ENSEMBLE THEATRE 2015-16 SEASON - Ensemble Theatre
ENSEMBLE THEATRE 2015-2016 SEASON AUDITIONS
WHEN: Saturday June 13th from 11-4. Sunday June 14th from 5 - 9. Call backs Wednesday June 17th from 5-10.
WHERE: Ensemble Theatre 2843 Washington Blvd (former Coventry School) Cleveland Hts., OH 44118.
WHAT TO PREPARE: If you are new to Ensemble Theatre please prepare a monologue of your choice. If you have auditioned/worked with us before, please be prepared to read sides from the script. Some sides will be posted on website the week before auditions, please check website for updates and feel free to download pdfs. Some copies of the script will also be available for loan the Monday before auditions. Please include a request for these copies when booking your audition appointment. Copies will go out on a first come first serve basis.
Please
CLICK HERE to claim an audition appointment time.
FARRAGUT NORTH (by Beau Willimon)
Directed by Kyle Huff 5Men, 2Women (Playground Theatre)
8/28 to 9/6 2015
From the writer of HOUSE OF CARDS...Stephen Bellamy is a wunderkind press secretary who has built a career that men twice his age would envy. During a tight presidential primary race, Stephen's meteoric rise falls prey to the backroom politics of more seasoned operatives. FARRAGUT NORTH is a timely story about the lust for power and the costs one will endure to achieve it.
Roles:
Steve: Spin doctor for the Morris Presidential campaign. Brash, confident, and with political street smarts that defy his years. The play centres around Steve’s collapse following betrayal and abandonment. Requires a very experienced actor, able to portray everything from arrogance to desperation.
Paul: Campaign manager for the Morris Presidential campaign. Battle hardened and politically savvy. Demands loyalty and will settle for nothing less. Likeable, charming and persuasive.
Ida: Hard nosed political journo. Would sell her grandmother if the story was right. Knows how to charm and tease – but also knows how to play hardball. No loyalty to anyone or anything other than her reputation.
Molly: Somewhat naïve (as opposed to innocent) intern on the Morris Presidential Campaign. Sexually confident. Can be very sweet if it suits her purposes.
Tom: Campaign manager for Morris’s main rival for the Democratic nomination. Calm, calculating, suave and determined. Duplicitous – but must come across as genuine and sincere.
Ben: Political whiz kid. Likeable, agreeable and enthusiastic. Idealistic and eager to learn. Keen to please.
Frank: Reporter following the Presidential campaign. Down to earth, good at his job. This role doubles with a waiter and various other small roles.
DEATH OF A SALESMAN (by Arthur Miller)
Directed by Celeste Cosentino 8Men, 5Women (MainStage Theatre)
9/18 to 10/11/2015
The story revolves around the last days of Willy Loman, a failing salesman, who cannot understand how he failed to win success and happiness. Through a series of tragic soul-searching revelations about the life he has lived with his wife, his sons, and his business associates, we discover how his quest for the American Dream kept him blind to the people who truly loved him. A thrilling work of deep and revealing beauty that remains one of the most profound classic dramas of the American theatre.
Roles:
William Willy Loman: This role has been cast.
Linda Loman: This role has been cast.
Biff Loman: Willy's older son. Biff was a football star with lots of potential in high school, but failed math his senior year and dropped out of summer school when he saw Willy with another woman while visiting him in Boston. He wavers between going home to try to fulfill Willy's dream for him as a businessman or ignoring his father by going out West to be a farmhand where he is happiest.
Harold Happy Loman: Willy's younger son. He's lived in the shadow of his older brother Biff most of his life and seems to be almost ignored, but he still tries to be supportive towards his family. He has a very restless lifestyle as a womanizer and dreams of moving beyond his current job as an assistant to the assistant buyer at the local store, but is unfortunately willing to cheat a little in order to do so, by taking bribes. He is always looking for approval from his parents, but rarely gets any, and he even goes as far as to make things up just for attention, such as telling his parents he is going to get married.
Charley: Willy's wisecracking yet understanding neighbor. He pities Willy and frequently lends him money and comes over to play cards with Willy, although Willy often treats him poorly.
