[NEohioPAL] Weathervane News & Auditions

Tue Feb 2 11:24:35 PST 2010

In this announcement: 
1. Rabbit Hole - preview Feb. 4/opening Feb. 5
2. Italian American Reconciliation - Auditions
3. The Wedding Singer - Auditions

 1.
Weathervane Playhouse's

'Rabbit Hole' Spins a Tale

of Love, Loss and Reconciliation

Pulitzer-Winning Drama on Stage from Feb. 4 to 21, 2010

Weathervane Playhouse presents Rabbit Hole, the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama about love, loss and reconciliation, live on stage between Feb. 4 and 21, 2010.

The play's central characters, Becca and Howie, are a comfortably happy married couple who reside with their young son in a cozy New York suburb. All notions of normalcy, however, are shattered when a sudden and incomprehensible accident results in the death of their four-year-old son, Danny.

As they struggle to cope with the aftermath of their stunning loss, Becca and Howie's marriage begins to unravel. While Becca chooses to ignore her grief, Howie holds fast to his memories. Meanwhile, extended family members - Becca's implusively irresponsible sister, Izzy, and their intrusively outspoken mother, Nat - complicate an already tense domestic situation.

The sudden re-appearance of Jason, the teenager who drove the car that killed Danny, unexpectedly offers a glimmer of hope as the family charts the emotional terrain of grief.

Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire told The New York Times in 2006 that his play "is about how people grieve - how they grieve in very different ways and what can happen when those differences are at odds with each other within a family, specifically. I hope that it's about people finding their way back into the light of day and finding hope where they thought there was none."

Directed by Stephen Skiles, Rabbit Hole charts an emotional journey from loss to forgiveness, revealing the human capacity for enduring through suffering.

Originally produced on Broadway in 2006, Rabbit Hole won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

The Rabbit Hole Cast, their Roles and their Hometowns

Holly Humes.Becca (Wadsworth)

Scott Shriner.Howie (Akron)

Pascalle Abel.Izzy (Akron)

Barbara Trotter.Nat (Akron)

Greg Grimes.Jason (Akron)

About the Rabbit Hole Director

Stephen Skiles (Director) is an assistant professor of theatre in the School of Dance, Theatre, and Arts Administration at The University of Akron. He is a professional actor and director, having performed at such theatres as the Ohio Shakespeare Festival, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, The Bang and the Clatter Theatre Company, The Phoenix Theatre, The Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, Monomoy Theatre and The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis. He was also a founding member and actor of the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. His directing credits include the Cincinnati Playhouse, The Bang and the Clatter Theatre, Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati, Xavier University, Cincinnati State Technical and Community College, Anderson High School, The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music Preparatory Program and The Drama Workshop. Mr. Skiles is an active member of Actors' Equity Association and an associate member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. He received his undergraduate degree in theatre from Hanover College and is a proud graduate of the Professional Actor Training Program at Ohio University.

Rabbit Hole Backstage Team and their Hometowns

Stage Manager - Timothy Paul (Cuyahoga Falls)

Costume Designer - Karen Burridge (Brimfield Township)

Lighting Designer - Brandon Davies (Cuyahoga Falls)

Sound Designer - Daniel Taylor (Akron)

Properties Designer - Jen Draher (Akron) 

Scenic Designer and Technical Director - Alan Scott Ferrall (Cuyahoga Falls)

Assistant Technical Director - Kathy Kohl (Akron)

About the Play and its Playwright

The Play

Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire told "The New York Times" in 2006 that "Rabbit Hole" "is about how people grieve - how they grieve in very different ways and what can happen when those differences are at odds with each other within a family, specifically. I hope that it's about people finding their way back into the light of day and finding hope where they thought there was none."

Rabbit Hole was originally commissioned by South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, which gave the play a staged reading in its Pacific Playwrights Festival. Positive critical reaction to the script encouraged Manhattan Theatre Club to produce the play on Broadway.

Rabbit Hole began previews at the Biltmore Theatre in New York City on Jan. 12, 2006. Its official opening night was Feb. 2, 2006, and it played for 77 performances before closing April 9, 2006. The production - directed by Daniel Sullivan - earned five Tony Award nominations and won one: Cynthia Nixon for Best Actress in a Play for her portrayal of Becca. For his play, David Lindsay-Abaire won the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. 

Filming has wrapped on a motion-picture adaptation of the play. The film's producers tapped playwright Lindsay-Abaire to adapt his own play for the silver screen. Under the direction of "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" co-creator John Cameron Mitchell, the movie version of Rabbit Hole stars Nicole Kidman (who also produced the film) as Becca, Aaron Eckhart as Howie and Dianne Wiest as Nat. The film is slated for a theatrical release in 2010.

The Playwright

Playwright, lyricist and screenwriter David Lindsay-Abaire was born in 1969 in South Boston, Mass. One of five siblings in a working-class family, his mother was a factory worker and his father worked for a fruit market. He attended public schools until the seventh grade, after which a scholarship enabled him to complete his early education at Milton Academy, one of New England's oldest "prep" boarding schools.

