Maurer Productions OnStage, Inc. Presents Auditions for By Anthony Shaffer Auditions: Saturday, July 22 from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM Sunday, July 23 from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM Show dates: October 6, 7, 13, 14, 2017 at 8:00 pm October 8 & 15, 2017 at 2:00 pm Audition Appointment Options: Sign up online for an audition slot at www.mponstage.com/castme E-mail us at Audition@mponstage.com Call (609) 882-2292 NOTE: Walk-ins are welcome but will be seen on a time-available basis. Audition Packet: Page 1 of 9
AUDITIONS: Anthony Shaffer s Sleuth Audition Dates Saturday, July 22 from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM Sunday, July 23 from 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM Location: Mercer County Community College, West Windsor Campus Performance Dates: October 6 15, 2017 Company: Maurer Productions OnStage, Inc. Director: Diana Gilman Maurer Producers: John M. Maurer & Diana Gilman Maurer Audition Packet Contents Section Page Plot Synopsis... 3 Character Descriptions... 4 Basic Audition Info... 5 Audition Form... 6 Calendar... 7, 8 Audition Monologues... 9-12 Audition Packet: Page 2 of 9
Sleuth By Anthony Shaffer The award-winning production team of MPOnStage brings Sleuth to the Kelsey. The ultimate game of cat-and-mouse is played out in a cozy English country house owned by celebrated mystery writer, Andrew Wyke. Invited guest Milo Tindle, a young rival who shares not only Wyke's love of the game but also his wife, has come to lay claim. Revenge is devised and murders plotted as the two plan the ultimate whodunnit. Shaffer said the play was partially inspired by one of his friends, composer Stephen Sondheim, whose intense interest in game-playing is mirrored by the character of Wyke. CHARACTERS (2 M) (ALL ROLES ARE OPEN) ages listed are just a guideline. ANDREW WYKE (mid to late 50 s) Andrew is an immensely successful mystery writer. His home reflects his obsession with the inventions and deceptions of fiction and his fascination with games and game-playing. He lures his wife s lover, Milo Tindle, to the house and convinces him to stage a robbery of her jewelry, a proposal that sets off a chain of events that leaves the audience trying to decipher reality. MILO TINDLE (mid to late 30 s) He comes into Andrew Wyke s life because he is having an affair with Wyke s wife, Marguerite. Milo, who is younger than Wyke, is ensconced in the romance of his affair. Milo has to also convincingly disguise his voice and mannerisms in order to play characters Inspector Doppler, Police Constable Higgs, and Detective Sergeant Tarrant. Both actors have to be able to learn a lot of lines, and work a lot of sub-text moments. They must therefore be comfortable with silence. British accents are a must. Audition Packet: Page 3 of 9
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW FOR THE AUDITION 1. You can now use our online audition sign-up site to schedule your audition. Go to www.mponstage.com/castme; choose Sleuth and sign up for an available slot. If you cannot access the website or if you have any problems signing up, you can still call (609) 882-2292 or email at audition@mponstage.com to schedule an audition time. If all audition slots are full and you wish to audition for the show, please call and we will try to set up another time for you to audition. 2. All actors are required to audition with a monologue. You must use the the monologues provided in the downloadable packet and on the website. Please prepare all of the monologues for the character you are auditioning for. You may be asked to read additional monologues or to read scenes with other actors. 3. Sign up for a slot on the audition schedule and arrive at least 10 minutes before the start of your audition slot. The audition process may last 15-30 minutes, or more if you are asked to read scenes with other actors. Appointments are requested and HIGHLY recommended; walk-ins will be seen on a time-available basis. Without an appointment, you may have to wait a while to audition 4. In order to sign up for an audition slot you must register on the Cast Me 1-2-3 system. You can now upload your resume and headshot, as well as any additional information you feel would be appropriate and helpful, into the MPOnStage Cast Me 1-2-3 system. This can save you the time and expense of downloading and filling out lengthy forms, having headshots printed, and copying resumes. Registration is free and your information is private and will not be shared. 5. Bring to the Audition: A. Your conflicts, using the calendar pages. (Available in the Downloadable Packet) B. A completed Audition Short Form. (Available in the Downloadable Packet) C. Your resume & headshot IF THEY ARE NOT ALREADY ON THE CAST ME 1-2-3 SYSTEM 6. You should expect three rehearsals in the evening and one weekend day rehearsal per week. Later in rehearsal process, more days may be added. These rehearsals will be broken up by scenes. Call sheets will be made available to the cast to tell you which rehearsals you will need to attend. 7. The read-through is tentatively set for Sunday, July 30 1 pm to 5 pm. The cast will get their scripts and rehearsal schedules, fill out some paperwork, have their head shot taken and get measured for costumes. 8. All cast members are required to assist with load in and load out. Load-in occurs on the Sunday evening (October 1) before opening night, and load-out occurs after the Sunday afternoon performance on the second weekend of performances (October 15). 9. Please print the following 3 pages and bring them with you. Audition Packet: Page 4 of 9
