MR BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY

Transcription

1 Audition Info for MR BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY corrected November 1, 2018 Director, Beth Schachter MR BURNS is Anne Washburn s dystopian imagining of how Americans might construct new identities through shared story-telling and live theatre if catastrophic events overtake the world. Set initially in the couple of days-after-apocalypse, the first two acts of the play call for highly naturalistic acting with organic moment to moment responses amongst the surviving characters. In this first audition, I am looking for performances that capture complex feelings underneath the ordinary seeming behaviors to which the characters cling. AND you are welcome to read any character that appeals to you. This play is focused on the group experiences of these folks trying to figure out how to live and there are only a few instances in which the gender-identity of what the playwright seems to have created has importance. ALSO the ethnic and racial identifications of these characters have not been delineated. Please feel free to bring your sense of ethnicity and/or racial identification to how you imagine the specific characters I see this script as needing your specific interpretations in this moment. The play is about 5 years old at this point, and it will be the most powerful if everyone who auditions brings their identity-knowledge with them. Thank you. In practical terms, please choose one side. Please do not memorize the side just get comfortable with the text so you can look up at the Reader. I suggest you try to play specific action verbs (such as to tease or to bully etc.) and also think about what is at stake underneath the conversational quality on the surface of these interactions. And there are no specifications that call for particular ethnicities or gender-identities for the characters, and I hope that you will all read for whichever character attracts you most. The third act of MR BURNS takes off in a wildly different aesthetic! This act calls for musical theatre performances that combine theatricality with sincere ritual faith. I will be casting the first two acts with actors who may or may not have musical theatre abilities. I will cast the third act entirely with performers who are comfortable with acting through songs. **NOTE apologies again for the old info suggesting you should sing 32 bars in this initial audition that is NOT CORRECT. I wrote that before we had Ed Bara working on the callbacks for MR BURNS. Just prepare the single scene for first set of AUDITIONS. CALLBACKS The callback will be primarily one new scene (tbd) and vocal work with Ed Bara (Musical Director). *special note- I am sorry that I told everyone wrong information in the Sunday night meeting! We actually cannot see everyone for the Vocals Callbacks.. so I will have to make a callback list for those singing auditions. And, a special note about rehearsals We will begin rehearsals a full week before the spring semester begins. You would need to be available for that entire week of 8 hours/day if you wish to participate as an actor in MR BURNS. Yours, Beth

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