2018-19 Season - Chicago EPA
Northlight Theatre
**Revised Preparation and Updated Breakdown**
AUDITION DATE
Mon, Feb 12, 2018
10:00 am - 7:00 pm (CST)
break 12-12:30, lunch 2-3pm, break 5:00-5:30.
APPOINTMENTS
Equity Members may sign up for appointments in the member portal beginning Monday, February 5th at noon.
CONTRACT
LORT Non-Rep LORT D; $676/week minimum.
SEEKING
Actors for shows in our 2018-19 Season. See breakdown for details.
PREPARATION
We would like to see monolgues/sides from the 2018-19 season plays. Monologues are available on the Northlight website: northlight.org/opportunities. All roles in MANSFIELD PARK require Received Pronunciation RP dialect unless specified otherwise. Actors auditioning for NINA SIMONE may prepare 16-32 bars of a song in addition to a monologue. An accompanist will be provided.
LOCATION
Paskal Rudnicke Casting
10 W. Hubbard St.
Suite 2N
Chicago, IL 60654
Select PR Casting in the silver callbox to be buzzed into building.
PERSONNEL
Casting Directors: Mickie Paskal, Jennifer Rudnicke, AJ Links
Casting Assistant: Emma Gruhl
Northlight Artistic Assistant: Kristen Osborn
OTHER DATES
See breakdown for rehearsal/performance dates.
OTHER
This EPA will service three of the shows in our 2018-19 Season. We will be holding another EPA once our remaining two shows are announced. Scripts will be available at the AEA office and at Northlight, with the exception of MANSFIELD PARK as the script is still in development.
EPA Procedures are in effect for this audition.
An Equity monitor will be provided.
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 attend every audition.
Always bring your Equity Membership card to auditions.
BREAKDOWN
MANSFIELD PARK by Kate Hamill, directed by Stuart Carden
First Rehearsal: 10/16/18; First Preview: 11/8/18; Opening: 11/16/18; Closing: 12/16/18; Extension Closing: 12/23/18
Character descriptions as detailed by playwright Kate Hamill
FANNY PRICE: 20's POC, ages in the play from 10 to 20 years old. Begins life as an undernourished, small, brave child with a very strong lower class Portsmouth accent. Fanny is from a poor household. Her outspokenness is more or less beaten out of her throughout her pubescence, but her spirit is not. At 20 years old, she has a perfect RP accent. As an adult, life circumstances have forced her to be good, forebear, serve, and stay silent - even though she has strong opinions and desires. Big big imagination. Vivid dreams. Smart and wants to learn...everything. Strong under her surface fragility. May come off as quite shy; need not be pretty; the kind of person whom other people underestimate. Sees much more than she says, and says a lot in her silence. Tries hard to do her best. In impossible, doomed love with Edmund Bertram. Seeking actress with great depth who can maintain emotional through-line of play.
MARIA BERTRAM/SUSAN PRICE/as cast: 20's-30's, open ethnicity. Maria Bertram (ages from 10-20 years old in play) begins life as a rather spoiled, petted child. Grows up to be an elegant, mannered, fashionable young woman who knows who she's supposed to marry - but falls hard for another man. Passionate, smart. RP accent. Susan Price (8 yr old) has very heavy lower class Portsmouth accent. Rather neglected child; curious; worships older sister Fanny. Her nose runs constantly. Her manners are bad but her mind is good.
MARY CRAWFORD/LADY BERTRAM/as cast: 30's, open ethnicity. Mary Crawford (mid 20s-30s) is very clever; probably too clever for her own good. Capable of being quite arch and unserious. Speaks half in nonsense; something of a dark side under the charm. Witty; occasionally sharp; not fundamentally bad natured. Quite ambitious and clear eyed about the truths of the world and society. Guards her heart, albeit unsuccessfully. Bit of a flirt. Loves and indulges her brother, Henry Crawford, whom she is rather similar to. Lady Bertram (40s+) is overposh, incredibly languid upper class woman. Never once gets up from lying back on her sofa. Reedy voice. Madly in love with her pug dog, Puggles. Lady Bertram also puppets Puggles, who is a nasty asthmatic snotty yappy little beast.
MRS. NORRIS/MRS. PRICE/as Cast: 40's open ethnicity. Mrs. Norris (40's+) is officious, sadistic with those who have no power; condescending, feels as if she's in charge of the world. Fancies herself the head of Mansfield Park. Significantly sucks up to anyone of higher status than herself. Thinks she's being helpful when she's creating messes. Feels as if she's very moral, put upon; fancies herself a martyr for her family. Adores her nieces and nephews of high status - Tom, Edmund, and Maria - and regards her niece Fanny Price as a moral blot who must be schooled into respectability. Really a vicious, indomitable battleship of a woman. Mrs. Price (40+) has a mild Portsmouth accent. Fundamentally forward-looking; bit neglectful and coarse. Nine children - some of whom have died - an alcoholic, philandering husband, and a lifetime of disappointments have worn her down, but she's developed a certain brusque, vaguely cheerful emotional remove to deal with it all. Working class, Very very busy and overworked. The kind of person who's moving all day, and doesn't like to reflect. Can't be sucked into other's emotional concerns. Maybe a bit of a drinker. Has a hair trigger with her husband , whom she occasionally throws a pot at.
EDMUND BERTRAM/as cast: 20-30s, open ethnicity, ages in play from 15-25 years old. Kind and considerate; loves learning and a life of the mind. Wants to be a clergyman. The kind of young boy/man who is good with children and talks to them as if they're equals. An educator at his heart; philanthropic. Maybe too grave for his own good. Little exposed to the realities of the world until he's an adult, which makes him a bit naïve when it comes to women; has trouble reading mixed signals. Capable of living in denial. Wants to live a good, meaningful life. Completely unaware of his cousin Fanny's feelings towards him. Serious, at his heart.
