[NEohioPAL] GENERAL AUDITIONS FOR Karamu Performing Arts Theatre 2009/10 Season of Accountability, Friday, July 24 - Sunday, July 26, 2009

[performingarts at karamu.com]

GENERAL AUDITIONS FOR Karamu Performing Arts Theatre 2009/10 Season of
Accountability

Audition Dates:
Friday, July 24        6 :00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. (Concert Hall)
Saturday, July 25   10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. (Arena Theatre)
Sunday, July 26     11:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. (Arena Theatre)

Audition Location:
 2355 east 89th, Cleveland Ohio, 44106

Audition Requirements:
•Please come prepared with 2 contrasting monologues
•There will be sides for you to read from at the audition.
•Please come prepared for movement and improvisation.
•Please bring 8x10 Headshot and Bio.

NOTE: Rehearsal starts six weeks out before the opening of each
production. There are two preview performances before opening night;
Wednesday and Thursday. Actors are paid stipends for each production.

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MAINSTAGE

FABULATION, OR THE RE-EDUCATION OF UDINE (Satirical Comedy/Midwest Premier)
By Lynn Nottage
Dir. Caroline Jackson Smith
September 18 – October 11, 2009
Karamu brings to the stage Ms. Nottage’s 2004  Off Broadway,  Obie award
winning hit. She recently won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for her Off Broadway
drama  Ruined.  Fabulation is about an ambitious and haughty
African-American woman, Undine Barnes Calles, whose husband suddenly
disappears after embezzling all of her money. Pregnant and on the brink of
social and financial ruin, Undine is forced to go back to her family, the
Watkins,  and childhood home in the inner city of Brooklyn’s Walt Whitman
projects, only to discover that she must cope with a crude new reality.
Undine faces the challenge of transforming her setbacks into small
victories in a battle to reaffirm her right to be. FABULATION is a
comeuppance tale with a comic twist. (Adult language and content)

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
Time: Present Day
Place: New York City

UDINE BARNES CALLES:  African American Female, Mid-30’s. Sharona Watkins
changed her name to Udine Barnes to reinvent herself and to get away from
her past upbringing. She runs a successful PR firm.

DR. KHDAIR//GRANDMA/INMATE/#1 CASE WORKER/ENSEMBLE: African American
Female, Late 50’s-60’s. Udine’s grandmother and multiple roles.

YORUBA/PRIEST/FATHER/JUDGE/ENSEMBLE: African American Male, Late
40’s-Early 50’s. Udine’s father and multiple roles.

ALLISON/MOTHER/INMATE #2/DEVORA/ENSEMBLE:  African American Female, Late
40’s- Early 50’s. Udine’s mother and multiple roles.

HERVE/GUY/ENSEMBLE : Caucasian Male, Mid-30’s. Undine’s Dutch husband and 
multiple roles.

STEPHIE/COUNSELOR/ROSA/PREGNANT #1/ENSEMBLE : African American Female,
20’s-30’s.  Udine’s assistant and multiple roles.

AGENT DUVA/FLOW/DEALER/ADDICT #2/ENSEMBLE: African American Male,  20’s.
Udine’s younger brother, Flow, and multiple roles.

ACCOUNTANT/ADDICT #1/DOCTOR/ENSEMBLE: Caucasian Male, Mid  30’s-Early
40’s. Udine’s accountant and  multiple roles.

NOTE: Each actor must have a sense of great comedic timing.


YELLOWMAN (Drama/Ohio Premier)
By Dael Orlandersmith
Dir: Fred Sternfeld
October 30 – November 22, 2009
Alma and Eugene have known each other since they were young children. As
their friendship blossoms into love, Alma struggles to free herself from
her mother's poverty and alcoholism, while Eugene must contend with the
legacy of being "yellow"—lighter-skinned than his=2 0brutal and
unforgiving father.  Mr. Sternfeld, Artistic Director of Fairmount
Performing Arts Conservatory,  directs this absorbing two character  2002
Pulitzer Prize nominated drama- runner up to TopDog /UnderDog. It was
first workshopped at the Sundance Theatre Lab.  Yellowman is an edgy and
provocative exploration of intra-racism within the Black community and
it’s unflinching look at its ugly legacy. Orlandersmith is widely regarded
as one of the most important new poetic voices in America today and
belongs to a daring new generation of women writing for the stage. (Adult
language and content)


CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
Time: Present Day
Setting:  A South Carolina community

ALMA: She is part of a culture where women tugged the soil right beside
the men. Although bright and ambitious, she can never escape her inherited
self-hatred. 30’s-40’s, large, dark- skinned.

