[NEohioPAL] Auditions and other news

[Jan Harcar]

>From Weathervane Playhouse - Akron OH

The following information is included herein:

1. Auditions for The Great White Hope
2. Auditions for Rabbit Hole
3. Don't miss the final weekend of The Last Night of Ballyhoo
4. The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? opens in the Dietz

1.


Auditions by APPOINTMENT

for Howard Sackler's Classic

THE GREAT WHITE HOPE

SUNDAY, NOV. 8, 3 - 5 p.m.

TUESDAY, NOV. 10, 7 - 9 p.m.

Weathervane Playhouse

AKRON

Call 330-826-2626 for an appointment

Run Dates: April 1 - April 18, 2010 (12 performances)

Director. Terrence Spivey

Prepare:
Be familiar with the script.

(You may present a monologue.)




Cast Requirements:
(See character breakdown below)
15 Women ages 20s - 50s
20 Men ages 20s - 50s
10 Boys ages 12 - 16
5 Girls ages 12 - 16

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, Karamu House Theater 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 some of the cast moves to Weathervane Playhouse.

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
Time: Before and During World War l
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 ab out proving anything to any race-including his own. Note:
All actors auditioning for this role should wear a tank top underneath your dress shirt. Be prepared to move around and shadowbox.

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

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

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

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

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

CAP'N DAN: Caucasian Male, late 50s, 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-50s. Chicago District Attorney.

 

MR. DIXON: Caucasian Male, 30's-50's. A Federal Marshall

 

MRS. BACHMAN: Caucasian Female, 40's -50's. Ellie's Mother

MRS. JEFFERSON: African American female 50s-60s. Jack's mother. Faithful to the 

church and supports her son. 

 

EL JEFE: 40's-50's. 

 

MEXICAN BOY: Young boy to teen 

SCIPIO: African American Male, 30s. 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 more than thirty African American and Caucasian male and female actors of all ages, 20 who will perform multiple roles 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, Jugglers etc.

About the Director

Terrence Spivey has won numerous accolades and received local and national acclaim since arriving as Artistic Director at the historical Karamu House in October 2003 after residing for eighteen years in New York City. His directing credits includes the critically acclaimed "bee-luther-hatchee," "for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow Is enuf," "Dream on Monkey Mountain," "Permanent Collection," "Bourbon at the Border," "The Fire Inside: The Story and Poetry of Nikki Giovanni." "The Blacks: A Clown Show" and "A House With No Walls" just to name a few.

He has been featured in local media, Ebony magazine, profiled in Back Stage, Artist and Influence, TCG'S American Theatre February 2009 issue and was elected as a 2009 member of the prestigious National Theatre Conference, joining members such as Robert Falls (Goodman Theatre), Lou Bellamy (Penumbra Theatre) Ed Stern (Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park), Woodie King (New Federal Theatre) , James Bundy ( Yale School of Drama) and many more. Spivey serves on the board of trustees at Community Partnership for Arts and Culture (CPAC) and Ohio Alliance for Arts and Education (OAAE) based in Columbus. He looks forward to this exciting collaboration.

 

He is a theatre graduate of Prairie View A&M University in Texas.

 

1301 Weathervane Lane
(In the Valley off Merriman Rd)
Akron, OH 44313

330-836-2626
www.weathervaneplayhouse.com

2. 


Weathervane Playhouse Annouces

OPEN CALL AUDITIONS

For Rabbit Hole by David Lindsay-Abaire

 

Sunday, November 15, 2009 at 3:00 p.m.

Monday, November 16, 2009 at 7 p.m.

 

Please be familiar with the script.

Scripts and audition scenes are available at the playhouse.

 

Character Descriptions

 

Becca: Late thirties / early forties. Easily defensive since the death of her son. Has a good sense of humor that shows occasionally.

 

Izzy: Becca's sister. Early thirties (Could be late twenties). More easy-going than her sister, but is trying to make the transition to becoming a more responsible adult. Quick-witted.

 

Howie: Becca's husband. Late thirties / early forties. Has a good sense of humor that he feels he can't use given the current circumstances.

 

Nat: Becca and Izzy's mother. Sixties. Overbearing, but has a good heart. Must be able to play 'tipsy.'

 

Jason: Seventeen. Normal teenage boy.

 

Synopsis: A sudden and incomprehensible accident forces a husband and wife to cope in ways each had never imagined possible in this powerful drama. Rabbit Hole charts an emotional journey from loss to forgiveness, revealing the human capacity for enduring through suffering. Winner of the 2007 Pulizer Prize for Drama.

 

Director, Stephen Skiles: The University of Akron

 

Run Dates: February 4 - 21, 2010 (12 performances) Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.

