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Breakdown
Season 1st reh: 4/12/16
Move to the Hudson Valley/ Begin Tech: 5/23
Previews begin: 6/7
AS YOU LIKE IT
by William Shakespeare
Dir: Gaye Taylor Upchurch
Opens: 6/19. Closes: 8/28
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MACBETH
by William Shakespeare
Dir: Lee Sunday Evans
Opens: 6/17. Closes: 8/27
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MEASURE FOR MEASURE
by William Shakespeare
Dir: Davis McCallum
Opens: 6/25 Closes: 8/29
It is the Mission of HVSF to comprise an ethnically diverse company.
-Actors of all ethnicities strongly encouraged to audition.
A NOTE ON MACBETH: This production requires 3 female actors who are exceptionally adept with classical text & highly physical staging. All actors play range of roles; will need to be skilled in creating both subtle and bold characters with their body + voice; athletic actors with big hearts and an appetite for specific, vibrant story-telling. No one needs to be a polished singer, but ideally all performers can learn music and have confidence when using their singing voice. Looking for actresses that read as savvy and as having had substantial life experience. Think Patti Smith. How age is perceived is mercurial; this has more to do with a kind of self-possession and worldliness.
All shows in repertory. All actors cast in minimum of two (2) productions. Actors are hired for the full season, and must therefore be available for the full contract when auditioning.
SEEKING:
ACTOR 1
Male to play 50s/60s for:
- Duke Frederick/Duke Senior in AYLI: Playing both the usurped and the usurping Duke, he has the presence of a great leader. Duke Frederick is a tyrannical ruler who delights in violence and seeks to stamp out all opposition. A dictator who rules with fear. Duke Senior delights in conversation and debate and nature. A generous spirit, a wise leader, a loving father.
-Pompey in MFM: Pompey Bum is Mistress Overdone’s bartender, and helps her in her pimping. He speaks a lot and can almost talk his way out of any sticky situation. Great comic skills, physicality, easy and warm connection with the audience.
ACTOR 2
Male, to play 40s for:
-Silvius in AYLI: Silvius: a shepherd, in love with Phoebe. He is big-hearted and sees beauty and goodness in Phoebe even as she scorns him. In fact, he seems to enjoy her disdain. He is a joyful soul and a stubborn, steadfast lover.
-Angelo in MFM: Angelo is a nobleman of Vienna chosen by the Duke to replace him in his absence. His is morally rigorous, incorruptible, unsentimental, and values highly his reputation as someone who doesn’t make mistakes. His report card is spotless, and he rose quickly through the ranks. Has instinctive faith in the institutions of law and government. He’s extremely smart, and a good talker, and takes seriously his responsibility of leading Vienna in the absence of the Duke. Actor with great facility with language, playful sense of irony, commitment to playing extreme circumstances without judgement.
ACTOR 3
Male to play 40s for:
-The Duke in MFM. Ruler of Vienna. Intelligence, complicated, unsuited to the pomp and circumstance of government.
ACTOR 4
Male, to play 50s for:
-Corin/Adam in AYLI. Adam is the faithful servant to the now-deceased Roland de Bois, he—at great peril—cares for Roland’s disinherited son. He risks his life to save Orlando and decides to make the arduous journey to the forest even though he is too frail for the trip. Corin is a shepherd. He has worked with sheep and the land all his life. Salt of the earth, a good soul. Though he doesn’t realize it, in language and logical reasoning, he can hold his own with Touchstone, the court jester.
-Escalus in MFM – An older lord and advisor to the Duke, and subsequently to Angelo. Empathetic. A good listener. He insists to Angelo that he must at all times be allowed to speak his mind, even if the decision is not his to make. He attempts to convince Angelo to be less severe. When pushed too far, he is not afraid to stand up for what is right, but his nature to be bend, and accommodate.
ACTOR 5
Male, to play 30s/40s for:
-Touchstone in AYLI- Court jester. Great facility with language. Great comedic skill. Specializes in using words to tell a joke, make a point, reveal a deeper truth of the human condition. He is a wise fool and a risk taker. Faithful traveling companion to Celia and Rosalind. Would be great if he played an instrument.
-Provost in MFM– The provost is in charge of the jail and the prisoners, and of showing off Claudio in the streets as an example before his execution. The Provost is not happy about the new enforcement of the severe law on Claudio, and thinks that the punishment does not fit the crime. Although normally one who can sleep at night based on the idea that he is just following orders, he is convinced to collaborate in the switch to deceive Angelo into thinking that Claudio has in fact been executed. A good man in a really difficult moral position.
ACTOR 6
Male, to play Late 20s/30s for:
-Orlando in AYLI- A lover. He is open-hearted and generous but also willing to fight for what he believes is just. He is athletic in his abilities—defeats a champion wrestler, physically attacks his villainous brother whom he later saves by fighting off a lioness. His journey is one of self-discovery: he comes to a deeper understanding of love. He is loyal and brave and good-hearted; initially immature in matters of the heart.
