Bell Road Barn Holds BLACK COMEDY Auditions 6/14-15

BLACK COMEDY by Peter Shaffer
Directed By Tiffany Garrison-Schweigert for Bell Road Barn Players,
Parkville, MO

Performance Dates
Fri & Sat July 30th, 31st, August 6th, August 7th at 8:00 p.m
Sun August 8th, 2:00 p.m.

Audition Dates:
Monday June 14th, 7:00-9:00 pm
Tuesday June 15th, 7:00-9:00 pm

Audition and Performance Location:
Park University Alumni Hall (David Theatre)
8700 NW River Park Drive
Parkville, MO 64152

Auditioners should come with a resume and headshot (if available). Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. Please bring a list of all possible schedule conflicts from June 16th through August 8th.

Synopsis
Brindsley Miller and his fiancée Carol Melkett have "borrowed" the fancy furniture from neighbor Harold Gorringe's flat in order to impress Carol's father, Colonel Melkett. Brindsley, an artist, is afraid that the Colonel will not give up his daughter to a starving artist. Things go awry when the lights go out, leaving Brindlsey helpless as characters arrive, one by one. First is Brindsley's elderly neighbor, Miss Furnival. Colonel Melkett, unimpressed by the blackout, arrives, and Brindsley's worst nightmare comes true as Harold returns early, and Brindsley tries desperately to return the furniture without Harold noticing.

THE CHARACTERS
BRINDSLEY MILLER: A young sculptor (mid-twenties), intelligent and attractive, but nervous and uncertain of himself.

CAROL MELKETT: His fancée. A young debutante; very pretty, very spoiled; very silly.

MISS FURNIVAL: A middle-aged lady. Prissy and refined. Clad in the blouse and sack skirt of her gentility, her hair in a bun, her voice in a bun, she reveals only the repressed gestures of the middle-class spinster - until alcohol undoes her.

COLONEL MELKETT: CAROL's commanding father. Brisk, barky, yet given to sudden vocal calms which suggest a deep and alarming instability. It is not only the constant darkness which gives him his look of wide-eyed suspicion.

HAROLD GORRINGE: The bachelor owner of an antique-china shop, and

BRINDSLEY's neighbor, HAROLD comes from the North of England. His friendship is highly conditional and possessive: sooner or later, payment for it will be asked. A specialist in emotional blackmail, he can become hysterical when slighted, or (as inevitably happens) rejected. He is older than BRINDSLEY by several years.

SCHUPPANZIGH: A German refugee, chubby, cultivated, and effervescent. He is an entirely happy man, delighted to be in England, even if this means being employed full time by the London Electricity Board.

CLEA: BRINDSLEY's ex-mistress. Mid-twenties; dazzling, emotional, bright and mischievous. The challenge to her to create a dramatic situation out of the darkness is ultimately irresistible.

GEORG BAMBERGER: An elderly millionaire art collector, easily identifiable as such. Like the Electrician, he is a German.

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