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The Warner Stage Company will hold auditions for a Nancy Marine Studio Theatre Musical Production of SPRING AWAKENING on Monday, March19th and Tuesday, March 20th beginning at 7:00pm. The production is co-directed & choreographed bySharon A. Wilcox with co-director Katherine Ray and Dan Ringuette as music director. It will be presented in the Warner Theatre's Nancy Marine Studio Theatre in June 2018.
All roles are open to audition. We are seeking seeking and ensemble cast of singer/actors who read as 15-20 years old and two adults who read 40-50 years old to play various character roles.
PLEASE NOTE: Because of the nature of the content of this show, we are seeking actors over the age of 16; actors under the age of 18 will need parental consent if cast in the show. Please have proof of age to present to the audition monitors at the time of your appointment.
Study/parental guide regarding the themes in the show:
www.gradesaver.com/spring-awakening/study-guide/themes
Auditioners must bring sheet music with them and be prepared to sing 32 bars, but no more than one minute, of a fully memorized show tune (not from SPRING AWAKENING) or any pop/rock song (i.e., it does not have to be from a musical) that showcases your vocal range and in a style that is consistent with the character you are auditioning for. This should be something that you are very comfortable with, not something you just learned the day before! It is important that you perform your song, not just stand and deliver. Auditioners should mark their selection with a highlighter. An accompanist will be provided. No a Capella singing or recorded accompaniment.
Auditioners should also be prepared to read from the libretto and perform a brief dance combination that may be taught at the audition. Please dress comfortably for movement.
Rehearsals will be held three nights per week on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursdayevenings from 7:00-10:00pm beginning Tuesday, March 27, 2018. There will also be two Wednesday evening rehearsals (April 4th/May 30th). Tech week rehearsals will be Sundaythrough Thursday, June10-14, 2018. We do ask that Friday, June 15, 2018 be held in case an additional tech week rehearsal is needed. The pickup rehearsal will be held on Thursday, June 21, 2018.
Please have all conflicts for the rehearsal period available, and please note on Audition Form.
If you are unable to make the mandatory tech week rehearsals and/or pickup rehearsal, we will be unable to cast you in this production.
The Warner Stage Company is a regional community theatre company and does not offer compensation or housing for performers.
CALLBACKS: Thursday, March 22, 2018 at 7:00pm (if needed)
AUDITIONS BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
Please visit our website at
www.warnertheatre.org/auditions and fill out the online appointment request form or send an email to
auditions@warnertheatre.org to schedule your appointment.
An audition confirmation e-mail will be sent with full details on what will be expected at your audition. Audition appointments requested on-line or by e-mail are preferred, but if you do not have access to e-mail call the Warner Theatre Audition Line at
860-489-7180 ext.151. Please be specific as to the date you would like to schedule your appointment.
If you are unable to attend the scheduled auditions, please send your resume and headshot to
swilcox@warnertheatre.org. If additional auditions are needed, you will be contacted.
PERFORMANCE DATES:
Saturday, June 16, 2018 at 8:00pm
Sunday, June 17, 2018 at 2:00pm
Friday, June 22, 2018 at 8:00pm
Saturday, June 23, 2018 at 8:00pm
Sunday, June 24, 2018 at 2:00pm
ABOUT THE SHOW
The winner of eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, told by Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater through what Entertainment Weekly called, the most gorgeous Broadway score this decade, SPRING AWAKENING explores the journey from adolescence to adulthood with a poignancy and passion that is illuminating and unforgettable. The landmark musical is an electrifying fusion of morality, sexuality and rock and roll that is exhilarating audiences across the nation like no other musical in years.