-Claudio in MFM– Isabella’s older brother who is engaged to be married to Juliet. She is pregnant with his child, and as a result Claudio has been arrested for fornication, and is ordered to be put to death by Angelo, who is deputized to rule Vienna during the Duke’s mysterious absence. He’s in love, and desperate to live, and become a father and a husband. He’s never been in jail before, never been the victim of the tyranny of power, is scared and panicked to be suddenly so disempowered. He tries to convince himself that, stripped of all that, death will be a blessing, but ultimately longs for more life! He loves his sister and respects her.
ACTOR 7
Male to play 30s for:
-Oliver/Martext in AYLI– Oliver is older brother to Orlando. He not only denies Orlando what is promised in his father’s will, but he also schemes to have Orlando killed. Later, he renounces his villainous ways and becomes the husband of Celia. His journey is from a truly scary villain to a leading man and love interest. Possibly doubled with oddball priest Sir Oliver Martext.
-Lucio in MFM- Lucio is a man-about-town who knows the best place to get oysters, and enjoys spending an evening in a brothel. All the tapsters know him. He has a son by one of the prostitutes at Mistress Overdone’s, a fact that he has denied in court for fear of being made to marry the mother. He loves to give advice, and thinks his jokes are hilarious. He loves pleasure, and thinks that shame and guilt aren’t worth the trouble. The consequences of his pleasure and self-preservation never seem to land with him and he’s become good at not worrying about that.
ACTOR 8
Female, to play 30s for:
-Rosalind in AYLI-- Quick-witted debater, faithful friend, loyal daughter to the usurped Duke. Forced to flee the court, she dresses as a man and travels to the Forest of Arden to find her father the rightful Duke. While dressed as a man, she engages with the world to explore the nature of herself, of love, of life in the court and the forest. She is curious, intelligent and funny. She is unafraid to ask for what she wants. She has great facility with language and the quickest wit in the play.
-Mistress Overdone/Marianna in Measure for MFM– Mistress Overdone has been married nine times, overdone by the last. A madam of a fantastic and notorious brothel that is closed by order of Angelo. She is ultimately arrested for continuing to ply her trade elsewhere. A business woman, and a local celebrity. Marianna is a lady of Vienna who was engaged to be married to Angelo, who broke his promise to her after her family lost their financial fortune. She retreated to a priory, but she still loves Angelo, and participates in a bed-trick to sleep with the man who might once have been her husband, and still might oneday be. Who does that?
ACTOR 9
Female, to play 20s/30s for:
-Celia in AYLI: A match for her cousin Rosalind’s intellect—a royal daughter, a faithful friend. A risktaker, she denounces her father and flees his court to accompany her cousin. Experiences sexual awakening in the forest. Falls in love with Oliver at first sight.
-Witch 3 (Banquo and others) in MACBETH: Looking for an actor who is somehow sympathetic and has a vulnerability, yet could turn on a dime and create an authentic sense of danger. Should read as a tomboy type but have access to a distinctly feminine power; capable of both cold pragmatism and of being moved, changed. See overall description of actor needs for MacBeth above.
ACTOR 10
Female, to play 30s for:
-Phoebe in AYLI - Great comedic skills. A straightforward lover who dotes on Ganymede and scorns Silvius. Can be rude, direct, and totally in love. Great facility with language.
-Isabella in MFM – A devout, unbending novice to the order of Saint Clare, though she finds even this religious sect lacking in the spiritual discipline and rigor that she craves. She is convinced by Lucio to plead for her brother’s life to Angelo. She is shocked to find both Angelo and then Claudio bending their principles to fit their immediate will, and refuses to compromise her deeply-held ideas of what is right and what is not right, in the eyes of God. Incredible strength, and in possession of the certitude of youth. She’s inexperienced in the world, but has a kind of vision that no one else in the play does, with the possible exception of the Duke. Not without humor, irony, sexuality. Her faith and her chastity are a kind of love affair with the Divine, and the idea of a betrayal of the love is anathema to her.
ACTOR 11
Female, to play 40s/50s for:
-Audrey/LeBeau in AYLI: A goat herder. She is secure in her sexuality. She is a hard worker. Although she does not have to be a professional singer, she should be able to sing. LeBeau is a haughty courtier in the orbit of Duke Frederick.
-Witch 2 (Lady Macbeth track) in MACBETH: A magnetic actress who is capable of intense sincerity and unconditional love. Someone with a real wild streak, who can have the kind of intense determination that is both enviable and intimidating. Must be able to access the emotional and psychological costs this character endures without resorting to cliche. See General Notes above about MacBeth.
ACTOR 12
Female, to play 40s/50s for:
-Jaques in AYLI: A wise, lonely, often melancholy wanderer. Prefers his own company to that of others, but he is sought out for his witty and wise take on the world. Intelligent, good with language, his curiosity about people overrides his cynicism.
-Witch 1 (Macbeth track) in MACBETH: Has the dynamism and stage presence to carry this role in an actor-driven production. Must have access to the full emotional range of the curiosity, rage, sorrow, and power of this character, as well as a true capacity for both an unbridled ferocity and rigorous subtlety in the scenework. The ability to translate psychological complexity into a theatrical-sized performance is a must.
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