 

1301 Weathervane Lane
(In the Valley off Merriman Rd)
Akron, OH 44313

330-836-2626
www.weathervaneplayhouse.com



3.
Don't Miss

Final weekend

Alfred Uhry's

The Last Night of Ballyhoo

 

Weathervane Playhouse

Akron, OH

 

Must Close Oct. 25

Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.

Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m.

Sundays at 2:30 p.m.

 

For tickets, call the Weathervane Box Office at 330/836-2626 or

connect online to www.weathervaneplayhouse.com.

 

 

Our Cast

Ian Haberman.Adolph Freitag (Sharon Center)

Jo McGarvey.Boo Levy (Cuyahoga Falls)

Marci Paolucci.Reba Freitag (Cuyahoga Falls)

Scott Shriner.Joe Farkas (Akron)

Jeremy Jenkins.Peachy Weill (Stow)

Amanda Davis.Lala Levy (Akron)

Tess Burgler.Sunny Freitag (Akron)

 

Our Director

NANCY CATES (director) returns to Weathervane after a string of previous directing assignments for the Playhouse including "Blithe Spirit," "A Man for All Seasons," "The Two Gentlemen of Verona," "Communicating Doors," "Gypsy," "Lend Me a Tenor," "All My Sons," "Moon Over Buffalo" and "Bloody Murder." She and her husband, Terry Burgler, are the Founding Artistic Directors of Ohio Shakespeare Festival and the Artistic Directors of Coach House Theatre -- both Akron venues being enthusiastic supporters of Weathervane. Nancy is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers (SSDC). She lives in Kent.



4.
NEWS RELEASE
Weathervane Playhouse
CONTACT: Janis L. Harcar
330-836-2626

 

Weathervane Playhouse Stages Tony-Winning

'The Goat or, Who Is Sylvia?'

 

Edward Albee's Controversial Drama Plays in Weathervane's Intimate
John L. Dietz Theater Beginning Oct. 29, 2009
 

(Oct. 23, 2009 - Akron, Ohio - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE) - Weathervane Playhouse presents Edward Albee's provocative drama about marital discord and its consequences, "The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?," live on stage between Oct. 29 and Nov. 14, 2009. 

 

Legendary American playwright Edward Albee - perhaps best known for his "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" - has fashioned an explosive drama about a family in crisis. Martin, an eminent architect, has just reached his 50th birthday and been awarded the top prize in his profession. Burdened by a dark secret he can no longer keep, Martin tells his best friend, Ross, that he has engaged in an adulterous, extramarital affair.

 

Once Martin's vulnerable wife, Stevie, learns of his infidelity, the sparks fly and the gloves come off between husband and wife - exploding all charades in a marital free-for-all. Playwright Albee frames the events within a theatrical structure that tears down the boundaries between realism and absurdism.  Martin's outrageous confession challenges the audience's limits of tolerance.

 

"The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?" won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play.

 

Under the direction of Derek Davidson, "The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?" is presented in Weathervane's John L. Dietz Theater, its intimate 48-seat "black box" theater. 

 

"The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?" is presented by a generous grant from Margaret J. Dietz.

 

The production contains adult language and mature themes.

The production is not suitable for children.

 

 

 

The Cast of "The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?" and their Hometowns
 

RICHARD WORSWICK (Martin) - Bath Township

 

DEDE KLEIN (Stevie) - Hudson

 

VINCENT RICHARDS (Ross) - Uniontown

 

KEITH FOSTER (Billy) - Stow

 

 
About the Play's Director

Derek Davidson makes his Weathervane Playhouse directorial debut with "The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?" He is a playwright, director and filmmaker who is currently teaching at Marietta College and at Carnegie Mellon University. Before he recently relocated to Northeast Ohio, he taught at Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina, and was an associate artistic director at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Virginia, where he also coordinated the Appalachian Festival of Plays and Playwrights. He has directed his own adaptations of "Mother Courage and Her Children" and "As You Like It." He wrote the award-winning play "The Road Where It Curves Away." His film, This is Not the South, has played at numerous festivals and recently won Best Feature at the SkyFest in Asheville, North Carolina. At present, Mr. Davidson lives in New Philadelphia with his wife, Karen Sabo.

 

 

Background on the Play and its Performance History
 

Playwright Edward Albee is a theater artist not afraid to challenge the conventions of both art and society at large. The outrageous object of Martin's affection serves as a litmus test of sorts for both the play's characters as well as the audience's sympathies.
 

With its savage humor, Albee's play can provoke simultaneous reactions of shock, disgust and even humor. The noted theater critic and educator Robert Brustein, in his book "Millennial Stages: Essays and Reviews 2001-2005," declared that he "found it possible to have a number of quite contradictory responses to this play.all of them cunningly machined by the playwright in his most mischievous mood."

