SIMPLY DIVIDED
Auditions: Friday July 24th from 6-9 pm
*Please arrive with your hair put up, and be prepared to move. You do not need to prepare anything, you will be given material to read at the audition.
*Auditions will start promptly at 6 pm, so please arrive early to check in. Please be prepared to stay for the entire audition.
CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS:
SISSY MAE MONTGOMERY is the owner of the Simply Delicious Diner which is the hub of the social life in Simply Alabama. She is a happily married despite the fact that her husband has moved to Mobile to work at the new Toyota truck plant. SISSY MAE thinks her life is perfect until her grown daughter moves back home and announces that SISSY MAE's husband is cheating on her.
D'ELLEN CHAMBERS is the 'town cougar' and one of the richest women in Simply, Alabama because of the monthly alimony checks she receives from her four ex-husbands. D'ELLEN is very proud of her unique name and actually divorced one of her husbands simply because he would pronounce it correctly. What her friends don't know is that one of D'ELLEN ex-husbands just died which has taken a huge toil on her finances. So when the handsome new teacher moves to town, D'ELLEN sets her sights on adding another railcar to her gravy train.
TRISH ANN BLACKWOOD gave up a promising career as a tennis star to return to Simply and care for her ailing grandfather (who has made a forturne running a string of motels and liquor stores.) The old man was supposed to die quickly so TRISH ANN could get back to her career, but it's been more than a decade and he's not dead yet. So, while she waits for her grandfather to croak, TRISH ANN takes a job as the part time tennis coach at the local high school. When the handsome new teacher arrives in town, TRISH ANN thinks that she is the obvious choice for his affection. Little does she know that all the women in the Simply Delicious Diner think the exact same thing so she is in for the fight of her life.
CHARITY COLLINS earns a living as a traveling beautician. She can't afford a shop of her own, so she carries around the tools of her trade in an oversized bag and 'does hair' wherever her clients may be- in bathrooms, at bus stops or often in the Simply Delicious Diner. CHARITY is happily married to a long-haul trucker and the arrival of the young teacher in Simply doesn't affect her. But it does give her a prime to opportunity to practice the other thing she's good at besides 'fixin' hair- and that's being the town's matchmaker. Sitting in the back of the diner and working on a wig that is destined for the head of a dead lady at the local funeral home, CHARITY provides a constant stream of unwanted advice to all the suitors for GABE's affection. And in the process, learns the true nature of the women she calls her friends.
GABE took the job as the new English teacher at Simply High School excited to get away from the bustle of Atlanta. When he stops off at the Simply Delicious Diner to ask for directions to his new house, GABE sets in motion a fight to the death among the women of Simply. GABE doesn't want to hurt anyone's feelings so he plays along as the women try to impress him with their various offers and innuendos. But GABE has a secret that he doesn't want anyone in this small Southern town to know. A secret that might cause them to not be quite so eager to invite him over to dinner. And when he reveals his secret, it changes everything in Simply.
SARAH BETH MONTGOMERY has been off at college for the last two years in Mobile where she shares a small apartment with her father. She has always dreamed of being a lawyer, but the longer she stays in school, the more she realizes that what she really loves is working in the diner with her mother. She has been thinking about dropping out of school for weeks when she comes home one night and finds her father in bed with one of the women who works at the truck plant. Returning home to the diner, SARAH BETH tells her mother about the affair and asks for her old job back. It's going to be great working side-by-side with her mom. Or at least that's what SARAH BETH thinks until GABE shows up and SISSY MAE decides that she wants him just as badly as the other desperate women in the diner. From that point on, tmother and daughter become estranged as they fight to win over the handsome young teacher any way they can.
RAY is one of the last regular customers at the Simply Delicious Diner, coming into the small restaurant at the same time every day and ordering the exact same thing- a grilled cheese sandwich with only one slice of bread and lemonade served in a red cup. RAY suffers from Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and has to follow a strict routine during this time in the diner or suffer a nervous breakdown. Most of the women understand this and stay out of his way. But not D'ELLEN. She and RAY were high school sweethearts but when his OCD got so bad that he was unable to respond to D'ELLEN's advances, she broke up with him and has blamed RAY for all of her failed marriages since. D'ELLEN makes it her life's mission to 'mess with' RAY during his daily visits to the diner and his anxiety only multiplies when the stranger arrives in town and dares to sit in his seat.
MINOR CHARACTERS:
EARL is SISSY MAE's husband who returns to Simply after his affair is discovered and tries to win back his wife.
CARLOTTA is a young widow whose husband was run over by a forklift at the truck plant. CHARITY brings her into the diner and tries to 'fix her up' so she can meet GABE.
Please contact us at
theatre@shenanarts.org with any questions.
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ShenanArts 300 Churchville Ave Staunton, VA. 24401 540.712.001
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