing up on a farm, checking out the scene.
· Regular--An aging part-time hustler whose ability to get what he can out of life is now hampered by his heavy drinking.