Maurer Productions Onstage Inc. Do not write on this line Sleuth AUDITION FORM NAME: Primary Contact Number: Primary role(s) of interest: Are you willing to take another role if offered? Yes No If you have any other skills that would be useful in this production? Please describe them below: Is there any other pertinent information you would like to share? Do not write below this line: Audition Packet: Page 5 of 9
Include All Conflicts: Evenings, Weekends, and HOLIDAYS! Sun Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat 7/30 Read Through 7/31 8/1 8/2 8/3 8/4 8/5 8/6 8/7 8/8 8/9 8/10 8/11 8/12 8/13 8/14 8/15 8/16 8/17 8/18 8/19 8/20 8/21 8/22 8/23 8/24 8/25 8/26 8/27 8/28 8/29 8/30 8/31 9/1 9/2 9/3 9/4 Labor Day 9/5 9/6 9/7 9/8 9/9 9/10 9/11 9/12 9/13 9/14 9/15 9/16 9/17 9/18 9/19 9/20 9/21 9/22 9/23 9/24 9/25 9/26 9/27 9/28 9/29 9/30 Audition Packet: Page 6 of 9
Include All Conflicts: Evenings, Weekends, and HOLIDAYS! October Sun Mon Tues Wed Thur Fri Sat 10/1 LOAD IN 10/2 TECH WEEK 10/3 TECH WEEK 10/4 TECH WEEK 10/5 TECH WEEK 10/6 SHOW 8PM 10/8 10/9 10/10 10/11 10/12 10/13 SHOW 8PM 10/7 SHOW 8PM 10/14 SHOW 8PM 10/15 SHOW 2PM Audition Packet: Page 7 of 9
AUDITION MONOLOGUES: Please prepare all monologues for the Character you are auditioning for. ANDREW (jovial). A decent bit, I think. A few chairs on their backs, some china ornaments put to the sword. You know-convincing but not Carthaginian. (MILO carefully turns a chair over.) You call that convincing? Let the encyclopedia fly like autumn leaves. (Throws books out of bookcase.) Let the contents of the drawers be strewn to the four winds. (Pulls out the bottom right desk drawer and dumps its contents on the floor.) Over with the table with a crash! (Overturns the table that the Senat was on.) Hey, that's my manuscript. (MILO has thrown ANDREW's manuscript in the air.) I think we'll leave that for my secretary to sort out. I never liked this horrible little figurine. I can't think why Marguerite is so devoted to it. (Takes figurine from mantel and throws it against the pool table, smashing it.) Now Jet's see what accident lends to artifice. Seconds out of the ring! ANDREW (deadly). I'm amazed you have to ask. But since you do, it's perfectly simple. I hate you. I hate your smarmy, good-looking Latin face and your easy manner. I'll bet you're easy in a ski lodge, and easy on a yacht, and easy on a beach. I'll bet you a pound to a penny that you wear a gold charm around your neck, and that in summer your hairy chest is matted with sun oil. I hate you because you are a mock humble, jeweled, shot cuff-link sponger, a world is my oyster-er, a seducer of silly women, and a king among marshmallow snakes. I hate you because you are a creeping ponce. A wop. A Yid. A not one of me. Come, little man, did you really think I was going to give up my wife and jewels to you? That I would make myself that ridiculous? Audition Packet: Page 8 of 9
MILO (jovial, at ease) I'm in the travel business. I have my own agency in South London. I rent the whole house and I live above the office. It's attractive and it's convenient. It's Georgian. Marguerite adores old houses. She can't wait to live there. I m renting the cottage down the lane to be near the woman I love. It is a great pain for us to be apart. You wouldn't understand. (Gesturing to the room) She won t need all this when we're married. It'll be a different life-a life of love and simplicity. (ANDREW sneers.) Alright, sneer at that. It's almost a national sport in this country - sneering at love. Well, I'm not a millionaire, but I've got the lease on the house and some capital equipment, and the turnover in the business this year has been increasing every month. MILO (angry but calm) No. Most people want someone to live with. But you have no life to give anyone -only tricks and the shadows of long ago. Take a look at yourself, Andrew, and ask yourself a few simple questions about your attachment to the English detective story. Perhaps you might come to realize that the only world you can inhabit is a dead world-a country house world where peers and colonels die in their studies; where butlers steal the port, and pert parlour maids cringe, weeping, behind green baize doors. It's a world of coldness and class hatred, and two-dimensional characters who are not expected to communicate; it's a world where only the amateurs ever win, and where to be a foreigner is to be automatically a figure of fun. To be puzzled is all. Forgive me for taking Marguerite to a life where people try to understand. To put it shortly, your detective stories are the normal recreation of a snobbish, outdated, life-hating, ignoble mind. I'll get that fur coat now. I presume it is Marguerite's, unless, of course, you've taken to transvestism as a substitute for non-performance. Milo doubles as DOPPLER in the second act. Must have a different English accent. As DOPPLER. Over there, by the far wall, in the shadow of that yew tree. Would you say it had been freshly dug, sir? A flower bed right underneath a yew tree, sir. Funny, sir. I've always found that gardeners make excellent witnesses. They're slow, they're methodical, they're positive. You weren't expecting us, sir, yes. In a couple of weeks, with some bulbs or a little grass seed, it would be difficult to tell it had ever been disturbed. We in the police force know just how fond murderers are of their back gardens, sir. Audition Packet: Page 9 of 9