At Milton, he discovered theater, which inspired him to major in it at Sarah Lawrence College. After graduation, he moved to New York City, where he found work as an arts administrator at Dance Theater Workshop and he continued to write plays, some of which were produced at Off-Off Broadway venues (such as SoHo Rep). He was also accepted into the Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at the Juilliard School, where his teachers included playwrights Marsha Norman and Christopher Durang.

His first New York "hit" was Fuddy Meers, a comic drama about a woman with amnesia, which Manhattan Theatre Club produced in 1999. Lindsay-Abaire continued his association with MTC two years later when the non-profit theater company staged his next play, Wonder of the World, with Sarah Jessica Parker as a woman who leaves her husband and jumps on a bus to Niagara Falls. In 2003, MTC staged his next play, Kimberly Akimbo, the story of a woman with a premature-aging disease.

In addition to re-working his Rabbit Hole for the forthcoming motion-picture adaptation, he has written two screenplays: Robots (2005) and Inkheart (2008). Sony Pictures hired him in the fall of 2008 to re-write a screenplay for the upcoming Spider-Man 4, but the studio has since rejected his script and hired a new screenwriter.

In the world of musical theater, Lindsay-Abaire wrote the book for the musical High Fidelity, which played a brief one-month run on Broadway in 2006. He also wrote both the book and lyrics for Shrek: The Musical, which concluded a 441-performance run on Jan. 3, 2010. 

He has received commissions from South Coast Repertory, Dance Theater Workshop, and the Jerome Foundation, as well as awards from the Berilla Kerr Foundation, the Lincoln Center LeComte du Nuoy Fund, Mixed Blood Theater, Primary Stages, the Tennessee Williams/ New Orleans Literary Festival, and the South Carolina Playwrights Festival. In addition to his 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Rabbit Hole, he was also awarded the 2008 Ed Kleban Award as America's most promising musical theatre lyricist.

He is married to Christine Lindsay, an actress, with whom he has two children. His marriage inspired him to add his wife's surname to his own legally - thus creating creating his hyphenated last name.

Ticket and Performance Information

Rabbit Hole plays on the Weathervane Playhouse Founders Theater stage between Feb. 4 and 21, 2010

The low-cost preview performance is Thursday, Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m.; the official opening-night performance is Friday, Feb. 5 at 8 p.m.

Between Feb. 5 and 21, performance days and times are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets for the Feb. 4 preview performance only are $15. Tickets for performances after Feb. 4 are $21. 

$19 tickets for seniors and college students are available for Thursday and Sunday performances. Tickets for children ages 17 or younger are $17.00 at all performances after Feb. 4. This play is not recommended for children under the age of 13.

For tickets, call the Weathervane Box Office at 330/836-2626 or connect online to www.weathervaneplayhouse.com.

2.
Weathervane Playhouse Announces
OPEN CALL AUDITIONS for
ITALIAN AMERICAN RECONCILIATION
A Comic Folktale by John Patrick Shanley

Weathervane Playhouse will hold OPEN CALL AUDITIONS for ITALIAN AMERICAN RECONCILIATION which will be performed in Weathervane's Founders Theater. Auditions will be held at Weathervane Playhouse, 1301 Weathervane Lane (in the Valley off Merriman Road) on Monday and Tuesday, February 15 & 16, 2010 at 7 p.m.

12 Performances April 29 - May 16, 2010

2 men ages 20 - 24

3 women ages 25 - 60

Characters:

Aldo Scalicki. An intense Italian guy, about 30 years old. All his life he's lived in Little Italy in New York.

Huey Maximilian Bonfigliano. Aldo's best friend since childhood. Huey is more obviously vulnerable.

Aunt May. A handsome Italian woman in her middle years.

Teresa. A big striking Italian girl in her late twenties.

Janice. An angular, patrician Italian woman with strawberry blond hair and austere good looks. 30s.

Audition Preparation:

Readings from the script. Audition scenes will be available.

About the Play:

Why would a man attempt to win back the woman who shot his dog? Hugh Maximillian Bonfigliano could tell you why - and, in so doing, you might just learn something wise and wonderful! From the Oscar-, Pulitzer- and Tony-winning writer of Doubt  and Moonstruck, this heartwarming and comical play shows the lengths to which a man will go to prove his capacity to love and be loved.

About the Director: JIM FIPPIN: For Weathervane, Jim directed last season's Love! Valour! Compassion! and, previously,  Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, both Dietz productions. As the Artistic Director of Coach House Theatre (2000 - 2007), Jim staged productions of  Chapter Two, Betrayal, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, ART, Private Lives, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and A Life in the Theatre. In 2005, he was recognized by the Akron Area Arts Alliance as the area's outstanding theater Artist.

 3.

