THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER **Revised** Equity Principal Auditions - The Peccadillo Theatre Company Auditions

THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER

– Equity Principal Auditions

The Peccadillo Theatre Company Seasonal Showcase $800 project stipend.

Playwrights: Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman

Dir: Dan Wackerman

CD: Michael Cassara

1st reh: 10/24/11. Runs 11/25-12/18. May extend to as late as 2/11/12.

Equity Principal Auditions:

Wednesday, September 21, 2011 Theatre at St. Clement’s

10 AM - 6 PM 423 West 46th Street

Lunch from 1:30 - 2:30. New York City

Sides will be provided at the audition. Please bring a picture & resume, stapled back-to-back.

Seeking (all roles are available unless otherwise specified):

Banjo:

Man, 45-60. Larger-than-life, anarchic physical comic; over-the-top energy. Character is based on Harpo Marx, and was played by Jimmy Durante in the movie. Seeking excellent comedian with Borscht Belt sensibilities in movement-style and vocal inflection.

Beverly Carlton:

British man, 55-65. Suave, debonair. Withering sarcasm, superior attitude, with a louche manner and slightly effeminate hauteur.

Lorraine Sheldon:

40-50. “Great lady of the stage” who probably got her start in the chorus. In other words, her roots are in the lower-middle-class, but through sheer determination (and the occasional casting couch), she’s blossomed into a very sexy, very glamorous theatre star. While she may have affected an artificially grand, self-dramatizing manner as she began her ascent up the showbiz ladder, that manner has now become second nature to her, completely credible and un-self-conscious.

Maggie Cutler:

25-35. Attractive, intelligent, very poised and self-possessed. Witty and sophisticated “girl Friday”; manages Sheridan Whiteside with brisk efficiency. There is also a sensitivity and emotional vulnerability, which Maggie does her best to hide.

Bert Jefferson:

30-40. Charming, virile, leading man-type. A little rough around the edges, but very intelligent, talented and articulate. Struggling journalist and aspiring playwright. Not exactly innocent but, coming from a small town in Ohio as he does, he’s not quite sophisticated either.

Mr. Stanley:

50-60. Bland, self-important Republican businessman. Very conventional in his personal habits and beliefs, even a little pompous, he’s completely unnerved by Whiteside. He may appear very “buttoned-down”, but he’s capable of exploding.

June Stanley:

20-25. Sweet, lovely ingénue-type. Very innocent and sheltered, but not unintelligent. A very conventional girl, she’s just curious enough to get herself into trouble.

Sandy:

Man, 20-25. Handsome but tough-looking. Passionate, idealistic working-class kid. Thin-skinned and easily provoked; a bit of a hothead.

Dr. Bradley:

Man, 60-70. Mousey Midwestern doctor and aspiring writer. High-strung, small of stature and probably balding, he’s easily intimidated, even terrorized, by Whiteside.

Professor Metz:

Man, 60-70. Heavy German accent. Deeply eccentric, even weird, academic and intellectual, he’s a little suggestive of Einstein with his wild hair and unkempt appearance.

John:

African American, 40-50. Trim. Intelligent, well-spoken servant in the Stanley home.

Miss Preen:

40-50. Boney, humorless nurse to Whiteside. All business – sour and spinsterish.

Westcott:

40-50. Professional radio announcer; a voice like pure silk – deep, resonant and carefully modulated.

Richard Stanley:

20-25. All-American boy next door, spruce and chipper. He's “pure as the driven snow”, but longs to start “drifting”.

Harriet Stanley:

65-75. Mr. Stanley’s charming, very refined, very well-spoken sister. The image of upper-middle-class propriety and rectitude. A throwback to the Victorian era with her exquisite manners and gentle, womanly demeanor, it turns out she's also a notorious axe-murderess, a la Lizzie Borden.

Sarah:

40-50, African American. Warm, self-confident, sweet-tempered cook in the Stanley household.

Sheridan Whiteside:

CAST. Auditioning performers will be considered as possible (emergency) replacements, should any become necessary. Man, 50-65. Heavy-set. Blustering egomaniac; does not “suffer fools” (or anyone else, for that matter), and wields his sarcastic wit like a scalpel. Dominates everyone in the room through the sheer force of his larger-than-life personality, encyclopedic knowledge, and jaw-dropping chutzpah.

Mrs. Ernest Stanley:

Update, posted 9/19/11: Role previously listed as available is now CAST. Auditioning performers will be considered as possible (emergency) replacements, should any become necessary. 50-60. Proper, genteel, middle-American wife and mother, conservative in her taste and dress. She's also a bit of a pretentious feather-head, a la Billie Burke. Her fawning manners and self-conscious, dithering behavior drive Whiteside to distraction.

If unable to attend, mail headshot/resume to: ATTN: Dinner, Michael Cassara Casting, 333 W 39th St - Ste 601A, New York NY 10018.