EUGENE: He is the lithe son of a lumberman father  and light-skinned
mother and is teased for being a “high yella” boy. He is branded by his
father as a failure and advised by his grandfather “don’t marry nothing
dark.”  30’s-40’s, light- skinned.

This two character play is vocally and physically demanding. In addition
to playing Alma and Eugene, the actors must be able to play additional
roles in their characters lives and speak Gullah.


NUTCRACKER RELOADED (Musical)
Adaptation by Desiree Parkman
Dir. Desiree Parkman
Original Music by Zakee Ali                                               
                                                                          
                                      December 4 - December 27, 2009      
                                                                          
                                                                        
Former Broadway dancer and Radio City Music Hall Rockette, Desiree
Parkman, brings her own riff of The Nutcracker to Karamu’s stage titled
Nutcracker Reloaded. Nutcracker Reloaded  is an urban retelling of the
classic tale with a cast of over fifty teens and adults.  Travel with
Naima as she and the Nutcracker journey to the Land of Beats where break
dancers, krumpers, hip hop dancers,  Spanish, Asian and African dancers
entertain.  Great for the whole family and sure to be a holiday classic!

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN

Male/Female Adults- 21- 35? to play parents, party guests and characters
in the Land of Beats.

YOUTH:
NAIMA: lead, celebrating her birthday and dreams of being transported to a
wonderful land of beats filled with music and dance.  Must be comfortable
with ballet and hip hop.

ZANDER; plays the Nutcracker come to life, must be comfortable with
partnering and hip hop.

FEMALES: 10-18 to play party guests and various characters in the Land of
Beats. Arabian princess, Supa Fly Fairy, African, should be able to move
in these styles.

MALES; 10 to 18 to play party guests and crew members for battle scene,
Russian dancers and African, Capoeira, should be versed in Hip hop, break
dancing and krump styles.

Also need MIMES, STILT WALKERS and CAPOEIRA MOVERS.


THE GREAT WHITE HOPE by Howard Sackler (Historical Drama)
Dir. Terrence Spivey
February 12 – March 17, 2010 (Karamu Jelliffe Theatre)
April 1 – April 18, 2010 (Weathervane Playhouse, Akron, OH)
Set in the early 1900s,  The Great White Hope is loosely based on the life
of African American boxer Jack Johnson, renamed Jack Jefferson in the
story. After becoming the first Negro heavyweight champion of the world in
1908, the play follows his tumultuous career and explores the nature of
racism and racial conflict in American society. In collaboration with
Weathervane Playhouse and Ensemble Theatre comes one of the most dynamic
plays ever written for the American stage. The Great White Hope won the
Pulitzer Prize, Tony and Drama Desk Award for Best Drama. Once it closes
at Karamu, the production and cast moves to Weathervane Playhouse.

In a 2000 news interview Molly Smith, Arena Stage's artistic director,
noted that The Great White Hope is no less powerful in the 21st century
than it was when the theater first took a chance on it. "I'm hearing
things [from audiences] like 'Boy, this is a hard play to see, and yet it
needs to be told now." –NEA

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
Time: Before and During World War ll
Place: Parchman, Ohio, San Francisco, Nevada, Chicago, London, Paris,
Berlin, Budapest, and Havana

JACK  JEFFERSON: African American Male, Early to late 30’s.  Based on
boxer Jack Johnson, who became the first black heavyweight  champion in
1908 from Galveston, Texas and was nicknamed “Galveston Giant.” He is
larger than life, keen, confident and “bragadocious. Lives life to the
fullest.  He feels he is his own man and not about proving anything to any
race-including his own.

