PRIVATE JONES Equity Actors - Various Producers Auditions

PRIVATE JONES - Headshot/resume submissions Various Producers | ,

Notice: Submission

CONTRACT

LORT Non-Rep

$1008 weekly minimum (LORT B) - Signature Theatre

$739 weekly minimum (LORT D) - Goodspeed Opera House

SEEKING

Equity actors for roles in PRIVATE JONES (see breakdown).

Actors submitting must be available for both the Goodspeed Opera House and Signature Theatre dates.

SUBMISSION

INSTRUCTIONS

Please submit via the link below:
https://forms.gle/5kcPPfK6oZcXqfSm6

Deadline: 06/13/2023

SUBMIT TO

BREAKDOWN

PERSONNEL

Artistic Director (Goodspeed): Donna Lynn Hilton

Artistic Director (Signature): Matthew Gardiner Book, Music & Lyrics: Marshall Pailet Director: Marshall Pailet

Director of Artistic Sign Language: Alexandria Wailes

Choreographer: Misha Shields

Casting Director: JZ Casting (Geoff Josselson, CSA & Katja Zarolinski, CSA)

OTHER DATES

First Rehearsal (Goodspeed): September 19, 2023

First Performance (Goodspeed): October 13, 2023

Closing (Goodspeed): November 5, 2023

First Rehearsal (Signature): January 9, 2024 First Performance (Signature): February 6, 2024

Closing (Signature): March 10, 2024 Possible Extension (Signature): March 17, 2024

OTHER

Venues: Goodspeed Opera House & Signature Theatre

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 submit.

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION:

Private Jones is a WWI story about a group of Welsh soldiers. Though all of the characters are white, and most of them men, the cast of Private Gomer should be diverse - not just in terms of ethnicity, but gender identity, age, able- bodiedness, and hearing ability. Everyone will play a Welsh soldier. Everyone will play a German soldier. Everyone will play a nurse. Everyone will play a deaf factory worker. Everyone can be everything.

SYNOPSIS:

1914. Brecon, Wales. Young Gomer Jones has ambitions to join the South Wales Borderers and help the fight by doing the only thing he does well: shoot long distances. But Gomer isn’t qualified to serve: he’s recently lost his hearing from meningitis. Though he tries to fake his way past the recruiters, he’s found out and rejected. The Borderers leave without him.

One of the only young men left in Brecon, Gomer meets a nurse named Gwenolyn who introduces him to the local deaf community – they’ve become munitions workers in the war effort. Though Gomer feels a kinship with the community and learns some rudimentary BSL, he ultimately rejects the community thinking his deafness is only temporary, and with Gwenolyn’s begrudging help, fakes his way past the recruiters and enlists the next time the Borderers come recruiting.

And so begins Gomer’s journey as a deaf soldier pretending not to be a deaf soldier in the British Army. He makes friends with a rowdy group of soldiers. He makes enemies. He becomes a sniper and kills many, many times – at first feeling shame, then self-righteousness, and eventually… comfort. He loses friends, he loses his moral compass, he loses his humanity. And then through a series of moments in an increasingly senseless war, he finds himself again.

Gomer is one of only a handful of soldiers who return to Brecon. His sense of purpose has been decimated. But hope for a humanistic life has been found.

SEEKING:

[GOMER]: He/Him, 20s-30s. Tenor. Welsh. Gomer is a naive, charming, and empathetic young man with a stubborn streak bordering on cockiness. He was born hearing, but recently experienced profound hearing loss. Because Gomer speaks very clearly and has learned to read lips, he is able to fake his way past the army recruiters and into WW1. He becomes a sniper for the 11th battalion - as he gains experience and confidence he slowly loses his sense of self until he nearly loses his humanity all together. This is a highly physical character with excellent singing skills. Hard of hearing, late deafened, and/or partially deaf artists are encouraged to submit for this role.

[GWENOLYN/EVANS]: Excellent singing skills. [GWENOLYN] She/Her, 20s-30s. Mezzo-Soprano. Welsh. An intelligent and no-nonsense training nurse with a soft spot for Gomer. She takes him under her wing, introducing him to the local deaf community and encouraging him to stay in Wales and away from the brutality on the Western Front - he mistakes her kindness and attention for romantic interest. Eventually she gives up, helping him fake his way past the army recruiters and into WW1. [EVANS] A soldier in the 11th battalion. He is kind and becomes a fast friend and ally to Gomer. There are times he even reminds us of a certain nurse…