Weathervane Playhouse Announces

AUDITIONS BY APPOINTMENT for

THE WEDDING SINGER

Music is by Matthew Sklar, book by Tim Herlihy and Chad Beguelin, and lyrics by Chad Beguelin.

Weathervane Playhouse will hold AUDITIONS BY APPOINTMENT for THE WEDDING SINGER which will be performed in Weathervane's Founders Theater (mainstage) June 3 - 27, 2010. Auditions will be held at Weathervane Playhouse, 1301 Weathervane Lane (in the Valley off Merriman Road) on Sunday, February 28, 2010 beginning at 2 p.m. and Monday, March 1 beginning at 7 p.m. Callbacks are Tuesday, March 2, 2010 at 7:00 PM. Auditions will be scheduled in 5-minute increments.

It's the '80s. Robbie Hart lives in his grandmother's basement in New Jersey and sings in a wedding band. His dreams of being a singer/songwriter are long gone, replaced now by a burning desire to find the right girl and settle down.. With a brand-new score that plays loving homage to the pop songs of the 1980's, "The Wedding Singer" takes us back to a time when hair was big, greed was good, collars were up, and a wedding singer just might be the coolest guy in the room.

Seeking Energetic and Imaginative actors, singers, dancers and comedians.

Robbie Hart               Vocal Range: B (below middle C) - Bb (above stave)

In love with the idea of LOVE. Robbie is New Jersey's favorite wedding singer, the best in the business! But all that changes at his own wedding where he gets dumped at the alter. It's the connection he finds with Julia that reinforces his beliefs in love. Remarkable comic timing required for this role and an ability to play the guitar is possible.

Julia Sullivan             Vocal Range: G (below middle C) - D (top of stave)

Working at the reception centre, Julia is a sweet, innocent and naive waitress. Desperately hoping that, one day soon her boyfriend Glen will "POP" the question. But the question is; Is he really the ONE for her?  

Glen Guglia               Vocal Range: D (above middle C) - Bb (above stave)

Engaged to Julia, but marriage is the least of his concerns. For Glen, life is all about making money and he doesn't care how he gets it or what he has to sacrifice. He's the Wall Street type, clean cut and respectable looking. He is very suave, sophisticated and a little pretentious (CD payers, Mobile phones Cars & Women.)

Linda              Vocal Range: A (below middle C) - D (top of stave)

Robbie's trashy, oversexed girlfriend who leaves him at the alter, as she loves the old Robbie, before he became a Wedding Singer.  She is the ultimate Rock chick!  Must be able to move well with flexibility.

Holly               Vocal Range: A (below middle C) - E (top of stave)

She is Julia's cousin and together they waitress at the Reception Centre where the Wedding Singer performs. She is a free and uninhibited twenty-something, setting her sights on any single man.

Sammy           Vocal Range: D (above middle C) - Gb (top of stave)

Sammy plays bass in the Wedding Band and he is Robbie's best friend. He's not terribly bright but he is very supportive and means well in all that he does. He is still in love with Holly after they broke up 6 months ago. Constantly trying to be cool and he loves the fashions of 1985.

George           Vocal Range: Middle C-G (top of stave)

Flamboyant and eccentric, George is Robbie's other best friend and fellow member of the band. Styled on Boy George, he is an adorable character with great comic timing.

Rosie (comic role)      Vocal Range: Middle C - C (middle of stave)

Robbie's hip and cool Grandma.  She must have dance ability. Rap ability.  

Plus 6 men and 6 women for the ensemble.

AUDITION PREPARATION: Please prepare two short musical selections of contrasting styles in your key; bring sheet music in the correct key; an accompanist will be provided. Headshots and resumes will be accepted at the audition. 

GENERAL REHEARSAL INFORMATION: Rehearsals will be weeknights 7:00-10:30 with some possible weekend rehearsals starting the week of April 19th. Rehearsal conflicts need to be very minimal. 

CASTING REQUIREMENTS: Non - Equity. All roles are open. Weathervane Playhouse is committed to non-traditional casting. Actors will be cast solely on the basis of talent, except in cases where age, race or physical ability are essential to a role. 

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR: Pierre-Jacques Brault is a graduate of Baldwin-Wallace College's Music Theatre Dept. and is the co-founder of Mercury Summer Stock, which enters its thirteenth season this summer at Parma Little Theatre. He has directed countless shows, ranging from full-scale musicals, such as Evita and Annie, to lesser-known plays, including Never the Sinner. His favorite directing credit was putting together the critically acclaimed musical Honk!. As an actor, Pierre has worked with Broadway legends Donna McKechnie and Pamela Myers and has assisted some of today's top directors and choreographers, including Cleveland's own Victoria Bussert. Pierre's work has been seen at Cain Park, Willoughby Fine Arts, Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, Geauga Lyric Theatre Guild, Great Lakes Theater Festival, Virginia Musical Theatre and Stagedoor Manor, a theatrical camp in upstate New York. 

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