It is Germany, 1891, a world where the grown-ups hold all the cards. The beautiful young Wendla explores the mysteries of her body and wonders aloud where babies come from... until Mama tells her to shut it and put on a proper dress. Elsewhere, the brilliant and fearless young Melchior interrupts a mind-numbing Latin drill to defend his buddy, Moritz – a boy so traumatized by puberty that he can't concentrate on anything... not that the Headmaster cares. He strikes them both and tells them to turn in their lesson. One afternoon, in a private place in the woods, Melchior and Wendla meet by accident and soon find within themselves a desire unlike anything they've ever felt. As they fumble their way into one another's arms, Moritz flounders and soon fails out of school. When even his one adult friend, Melchior's mother, ignores his plea for help, he is left so distraught that he can't hear the promise of life offered by his outcast friend, Ilse. Naturally, the Headmasters waste no time in pinning the crime of Moritz's suicide on Melchior to expel him. And soon, Mama learns that her little Wendla is pregnant. Now the young lovers must struggle against all odds to build a world together for their child.
CHARACTER LIST (ALL ROLES ARE OPEN)
PLEASE NOTE: Because of the nature of the content of this show, we are seeking actors over the age of 16; actors under the age of 18 will need parental consent if cast in the show. Please have proof of age to present to the audition monitors at the time of your appointment.
MELCHIOR – Male, should read 15-20 years old. A smart, headstrong boy who refuses to bow down to society’s rules. An atheist and radical student. Struggles with his intense feelings for Wendla and his awakening sexual urges. Though logical and highly intelligent, he is a fiercely loyal friend and an open-hearted young man with the ability to feel and experience things wholly and intensely. Seeking a strong actor and singer with strong movement ability. Range: G2 – B4.
MORITZ – Male, should read 15-20 years old. Melchior’s best friend and a troubled student. He desperately tries to please his father, but always seems to disappoint him. His haunting sexual dreams and academic failures eventually drive him to suicidal thoughts. Seeking an actor willing and able to explore the darkness of angst and depression and be able to physicalize extraordinarily strong feelings. Seeking a strong actor and singer with strong movement ability. Range: C3-A4.
WENDLA – Female, should read 15-20 years old. Innocent. With every passing day, she grows more curious about the world around her and her changing body. Both vulnerable and a willing participant in her evolution. Explores her newly-found sexuality with Melchior. Seeking a strong actor and singer with strong movement ability. Range: E3 – E5 .
ADULT MAN – Male, 40-50 years old – Plays a variety of rigid adult roles. Characters include: HERR SONNENSTITCH, the boys’ teacher; HEADMASTER KNOCHENBRUCH; HERR NEUMANN, Ilse’s father; HERR RILOW, Hanschen’s father; HERR STIEFEL, Moritz’s father; FATHER KAULBACH; DOCTOR VON BRAUSEPULVER; HERR GABOR, Melchior’s father; and SCHMIDT. Range: D3 – F4.
ADULT WOMAN – Female, 40-50 years old – Plays a variety of rigid adult roles. Characters include: FRAU BERGMAN, Wendla’s mother; FRAULEIN KNUPPELDICK; FRAULEIN GROSSEBUSTENHALTER; FRAU GABOR, Melchior’s mother; and FRAU BESSELL, Martha’s mother. Range: D3 – A4.
ANNA – Female, should read 15-20 years old. A schoolgirl and Martha’s best friend. Optimistic and a bit naïve, she has a difficult time understanding Martha’s trials. Seeking a strong actor and singer with strong movement ability. Range: E3 – C5.
ERNST – Male, should read 15-20 years old. A schoolmate of Melchior’s just starting to explore his homosexuality. Naïve, sweet and easily manipulated, which allows him to fall in love with the egotistical Hanschen. Seeking a strong actor and singer with strong movement ability. Optional Doubling as REINHOLD. Range: Ab2 – A4.
GEORG – Male, should read 15-20 years old. A clumsy schoolmate of Melchior’s. He is overcome with his feelings for his piano teacher – ability to play piano is a plus. Seeking a strong actor and singer with strong movement ability. Optional Doubling as DIETER. Range: Ab2 – D5.
HANSCHEN – Male, should read 15-20 years old. A comically narcissistic schoolmate of Melchior’s. He is comfortable with his own sexuality and uses his looks and intelligence to captivate Ernst. Seeking a strong actor and singer with strong movement ability. Optional Doubling as RUPERT. Range: Ab2 – D5.
