CAIN PARK HOLDS “AVENUE Q” AUDITIONS MARCH 2-4
ALL ROLES OPEN
(Cleveland Heights, Ohio) Cain Park has scheduled auditions for AVENUE Q on March 2-3, 2012 at the Cleveland Heights Community Center (1 Monticello Boulevard at Mayfield). Callbacks are scheduled for Sunday, March 4 from 10am to 4pm. There is free parking at the Community Center, which can be accessed only from Monticello Boulevard.
Paul Gurgol and Cain Park Theater Artistic Director Russ Borski will co-direct this Tony Award-winning musical with David Robison as musical director. Borski will also design/create the puppets and design the set with lighting design by Trad A Burns, costume design by Terry Pieritz, and sound design by Richard Ingraham.
All roles are open. The directors are seeking actors from 18 to 40 years of age. Equity auditions are on Friday, March 2 from 6 to 11pm. Equity and Non-Equity auditions also take place on Saturday, March 3 from 10am to 6pm. Audition appointments will be accepted as of February 1, 2012 by calling
216-291-2323 (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm). Non-Equity actors may audition on March 2 but no specific appointment times will be reserved; they should call
216-291-2323 and ask to be placed on a list of auditioners who will be seen between Equity audition appointments.
Puppets are used in this show and actors play multiple characters. Puppet characters are Princeton (a fresh-faced kid just out of college), Kate Monster (a kindergarten teaching assistant who’s a bit older than Princeton), Nicky (a bit of a slacker who lives with Rod), Rod (a Republican investment banker with a secret), Trekkie Monster (a reclusive creature obsessed by the Internet), Lucy (a vixenish vamp with a dangerous edge), The Bad Idea Bears (two snuggly, cute teddy-bear types), and Mrs. T. (ancient and Kate’s boss). Human characters are Brian (an aspiring comedian recently laid off from his day job), Christmas Eve (Brian’s Japanese fiancée and a therapist with no clients), and Gary Coleman (apartment building superintendent).
Those interested in auditioning should memorize/prepare 2 short songs in the style of AVENUE Q and bring sheet music in the proper key; an accompanist will be provided (no taped music will be allowed). They should also bring a resume and current headshot that will be retained by Cain Park. Audition appointments will be accepted as of February 1, 2012 by calling
216-291-2323 (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm).
There are salaried AEA (Actors’ Equity Association) contracts available and EMC (Equity Membership Candidate) credit will be granted. Non-Equity actors appearing in AVENUE Q will be paid a modest stipend and they also may be eligible for a performance internship. Those interested in learning more about the performance internship need to call
216-291-5796.
AVENUE Q will open the 2012 Cain Park season in the Alma Theater June 15-July 1 (preview June 14). Performances are Thursdays through Saturdays at 7pm and Sundays at 2pm.
AVENUE Q (music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, book by Jeff Whitty) is about a motley group of post-college New York residents facing life’s challenges together. Authors Lopez, Marx and Whitty describe it as an “autobiographical and biographical coming-of-age parable, addressing and satirizing the issues and anxieties associated with entering adulthood.” Variety commented “Of all the musicals hatched in the post-2000 age of irony, this cheeky satire of children’s television shows like ‘Sesame Street’ has arguably remained the freshest and funniest…[Its] message of endurance with a smile seems even more appropriate for these challenging times.” The New York Times described it as “the ‘Sesame Street’-style musical for adults who can’t quite believe they’ve grown up.”
Originally conceived as a television series, AVENUE Q was developed as a stage production at the 2002 National Music Theatre Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Connecticut. It opened Off Broadway in March 2003 and transferred to Broadway in July 2003 where it won the 2004 Tony “Triple Crown” (Best Musical, Book and Original Score) in an upset over Wicked, and spawned Las Vegas and West End productions, two national tours, and a variety of international productions. With 2534 performances, AVENUE Q ranks 21st on the list of longest running shows in Broadway history. The show ended its Broadway run on September 13, 2009, and six weeks later reopened Off Broadway in the New World Stages complex where it continues to run to this day.
During his five-year tenure as founder and artistic director of Kalliope Stage in Cleveland Heights, Paul Gurgolpresented five regional premieres and the world premiere of a new musical, Coming to America, as well as three full-staged original productions. Locally, he has also directed A Little Night Music (Opera Cleveland), Fiddler on the Roof and My Fair Lady (Beck Center), and Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (Cain Park).
Russ Borski began his relationship with Cain Park in 1989 with a production of Company in the Alma Theater. The past 23 years have included designs for last year’s Dreamgirls, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Pippin, Harold and Maude: an intimate musical, The Wiz, Nine: The Musical, Bat Boy: The Musical,Avenue X, The Secret Garden, The Music Man, A Little Night Music, Anything Goes and a host of others, all favorites. Regionally, Mr. Borski has worked at North Carolina Shakespeare Festival, Florida State Opera, Portland Stage, Anchorage Opera, and Merce Cunningham NY. He has also done national tours of Barnum andInto the Woods, as well as Dido & Aeneas at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires. Russ is faculty designer at Cleveland State University.
A graduate of The Cleveland Institute of Music, David Robison was most recently the associate conductor/keyboardist for the national tour of The Phantom of the Opera and, prior to that, for the national tour of Evita; he was musical director/conductor for the European tour of Evita. In addition to being assistant musical director/pianist for Cain Park’s productions of South Pacific and Guys and Dolls, Robison has also worked at Cleveland Opera, Berea Summer Theatre and Waterville Summer Theatre.
Cain Park, a municipally owned and operated summer arts park and one of the nation’s oldest landmark outdoor theaters entering its 74th season, is produced by the City of Cleveland Heights and is located on Superior Road between Lee and South Taylor roads.
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