Cushing Theatre Sets Auditions For THE TURN OF THE WORM, 2/15 & 2/16

Auditions for "The Turn of the Worm," a comedy by George Tibbets, will be held at Cushing Community Theatre, 105 E. Broadway, Monday and Tuesday evenings, February 15 and 16, at 7 pm. The play will run April 8-11 and 15-18. The tryouts are open to everyone, including people who may not want to act, but want to volunteer for crew jobs.

The guest director will be Dr. Sandra Williams from Perkins, Theatre Artist in Residence with the Oklahoma Arts Council. "This play is lots of fun," she said. "I love the characters and how they keep revealing more and more of themselves as the play progresses."

The characters are sisters Pina Bazzusi and Amalia Capranica who live in a city where there is violence in the streets and people are afraid to go out. The women reluctantly live together for protection and don't speak to each other except on shopping days, Easter, and Christmas. Their brother Carlo is a priest who stops two young street punks, Maria and Romo, from robbing the women. As penance, he forces the young people to live with the sisters for a few days so they'll learn to see their victims as real people with real feelings.

Pina Bazzusi is in her 50s-60s and feisty, fiery, bossy and short-fused. The script says, "Deep inside there is a lava of molten love." Amalia Capranica is about the same age, gentle, a worrier, and also a peacemaker who can hold her tongue or hold her own against Pina. She has a stubborn streak, "which I think of as an inner strength," Williams said.

The priest Carlo is in his mid-50s, and like Pina has a short fuse. Like Amalia, he believes in respecting and loving one another. Maria Dominguez, a Puerto Rican, is a rough, tough girl of about 15. Her boyfriend, Romo Dovetossi is about 19 or 20, a thief and a dangerous bully.

"Throughout the play we come to understand these people," Williams said. "We come to love them, even though we might dislike some of the things they do; and we have hope for them. These are characters our audiences will remember."

"It takes a lot of people to put on a play," she added. "We'll need backstage volunteers to help with sets, lights, costumes, makeup, props, music, publicity, and other jobs. People can sign up to do those things at the audition."

For more information, call Sandra (pronounced Sondra) Williams at 405-612-6814.