Chatterbox auditions

Chatterbox Audio Theater
announces open auditions for

Dead and Gone
A Southern retelling of James Joyce's "The Dead"

Open auditions: Monday, May 11, 7 pm
Callbacks: Tuesday, May 12, 7 pm
Rehearsal and recording dates: June 7 - 27, 2009

Audition location:
The Next Stage at Theatre Memphis
630 Perkins Ext.
Memphis, TN 38117

Dead and Gone is a Southern retelling of James Joyce’s classic story The Dead, transplanted f rom Dublin to Memphis. Set in 1905, the story follows Gabriel Conroy, an insecure intellectual, as he attempts to navigate the various social currents at his aunts’ annual holiday party. Eventually his victories and concerns are put into harsh perspective by a surprising confession from his wife, Margaret.

The cast of ten requires four men and six women. The roles are:

GABRIEL: A schoolteacher
MARGARET: His wife
AUNT KATE: His aunt
AUNT JULIE: Her sister; Gabriel’s aunt
MARY JANE: Julie and Kate’s niece; Gabriel’s cousin
FREDDY: A drunk
BROWN: A businessman
MISS IVORS: A teacher; Gabriel’s colleague
CRANDALL: A tenor
LILY: A servant girl

The roles of Aunt Kate and Aunt Julie require “seasoned†(i.e., older) voices. Aunt Julie must be able to sing. The role of Lily requires an African American actress. The only role that will be pre-cast is that of Crandall. Sound effects will be performed by the cast, so those who aren’t on mic as often will still have plenty to do.

The play is a drama, and will be performed as naturalistically as possibleâ€"in other words, you shouldn’t sound like you’re acting. All of the characters except Gabriel will be performed with Southern accents. Please note that these are light, naturalistic accents; they aren’t caricatures, and they a re never played for comic effect. They should sound like a lot of the people you encounter in Memphis every day.

The recorded show will debut on WKNO-FM before being posted to the Chatterbox website.

For auditions, please prepare a two- to five-minute audio monologue that you can deliver in the appropriate style (dramatic, naturalistic, and in a Southern accent). These do not need to be memorized. Bring a script with you and be prepared to deliver the monologue as you would perform it into a microphone.

Send an email to scriptrequest@chatterboxtheater.org and we’ll be happy to send you a PDF of the full script.

We hope to see you at auditions!

bob

http://www.chatterboxtheater.org/node/38