WEDDING BAND - St. Paul EPA
Penumbra Theatre
AUDITION DATE
Mar 06, 2017
10:00 am - 6:00 pm (CST)
Lunch from 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
APPOINTMENTS
To schedule an appointment, please contact Shayla Roland, Associate Producer, at shayla.roland@penumbratheatre.org.
CONTRACT
SPT
SPT 9; $603/wk minimum
SEEKING
Equity actors for Alice Childress' WEDDING BAND: A LOVE/HATE STORY IN BLACK AND WHITE. Please see breakdown for more information.
PREPARATION
Please prepare two (2) contrasting contemporary monologues, preferably from an African American play, not to exceed 5 minutes in total time. Please bring a stapled headshot/resume.
LOCATION
Hallie Q. Brown Community Center
270 North Kent Street
St. Paul, MN 55102
Auditions will take place in Club Room C
PERSONNEL
Lou Bellamy - Director / Sarah Bellamy - Artistic Director / Shayla Roland - Associate Producer
OTHER DATES
Callbacks: Tuesday, March 7: 2:00pm - 5:00pm / First Rehearsal: Tuesday, September 12, 2017 / First Preview: Tuesay, October 17, 2017 / Opening: Thursday, October 19, 2017 / Closing: Sunday, November 12, 2017
OTHER
An Equity Monitor will not be provided. The producer will run all aspects of this audition.
Equity’s contracts prohibit discrimination. Equity is committed to diversity and encourages all its employers to engage in a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of inclusion. As such, Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to attend every audition.
Always bring your Equity Membership card to auditions.
BREAKDOWN
MATTIE—African American female, age 25 to 35. Is illiterate, but exudes genuine and motherly warmth. She is a caring mother. Her husband is serving in the merchant marines during WW I. In addition to the money sent home by her husband, she augments her income by minding children for neighbors and selling baked goods.
LULA GREEN—African American female, age 35 to 45. She, like other black women in the neighborhood, survives by selling baked goods, taking in washing, creating folk art--such as paper flowers, etc. Her son, Nelson, is home on leave from the army. On occasion she is called upon to exhibit obsequious behavior to shield her son from harm inflicted by a dangerous, racist white citizenry.
NELSON GREEN—African American male, mid-twenties to early 30’s. He is home on leave from serving in the army during WW I. His demeanor and the self-respect earned on the battlefield place him in significant danger from a racist white society in 1918 South Carolina. He is a somewhat rough-looking, muscly fellow with a soft voice and bittersweet sense of humor.
FANNY JOHNSON—African American female, age 40 to 50. She is perhaps fair of skin and brags about her “…mother being a full-blooded, qualified, Seminole Indian.” She is “color struck” and a neighborhood busybody. She owns the house that Julia Augustine rents. Her perception of self is shaped by her ownership of property and the distance she maintains from common, every day Negroes.
HERMAN—A strong forty year-old white male of German extraction. There is a gauntness about him that only seems to reinforce his kind nature. He is in a loving and 10-year interracial relationship with JULIA AUGUSTINE. He is a baker, by profession. One should immediately take him to be honest and hard-working.
ANNABELLE—A tallish white female in her thirties. She is Herman’s sister. She is unmarried and defined by her marital status. She assumes a slightly mincing behavior of fashionable delicacy. She might be graceful if she were not ashamed of her size.
HERMAN’S MOTHER—A white female in her late fifties of German extraction. She has risen above her poor farm background and tries to assume the airs of “quality.” Still, she would be viewed by African Americans of the period as “poor white.” She feels that the United States' role in WW I has threatened her position as “American.” This manifests itself in hyper-allegiance and concern that she and her family be perceived as true Americans.
THE BELL MAN—A poor white male who is about 30 years old but time has dealt him some hard blows. He is a peddler who cuts the fool—singing and dancing to draw crowds hoping to sell anything, from ladies’ underwear to pots and pans. He preys on blacks who must pay in installments for the wares he peddles. He perceives himself to be better than the blacks with whom he interacts. His attitude toward is customers is, at best, condescending. His sexual innuendoes and lecherous behavior give him a slimy countenance. He is a white male in 1918 South Carolina and is not above racial threats and lynching.
Equity’s contracts prohibit discrimination. Equity is committed to diversity and encourages all its employers to engage in a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of inclusion. As such, Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to audition.
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