Bernard: Charley's son. In Willy's flashbacks, he is a nerd, and Willy forces him to give Biff test answers. He worships Biff and does anything for him. Later, he is a very successful lawyer, married, and expecting a second son ? the same successes that Willy wants for his sons, in particular Biff.
Uncle Ben: Willy's older brother who became a diamond tycoon after a detour to Africa. He is dead, but Willy frequently speaks to him in his hallucinations of the past. He is Willy's role model. He represents Willy's idea of the American Dream success story.
Miss Francis: A woman with whom Willy cheated on Linda.
Howard Wagner: Willy's boss. He was named by Willy, but sees Willy as a liability for the company and fires him, ignoring all the years that Willy has given to the company. Howard is extremely proud of his wealth, which is manifested in his new wire recorder, and of his family.
Jenny: Charley's secretary.
Stanley: A waiter at the restaurant who seems to be friends or acquainted with Happy.
Miss Forsythe: A girl whom Happy picks up at the restaurant. She is very pretty and claims she was on several magazine covers. Happy lies to her, making himself and Biff look like they are important and successful.
Letta: Miss Forsythe's friend.
AGES OF THE MOON (by Sam Shepard)
Directed by Stephen Vasse-Hansell. 2Men (MainStage Theatre)
11/13 to 12/6/2015
A gruff, affecting and funny play by Sam Shepard. Byron and Ames are old friends, reunited by mutual desperation. Over bourbon on ice, they sit, reflect and bicker until fifty years of love, friendship and rivalry are put to the test at the barrel of a gun.
Roles:
Byron.
Ames.
Two old friends.
THE LION THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE
(by C. S. Lewis, Dramatized by Joseph Robinette). Directed by Celeste Cosentino.
5-10Women, 5-10Men. Some roles may be double cast and some roles can be played by either male or female actor regardless of age.
All ages encouraged to audition!
12/4 to 12/13/2015
This new dramatization of C.S. Lewis' classic, set in the land of Narnia, faithfully recreates the magic and mystery of Aslan, the great lion, his struggle with the White Witch, and the adventures of four children who inadvertently wander from an old wardrobe into the exciting, never-to-be-forgotten Narnia. The intense action features chases, duels and escapes as the witch is determined to keep Narnia in her possession and to end the reign of Aslan. his story of love, faith, courage and giving, with its triumph of good over evil, is a true celebration of life.
Roles:
Mrs. Beaver, Lucy, Susan, White Witch, Peter, Edmund, Fenris Ulf, Tumnus, Father Christmas, Unicorn, Elf, Dwarf, Minotaur.
3-5 people for Witches Army. 3-5 Narnians. *the role of Aslan has been cast.
SLOW DANCE ON THE KILLING GROUND (by William Hanley).
Directed by Greg White. 2Men, 1Woman.
2/5 to 2/28/2016
The curtain rises on a poor, dusty shop with its dirty window obscuring the dark hostile night. A storekeeper is taking inventory. The door is flung open, letting in a lithe young black man. In this dance for two, the characters make hesitant approaches, circle, feint, threaten each other with gun & ice pick but scarcely make contact. The young man is obviously a hunted man. The storekeeper a non-Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, is close-mouthed, suspicious, anxious to avoid self-involvement. The third dancer is Rosie, an 18-year old from Riverdale, who as wandered into the shop after losing her way with no illusions about her homeliness or about the encounter that has led to her troubles. The two men react to her with a sensitivity and concern that seem to diminish the furies within them. But not for long. Finally the German is driven to revealing the truth about himself as the young man, faces his inexorable fate out there on the killing ground.
Roles:
Glas: non-Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany, storekeeper. There is a lot he is not telling...
Randall: bright young African American male with a very dangerous secret. He is wanted by the law.
Rosie: young girl from Riverdale. College Student. Running from something...
GOLDEN LEAF RAGTIME BLUES. (by Charles Smith).
Directed by Ian Wolfgang Hinz. 3Men, 1Woman
2/5 to 2/28/2016
Developed by American Blues Theatre Company in Chicago in 1987, Golden Leaf Rag Time Blues is a story of a young African American boy and an old Jewish man who are thrown together because of circumstances beyond their control. The two form an unusual friendship when they discover through stories and music that they have more in common than anyone would ever believe. Golden Leaf Rag Time Blues illustrates how our basic needs and human emotions transcend the barriers of race, religion, and age.