ILSE – Female, should read 15-25 years old. Martha’s sister, who was also abused and has run away from home to live in an artists’ colony. She reaches out to her old friend Moritz in the last moments of his life. Seeking a strong singer and actress with a unique voice – playing piano is a plus. Range: E3 – E5.
MARTHA – Female, should read 15-20 years old. A schoolgirl who faces constant physical abuse from her father. She harbors a secret crush towards Moritz. Seeking a strong alto with warm depth as an actress and singer. Range: E3 – E5.
OTTO – Male, should read 15-20 years old. A classmate of Melchior’s. He struggles with feelings he considers inappropriate. Seeking a strong actor and singer with strong movement ability. Optional Doubling as ULBRECHT. Range: Ab2 – D5.
THEA – Female, should read 15-20 years old. Wendla’s best friend. A schoolgirl who tries to stay innocent and pure. Seeking a strong actor and singer with strong movement ability. Range: E3 – E5.
FULL SYNOPSIS
Act One
The show opens in a provincial German town in the late nineteenth century. Teenaged Wendla Bergman looks into a mirror, gently exploring her maturing body. She wonders about her changing feelings and wishes her mother would teach her what these changes mean (Mama Who Bore Me). Frau Bergman, Wendla's mother, enters and chastises her for wearing a childish dress – she must dress more properly because she is already in bloom. Wendla doesn't understand. Frau Bergman has good news: Wendla's sister has been visited by the stork and now has another baby girl. Wendla asks her mother to tell her where babies actually come from, as she knows the stork story is for children. Her mother tries to tell her but is too embarrassed to go into detail. Frustrated, Wendla and her friends lament their ignorance of these matters (Mama Who Bore Me – Reprise).
At the boys' school, Herr Sonnenstich makes his pupils recite Latin. Mortiz Stiefel has fallen asleep in class, and Herr Sonnenstich embarrasses him by making him recite when he clearly doesn't know the text. His friend, Melchior Gabor, tries to come to his rescue by questioning the teacher's interpretation of the text. Herr Sonnenstich will have none of Melchior's outside-the-box thinking. In his mind, Melchior pushes back against the restrictive teachings of his elders (All That's Known). Moritz thanks Melchior and confesses the reason he hasn't been sleeping: he is troubled by mortifying dreams – he envisions a pair of legs in blue stockings. Melchior confirms that everyone in their class has similar dreams, including Georg Zirschnitz, dreaming about his piano teacher. The boys rock out, sharing their various fantasies (The Bitch of Living).
After class, Melchior promises to enlighten Moritz about his dreams. Meanwhile, the Headmaster and one of the teachers worry that Moritz is polluting Melchior, their brightest student, by association. They take comfort in knowing that Mortiz will probably not pass to the upper grade. Later that afternoon, Wendla and a group of girls walk through the woods, discussing their secret crushes. They are all in love with Melchior. Everyone, girls and boys alike, is hung up on the new feelings that are taking them over (My Junk).
At the Gabor house, Moritz tries to process the drawings that Melchior gave him that describe male and female relations. Melchior's mother interrupts them and, although she is surprised to see her son reading Faust, she trusts him to decide for himself what is good for him. Moritz is overcome with anxiety about what he has learned as the boys and girls yearn with anticipation (Touch Me).
Melchior and Wendla discover each other in the woods. They sit together beneath an oak tree, secretly longing for each other (The Word of Your Body).
Back at school, Moritz has snuck into the headmaster's office and discovers that he has passed his midterm exams. He is ecstatic. The teachers, on the other hand, are concerned that it will reflect badly on them if Mortiz advances to the next grade. Herr Knochenbruch reminds Fraulein Knuppeldick that he will be grading the final exams, and she is reassured that their school's reputation will be safe.
Walking home again, the girls discover that Martha's father beats her with a belt. They urge her to tell someone, but she is concerned that she will be thrown out of the house, like their friend, Ilse. The girls are troubled by the situation as Martha reveals to the audience the part of her father's abuse that she cannot tell her friends; she is joined by Ilse (The Dark I Know Well).