HENRY CRAWFORD/WILLIAM PRICE/as cast: late 20s-30s, open ethnicity. Henry Crawford (late 20s-30s) is very very charming and clever; probably too handsome for his own good. Funny; has a wicked streak, although he's not fundamentally a bad guy. Loves a challenge; can't stand being disliked. Bored in the countryside. Feels deeply - or feels that he feels deeply. A flirt. Likes women - and they generally fall for him like ninepins. Bit irresponsible. Gets himself into trouble fairly regularly, and gets himself out of trouble with the help of his constant companion: his sister Mary, whom he is rather similar to. Used to the world making excuses for him. Very capable of transforming himself into what other people want; in another life, he'd be an amazing actor. William Price (20 yr old) is a young, well-meaning Navy man. Brother to Fanny and Susan Price. Bright, cheerful, adventurous; fundamentally well-meaning. Strong Portsmouth accent. Probably not capable of understanding how much people have sacrificed for his happiness.
SIR THOMAS BERTRAM/MR. PRICE: 40s-50s+, Caucasian. Sir Thomas (40s-50s)is the lord of Mansfield Park. Matter-of-fact. Cold. Entitled; extremely well-bred. Has great expectations of his family, and firm ideas of what is (and isn't) proper behavior. Not empathetic; possesses a twisted moral compass. Mr. Price (40s-50s+) is a Navy man from the lower classes. Strong Portsmouth accent. Coarse and insensitive; often crude. An alcoholic. Unconcerned with the feelings of others. Has a hair trigger with his wife, whom he regards as interfering and irritating.
TOM BERTRAM/MR. RUSHWORTH/as cast: late 20s-30s, open ethnicity. Tom Bertram (ages from 17-27 in play) is a bit callow and insensitive - in the manner of most entitled, overly coddled teenaged boys - until a traumatic experience awakens his conscience. Not a bad guy. Almost destroyed by guilt over his family's wrongdoings. Actor must be capable of great emotional depth. Mr. Rushworth (30s) is very very wealthy, overstuffed young man. Not the brightest man in the world. Can be clumsy and overbearing; not good at reading emotional cues. A bit like a very dumb, very big, messy dog. Hates being left out. Speaks too loudly. In love with Maria Bertram, and unaware of her true feeling towards himself.
THE JANICE by Sharyn Rothstein, Director TBA
First rehearsal: 1/2/19; First Preview: 1/24/19; Opening: 2/1/19; Closing: 3/3/19
Character descriptions as detailed by playwright Sharyn Rothstein
CHRISTINE: early 20s, a single mom working at a taco joint. Down on her luck, but a fighter, with a fierce sense of humor.
MARTI: 30s-50s, a building owner and landlady, determined to claw her way to the top. Funny, charismatic and shrewd.
POET: late 20s-40s, a construction worker and aspiring poet. An addict who gets in his own way - and everyone else's way too.
NINA SIMONE: FOUR WOMEN by Christina Ham, Director TBA
First Rehearsal: 2/19/19; First Preview: 3/14/19; Opening: 3/22/19; Closing: 4/20/19; Extension Closing: 4/28/19
Character descriptions as detailed by playwright Christina Ham
NINA SIMONE: 30, AKA Peaches. Timeless. A woman of dark skin and temperament that cloaks wounds both present and historical. Her life's infused by Bach and the Blues. She is a tornado...of vulnerability. Complexity is her complexion and resistance and rebellion her anthem. She should boast the agility of improvisation on the keys and the polyvocality of a herald. She should be able to hear a song only once and be able to not only perform it, but to lift the song to another level of being. She lives hard and loves the same. She has a high school education, but possesses well-rounded music training both self-taught and by private music teachers. Whatever her mood swings they should never be so pronounced to upstage her accomplishments. She should possess the attributes of a modern-day prophet.
SARAH: 40s, AKA Auntie. Also of dark skin. Her hands are rough. Molded from years of working in the white folks home since she was yea high. Groomed to put others before herself. This type of welding has created the invisible woman that she has become. Her smile is inviting, never letting on that trouble lives on her horizon. Her dark skin has determined how she will be treated by the outside world. Her life has been defined by black and its volatile relationship to white. She has a remedial education at best as she comes from a large family where everyone had to work and carry their weight. She possesses the tender shoulder you can cry on and a honeysuckled voice of pain. She doesn't sing the blues, but has lived it.
SEPHRONIA: 30s-40s. Her skin is yellow. She is of a softer disposition because that is what her hair type and skin color warrant. She's never been dark enough to cause offense, but she's just light enough to offend herself at times. She's the painful reminder that she is a child of violence. She's not light enough to be white nor dark enough to be black, leading to an inescapable purgatory. She's joined the Civil Rights Movement hoping this will make her black enough and create an acceptance. Her mother doesn't understand her and her father's disowned her. Her mother holds her accountable for why she wasn't able to find a man of her own. She's opened her heart to many men who've made her empty promises. She is a D minor key, the saddest of them all.
SWEET THING: late 20s. Her skin is tan. She's enticing whether she wants to be or whether she's paid to be. She's been tossed to and fro by life and the blows that its delivered by the men that have come and gone from her life. She's lived on the streets for quite some time and been in and out of trouble most of her life. She's a pistol, but has still never gotten what she really wants - love. She is the kind of woman that will steal your man when you're not looking. Her looks have been the bane of her existence since she was a little girl.
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 audition.
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