The Heritage Players Present ELECTRA, by Jean Giraudoux
Adapted by Jay Breckenridge
Directed by Jay Breckenridge and Carol Schafer for production March 13-15, 20-22, 2015
AUDITION DATES
January 11, 2015- 7:00 p.m. at the Seton Center (1900 Pioneer Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15226.)
January 12, 2015- 7:00 p.m. at the Schoolhouse Arts Center (2600 South Park Rd., Bethel Park, PA 15102).
Cold readings will be provided. Appointments are highly recommended but, walk-ins will be welcome, subject to availability.
Please e-mail heritageplayersauditions@gmail.com for an audition slot.
The Heritage Players are looking for male and female Non-Equity performers aged late teens to early 70’s to fill the cast. All roles are available.
No pay is available at this time but, actors will be afforded complimentary tickets.
This is not Sophocles’ brooding, revenge-ridden Electra of 413 B.C. Giraudoux’s modernized, poetical and whimsical version, first performed in 1937, follows the plot of the classic tale, but emphasizes a young woman’s search for the truth—of why she despises her mother (Clytemnestra, the Queen of Argos) and Aegisthus (the Regent of Argos) and the truth of who killed her father, Agamemnon—and then her insistence upon justice once she knows.
The setting is the garden of Agamemnon’s palace in Argos in the 12th century BCE, but the production will have a more modern, somewhat mysterious and sinister look.
CAST BREAKDOWN
Electra- F, 20’s. Daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. She is a young woman obsessed with finding the truth (especially about the death of her father, the former King of Argos), which makes many of the characters uncomfortable.
Orestes- M, 20’s. Electra’s easily manipulated younger brother.
Clytemnestra- F, 40’s. Their mother, the Queen of Argos, Agamemnon’s widow (and murderer). She is suspicious of her daughter and part of the plan (along with Aegisthus, her lover) to get Electra married off to the Gardener to remove her from the palace.
Aegisthus- M, 40’s. The Regent of Argos, the effective ruler of the city-state, and lover of Clytemnestra. He is a pragmatic politician (as well as a murderer).
The Gardener- M, 30-40. The future husband of Electra—by edict of the city’s ruling pair.
The President- M, 50-ish. The leader of the senate and chief justice. He is married to the young and beautiful Agatha, who is cuckolding him with regularity (including with Aegisthus).
Agatha- F, 30-ish. Young, pretty, and adulterous—but not the sharpest hoe in the shed.
The Captain- M, 20-30. Leader of the armed forces of Argos—one of Agatha’s paramours.
The Eumenides- F, 18+. A chorus of women who are other versions of Electra—with an attitude.
The Beggars- M or F, 18+. Narrator characters who also function as a chorus—again rumored to be gods, possibly. They are also presumed to be drunk, although they speak clearly enough.
Videos