 

Summing up Albee's artistic roguishness on display in the play, Brustein adds, "The Goat may be the first Albee play in which the very structure of the work is an act of prestidigitation. With the dramatist pulling one theatrical trick after the other out of his conjuring hat, you leave the theatre uncertain whether you've seen a conventional Broadway adultery drama, a sex comedy on the subject of bestiality, or a Nietzschean attempt to transvaluate our values about what constitutes 'normal' behavior."

 

The Goat, or Who is Sylvia? received its world premiere in New York City, where it opened on Broadway at the John Golden Theatre on March 10, 2002. The production played for a total of 309 performances before closing on December 15, 2002. The original cast featured Bill Pullman as Martin and Mercedes Ruehl as Stevie; Bill Irwin and Sally Field later replaced the show's two original lead actors.
 
The play won the 2002 Tony Award for Best Play as well as the 2002 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play. The play also was nominated for the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Drama (but lost to Anna in the Tropics by Nilo Cruz). A 2004 production in London's West End theater district starred Jonathan Pryce as Martin and his real-life wife, Kate Fahy, as Stevie. 
 
About the Playwright

 

EDWARD ALBEE is perhaps best known for his association with the artistic movement of the 1950s and early 1960s more popularly regarded as "the theater of the absurd." Born in Washington, D.C., on March 12, 1928, Albee's parents abandoned him as a baby. A wealthy couple who owned a theatre chain, Reed and Frances Albee, adopted the infant boy. The Albees named their son after his adoptive paternal grandfather, Edward Franklin Albee, a powerful vaudeville producer who had made the family fortune as a partner in the Keith-Albee Theater Circuit.
 

Despite the lavish environment in which he grew up in affluent Westchester, New York, he was, by most accounts, unhappy. He attended Trinity College, a small liberal arts school in Hartford, Connecticut for a year. After failing to show up for the school's chapel services, as well as certain classes, Albee was dismissed by the school. At the age of 20, Albee left home and settled in Greenwich Village in New York City. He took on various jobs, including the roles of  "office boy," record salesman, and Western Union messenger. 

 

During his early years in Manhattan, he also began to meet other writers, including Thornton Wilder and W.H. Auden. It was Wilder who suggested that he try his hand at plays. At the age of 30, Albee wrote his first play, The Zoo Story, in a quick, three-week period. 

 

Albee's first full-length, three-act play was "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," and its 1962 Broadway production won the Tony Award for Best Play. Centered on fractured family relationships, "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" won him international fame and opened new doors of artistic opportunities.

 

Albee's other plays include "The American Dream," "Tiny Alice," "A Delicate Balance" (Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winner) "All Over," "Seascape" (Pulitzer Prize-winner), "The Lady From Dubuque," "The Man Who Had Three Arms," "Finding the Sun," "Three Tall Women" (Pulitzer Prize-winner), "Fragments," "The Play About the Baby" and "Occupant." He is a member of the Dramatists Guild Council and president of the Edward F. Albee Foundation. He was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980 and in 1996 received the Kennedy Center Honors and the National Medal of Arts.
 
Ever the iconoclast, Albee himself once summed up his career for an interviewer by declaring, "I have been both overpraised and underpraised. I assume by the time I finish writing - and I plan to go on writing until I'm 90 or gaga - it will all equal itself out. You can't involve yourself with the vicissitudes of fashion or critical response."
 
 

Performance and Ticket Information
 

"The Goat or, Who is Sylvia?" plays for 11 performances in Weathervane's John L. Dietz Theater from Oct. 29 to Nov. 14, 2009. Performances are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.

 

For tickets ($18 each), call the Weathervane Box Office at (330) 836-2626 (Mondays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and Tuesdays through Fridays between 10 a.m. and 5:30 p.m.) or connect online to www.weathervaneplayhouse.com. The 48-seat Dietz Theater features general-admission seating only.

 

* * *

 

Weathervane Playhouse and its dedicated volunteers offer vital performing arts resources for the people of Northeastern Ohio. We create exciting and thought-provoking shows with impressive production values. Through educational programs and volunteer opportunities for people of all ages and backgrounds, Weathervane serves the theater community, our patrons and our volunteers.

 

The Ohio Arts Council helped fund this program with state tax dollars to encourage economic growth, education excellence and cultural enrichment for all Ohioans.

 

Additional 2009-2010 season sponsors:

1590 WAKR-AM

89.7 WSKU-FM

The Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company


Janis Harcar
Director of Advancement
Weathervane Playhouse
330-836-2323 X16
www.weathervaneplayhouse.com
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