Roles:
Pompey: Retired Vaudevillian who was marginally successful before the advent of the talking picture show. Even though he now lives in an SRO and is dependent on monthly social security checks, he has spent years traveling and living on the road so he is not ashamed to be living on a pittance.
Ollie: Pompey's vaudevillian comedy partner. Never took comedy very seriously. He appears, not as an apparition, but as a man, as he was before he died.
Marsha: Early to Mid 40's. Pompey's daughter,who has reached a pointing her life where she has come to understand that the dreams of her youth will never be realized. She spends most of her free time doing volunteer work for charities, ostensibly to help the less fortunate.
Jet: Fifteen year old African American kid with a deep distrust of everyone and every situation. He displays this distrust betraying to appear to be hardened and uncaring, an act which he is never quite successful at pulling off. All he wants to do is be a kid, but everyone loads on his shoulders more responsibility than any fifteen year old should be asked to shoulder.
JERUSALEM (by Jez Butterworth)
Directed by Ian Wolfgang Hinz. 11Men, 5Women
4/29 to 5/22/2016.
On St George? s Day, the morning of the local country fair, Johnny ? Rooster? Byron, local waster and Lord of Misrule, is a wanted man. The council officials want to serve him an eviction notice on the trailer in the woods which is his home, his son wants to be taken to the fair, a vengeful father who
suspects him of leading his under-age daughter astray wants to give him a serious kicking, and a motley crew of mates want his ample supply of drugs and alcohol, and to be regaled by his tales. He can spin a yarn for sure, and has always kept himself afloat with his menacing charm, cunning wit and a wealth of outlandish mythical stories, but how will he dig himself out of the hole this time?
Roles:
Johnny Rooster Byron – 40's/50's -opinionated eccentric ex-daredevil and teller of fantastically improbable stories, he has a young son whom he rarely sees, and lives in a caravan in the local woods holding parties where he gets drunk and supplies drugs, some of them to under-age kids.
Ginger – pathetic underdog of the group, he is older than the others who hang around with Johnny, never having grown out of the lifestyle. He aspires to be a DJ, but is in fact an unemployed plasterer.
The Professor – vague and whimsical, the elderly professor spouts philosophical nothings and unwittingly takes LSD.
Davey – young teenage abbatoir worker who is best friends with Lee, and visits Rooster regularly for free drugs and alcohol. He can't stand the idea of leaving Wiltshire.
Troy Whitworth – local thug, the same age as Ginger; his stepdaughter, whom (it is strongly implied) he sexually abuses, goes missing in the play; he badly beats Johnny up at the end of the play.
Lee – young teenager, he enters the play having been hidden in the sofa asleep after about 15 minutes; he plans to emigrate to Australia the next day, despite having little money to take with him.
Phaedra – Troy's stepdaughter, she is seen at the beginning of both Act One and Two singing the hymn Jerusalem dressed in fairy wings, and her disappearance is referred to; it is only at the end of Act Two that it is revealed that she is actually hiding in Johnny's caravan.
Pea and Tanya – two local girls who emerge from underneath Johnny's caravan, having fallen asleep drunk there.
Dawn – Johnny's ex-girlfriend and mother to his child, though she disapproves of his lifestyle; having spent some time with him she relapses and kisses him, but there is no reconciliation.
Marky – Johnny's six-year-old son.
Wesley – the local pub landlord, he is involved in the festivities for St George's Day and has been roped in to doing the Morris Dancing.
Linda Fawcett and Luke Parsons – the council officials.
Frank Whitworth Brother of Troy Whitworth
Danny Whitworth Younger brother of Troy and Frank Whitworth
PLEASE NOTE:
-Additional auditions may be held on a show by show basis.
-Auditions for the 2016 Colombi New Plays Festival productions will be announced at a later date.
The Ensemble Theatre casting/audition process is open to all ages and ethnicities. We encourage everyone who would like to audition to do so for any/all roles they are interested in. Roles are open to both traditional and non traditional casting with the exception where age or ethnicity is essential to the role.
We look forward to meeting you at auditions!
