The Chosen - Los Angeles Auditions Day
Fountain Theatre
AUDITION DATE
Mon, Sep 18, 2017
2:00 pm (PDT)
Tue, Sep 19, 2017
2:00 pm (PDT)
APPOINTMENTS
N/A
CONTRACT
99 Seat Agreement Hourly Minimum Wage for Rehearsal/Performance
SEEKING
See breakdown.
PREPARATION
Readings from the script. Sides will be provided by the theatre. Casting director can be reached at casting@fountaintheatre.com; www.fountaintheatre.com
LOCATION
Fountain Theatre
5060 Fountain Ave
Los Angeles, CA 90029-1422
Parking attached.
PERSONNEL
Simon Levy, Director
Aaron Posner & Chaim Potok, authors
Stephen Sachs, producer
OTHER DATES
Rehearsals begin November 6, 2017 (time off for holidays)
Open January 20, 2018
Closes March 11, 2018
OTHER
Callbacks - Saturday, September 23 - 2-5p. www.fountaintheatre.com
An Equity Monitor will not be provided. The producer will run all aspects of this audition.
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
50th Anniversary of the publication of Chaim Potok’s celebrated novel, adapted for the stage by Aaron Posner and Chaim Potok.
STORY: 1944-1948. Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Drama.
This award-winning adaptation from the award-winning novel is the story of two boys, two fathers and two very different Jewish communities—five blocks and a world apart—in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, in the 1940s. Set against the backdrop of WW II, the revelation of the Holocaust, and the desperate struggle of Zionism, THE CHOSEN remains not essentially political or religious but deeply human. Reuven Malter and Danny Saunders are both passionate and intelligent young men. One is a traditional Orthodox Jew, the other a Hasidic Jew. When Reuven is injured by Danny during a heated baseball game between their rival yeshivas, a unique friendship is born. As the boys grow to manhood, they are forced to learn important lessons about each other, their fathers and themselves. This is a story of friendship, family, and difficult choices that we must all make on the path to understanding, respect, and reconciliation.
SEEKING:
REUVEN MALTER (late 30s/early 40s) – LEAD – Brooklyn traditional Orthodox Jew. The play’s Narrator. A rabbi, a teacher, a thinker, a humanitarian, a Zionist – a man of strong feelings and convictions and our guide through the play. This is his story. It is deep and personal to him, but he is telling it for our sake not his own. He may discover new things along the way – as a strong storyteller often will – but it is being told to us and for us.
YOUNG REUVEN MALTER (early 20s to play 16-20) – LEAD. Ages from 16 to 20. A first generation Brooklyn traditional Orthodox Jew. See above. Loves baseball and mathematics. Fun-loving and inquisitive. Like his father, he is a humanitarian who comes to believe in the necessity of Zionism. His unlike friendship with Danny, however, introduces him to the exotic world of Hasidism. Through his interactions with Danny and Reb Saunders his perspective on the world is broadened… and by the end of the play he decides to become a rabbi insteadof a mathematics professor.
DANNY SAUNDERS (early 20s to play 16-20) – LEAD. Ages from 16 to 20. A first generation Brooklyn Hasidic Jew. A brilliant Talmudic scholar, with a photographic memory and a passion for psychoanalysis. Loves baseball and books. Intense and bottled-up. He desires to break away from his obligation to become head of his religious community. He struggles between that obligation to the traditions of Hasidism and his family and the possibilities of a modern, secular life. His dysfunctional relationship with his father shapes everything in his life. But his unlikely friendship with Reuven, and the joy of books, introduces him to new worlds… and by the end of the play he decides to leave his Hasidic community to become a psychoanalyst.
REB SAUNDERS (50s/60s) – LEAD. Danny’s father. A devout Russian Hasidic Jew who immigrated to America. The revered head of a great Hasidic dynasty. A deeply complex and conflicted character. On one hand he is a fanatic about the traditions, rituals, and customs of Hasidic Judaism; on the other, he recognizes that his unrelenting silence towards Danny to teach him compassion and respect for others may have been a mistake. He believes Zionists are unbelievers and will destroy Jewish people. He represents the dangers of fanaticism and harmful isolationist behavior, but he also shows a profound, painful love for Danny and a deeply human sense of the importance of empathy and emotion and forgiveness.
Note: The role of DAVID MALTER has been cast.
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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