Download OUR TOWN - Fresno State

AUDITION CALL
OUR TOWN
By Thornton Wilder
Directed by J. Daniel Herring
AUDITION DATES & TIMES:
General Auditions
Monday, August 26, 2013
6:00-9:00 p.m.
John Wright Theatre
All actors should prepare a monologue no more than 2 minutes in length
Actors who do not have a prepared monologue will be given material to cold read
First Callback
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
4:00-6:30 p.m.
Woods Theatre
Second Callback
Thursday, August 29, 2013
7:00-10:00 p.m.
Woods Theatre
At callback auditions, actors will be asked to read scenes from the script and participate in movement
improvisations
REHEARSAL DATES & TIMES:
Sunday, September 22 through Wednesday, October 23, 2013
(NOTE: NO REHEARSALS ON THURSDAYS, FRIDAYS OR SATURDAYS UNTIL TECH WEEK)
Sunday Rehearsals will be held from 5:30pm – 10:30pm
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday Rehearsals will be held from 7:15pm – 10:15pm
No Rehearsal
Sunday, October 13, 2013
Tech Rehearsals
Sunday, October 27, 2013 – 1:00pm -10:00pm
Monday, October 28, 2013 – Wednesday, October 30, 2013 – usually 6:00pm -10:00pm, but
depending on the needs of the show, director or designers these rehearsal times may vary
Thursday, October 31, 2013 – Final Dress – 7:00pm Call – 8:00pm GO
PERFORMANCE DATES AND TIMES:
November 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8 & 9, 2013 at 8:00pm and November 3, 2013 at 2:00pm
ABOUT THE PLAY and CHARACTERS: (4 women and 4 men for the Webb and Gibbs families
AND 1 woman or man as the Stage Manger plus an 11 member Neo-Victorian Greek Chorus to play
all other roles and supply the theatrical elements of the show)
Period/Setting: 1901-1913 America
“An intimate, inventive and imaginative new staging of the American classic about life, love
and loss.”
Celebrating the 75th Anniversary in an important publishing event, Samuel French, in cooperation with
the Thornton Wilder estate is pleased to release the playwright’s definitive version of Our Town. This
edition of the play differs only slightly from previous acting editions, yet it presents the version of Our
Town as Thornton Wilder wished it performed. Described by Edward Albee as “…the greatest
American play ever written,” the story follows the small town of Grover’s Corners through three acts:
“Daily Life,” “Love and Marriage,” and “Death and Eternity.” Narrated by a stage manager and
performed with minimal props and sets, audiences follow the Webb and Gibbs families as their
children fall in love, marry, and eventually—in one of the most famous scenes in American theatre—
die.
"While all of Wilder's work is intelligent, non-synthetic and often moving, as well as funny, it is Our
Town that makes the difference. It is probably the finest play ever written by an American." —Edward
Albee
"Thornton Wilder's masterpiece...An immortal tale of small town morality [and]...a classic of soft
spoken theater." —The New York Times
"Beautiful and remarkable one of the sagest, warmest and most deeply human scripts to have come
out of our theatre...A spiritual experience." —The New York Post
"No play ever moved me so deeply." —Alexander Woolcott, The New Yorker
PRELIMINARY CONCEPT IDEAS:
-- Radio Show concept weaving onstage theatrical devices into the early 1900s plot
-- Stage Manager and Chorus create all effects and play all roles other than the Webb and Gibbs
families
-- Orchestration of sound onstage – wind machines, rain sticks, etc. and the Chorus will hum and sing
songs of the appropriate to the time period
-- Some lighting on stage – flashlights, ghost lights, hand-held projector lights, etc. also see lights in
the grid
-- Costumes American Victorian period for Webb and Gibbs families and Stage Manger and Chorus
in neutral period Neo-Victorian costumes
-- Performed in the Woods Theatre (arena style) will be staged in such a way that mirror images on
the diagonal or mirror images with the quarter sections of an X would reflect the action of the scenes
PERUSAL SCRIPTS:
CAN BE CHECKED OUT OF THE THEATRE ARTS DEPARTMENT OFFICE SPEECH ARTS 33 OR
EMAILED TO YOU
CONTACT J. DANIEL HERRING IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS
Email: [email protected] Office Phone: 559-278-2578