Back in the woods, Melchior writes in his journal. Wendla finds him. She tells him about the situation with Martha and says that she cannot imagine ever being hit. She picks up a stick and asks him to beat her with it. At first, Melchior refuses, but then, after a moment of gently tapping her, he is overcome and hits her very hard and yells at her (The Word of Your Body – Reprise 1).
Meanwhile, at Moritz's house, his father threatens him if he does not advance to the upper grade. Moritz writes a letter to Frau Gabor, asking for money so that he can escape to America because he has failed his exams and not been promoted. She refuses him the money, but offers to talk to his parents on his behalf. This is not enough, and Moritz experiences a nervous breakdown (And Then There Were None). He exits with a gun in hand.
Melchior is very disturbed by what has happened with Wendla in the woods (The Mirror-Blue Night). With his journal in her hand, she finds him in a hayloft and confesses to having read some of it. She apologizes to him for making him hit her, but he takes responsibility for what happened. They get close to each other, and he kisses her. As he starts taking it further, Wendla is hesitant but Melchior insists that they ought to be allowed to love and feel something. As he begins to touch her, she tells him to wait, but he reassures her that it is just him, and they come together (I Believe).
Act Two
At church, Father Kaulbach sermonizes about children betraying their parents while, in the hayloft, Melchior asks Wendla if she is okay; she is lost in what just happened, but she thinks that she is okay (The Guilty Ones).
Moritz stands alone by a river. He is at the end of his rope (Don't Do Sadness). Ilse stumbles upon him and reminds him of their time together as children, playing with Wendla and Melchior (Blue Wind). Moritz is distracted and upset; Ilse asks him to spend time with her, but he refuses – he has too much schoolwork (Don't Do Sadness / Blue Wind). She asks him to walk her home, but he refuses. She chastises him for abandoning her and leaves. He regrets not having gone with her, but then makes his decision and cocks the gun.
Later, at Moritz's funeral, Melchior indicts the adults who betrayed Moritz by pressuring him so much, while mourning the loss of his friend (Left Behind). At school, Melchior gets called to the headmaster's office. They have found his drawings. They blame Moritz's actions on the drawings and Melchior. They ask Melchior if he, in fact, did do the illustrations; he knows that he's stuck (Totally Fucked).
In a vineyard at sunset, Hanschen and Ernst roll in the grass. Hanschen observes that there are three ways a man can go: let the status quo defeat him, like Moritz; rock the boat, like Melchior; or bide his time and let the system work for him, like Hanschen does. Ernst confesses his deep love for Hanschen as they make love (The Word of Your Body – Reprise 2).
Melchior writes to Wendla, asking to return with her to their paradise. Simultaneously, Wendla sees a doctor who reveals to Frau Bergman that Wendla is pregnant. Wendla is shocked and she lashes out at her mother for not telling her everything. She gives her mother Melchior's letter. Melchior's parents discuss what to do about him. Frau Gabor believes it is too harsh to send him to a reformatory. However, when Herr Gabor shows her the letter that he wrote to Wendla, admitting that he knew what he was doing, she acquiesces (Whispering).
At the reformatory, the other boys harass Melchior. They steal a letter that Wendla has written to him, and reveal to him that Wendla is pregnant. Meanwhile, Frau Bergman takes Wendla to a secret abortionist. Melchior escapes the reformatory and writes to Ilse, who shares the letter with the other girls. He plans to go to the graveyard at midnight to wait for her; the girls realize that he doesn't know what has happened to Wendla.
When Melchior gets to the cemetery, he finds Wendla's grave. He is bereft and contemplates suicide. The ghosts of Moritz and Wendla appear to comfort him and urge him forward into the world, holding on to the memory of what happened to his friends (Those You've Known). He promises never to let them go. Ilse then stands alone. She reflects on the events that have happened; she is joined by the rest of the cast as they look towards a time when all shall know the wonder of purple summer (The Song of Purple Summer).
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