ELEANOR BACHMAN: Caucasian Female, late 20’s-Ear ly 30’s. A loving,
defiant Desdemona to Jack Jefferson’s twentieth century Othello.

TICK: African American Male, Late 50’s. He is Jack’s no nonsense trainer.

BRADY: Caucasian Male, Late 30’s- Early 40’s. A heavyweight champion
living in Parchman, Ohio.

GOLDIE: Caucasian Male, Early to  late 40’s,  Jack’s Jewish manager.

SMITTY: Caucasian Male, 40’s-50’s, famous sports writer.

CAP’N  DAN: Caucasian Male, late 50’s,  Brady’s manager, a champion of
earlier days.

CLARA: African American Female, 30s. One of Jack’s longtime lovers from
Detroit who thinks she is his common law wife. She is sexy and very sassy.

CAMERON: Caucasian Male, 40’s-50’s. Chicago District Attorney.

 MRS JEFFERSON: African American female 50’s-60’s. Jack’s mother. Faithful
to the church and supports her son.

 SCIPIO: African American Male, 30’s. Very  colorful character who is
imbedded within the culture of his people. He is a thorn in Jack’s side
about setting an example for his race.

ENSEMBLE: Additional supporting roles are available for over forty African
American and Caucasian male and female actors of all ages20who will
perform multiple parts in the play ; Pop Weaver, Promoters, Reporters,
Deacons, Boxing Handlers, Trainers, Photographers, Weigh-In, Bettor,
Roller, Civic Marchers, Church Sisters, Policemen (American/German) ,
Deputies, Detectives, Pastors, Government Agent, Fight Fans and etc..

NOTE: There is a three month commitment to this production. After it ends
at Karamu, the cast and set will import a week before the Weathervane
Playhouse opening for reconstruction and rehearsals. An ensemble of
performers from Cleveland and Akron will be part of this collaboration.


ECLIPSE: THE WAR AGAINST TUPAC SHAKUR
By Michael Oatman
Dir. TBA
March 26 – April 18, 2010
Local playwright Michael Oatman’s thought provoking piece first read at
Fusion Festival and work shopped on stage through Ghostlight Series with
great media attention last Spring, hits the stage once again in a
reworked, three character drama between Tupac and Biggie Smalls as it
examines the last two days of the rapster's life as he meets with his
rival (aka the Notorious B.I.G.).

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
Time: 1996
Place: Las Vegas

TUPAC: A Conflicted Hip-Hop artist who has arrived at the crossroads of
his life.
CHRISTOPHER: A rival Hip0AHop Artist.
MARION:  A smart, ruthless, record company owner.

CLOSURE (Play with Multimedia /World Premier)
By Mary Weems,
Images By RA Washington
Dir.  Terrence Spivey
May 13 – June 6, 2010
 8 0Closure,” inspired by the images of20local, poet/photographer, RA
Washington., is a multi-media experience with an infusion of blues and
jazz, shared through a series of writings by Ms. Weems, local
playwright/poet, that explores the impact of the foreclosure crisis,
homelessness and tragic phenomenon resulting from the real estate melt
down in Cleveland, urban and suburban America.

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
Time: Present Day
Place: Cleveland and USA

PERFORMER # 1:Strong African American Female Actress, 30’s.

PERFORMER # 2:  Young African American Male or Female Actress.

PERFORMER # 3:  Strong African American Male Actor, 30’s.

MUSICIAN: Seeking a saxophonist who can play an eclectic mix of blues,
jazz and gospel.

There will be slam poetry elements in this piece. PERFORMERS must be able
to move well.

Karamu is a Non Equity arts institution but do encourage Equity actors to
audition, particularly for “The Great White Hope.”

For more information, please contact Richard Morris, Production Manager,
at 216.795.7070 ext. 236 or the Theatre Department ext. 242.



Terrence Spivey
Artistic Director
Karamu House
2355 East 89th
Cleveland, OH 44106
Phone: 216-795-7070
www.karamu.com

"You're not paid to do your best, you're paid to win."
-Edward Concannon (James Mason) in The Verdict