[NEohioPAL] Seekers Actors/Singers for BGSU Firelands New Play Festival

[Brian M Marshall]

Caryl Crane Children's Theatre at BGSU Firelands College
presents
The Ronald M. Ruble New Play Festival

On April 28 & 29, 2012, Caryl Crane Children's Theatre and BGSU Firelands will host the 2nd Annual Ronald M. Ruble New Play Festival. Showcasing five never-before-seen works, the festival is the culmination of a nationwide search for the finest new works in children's and youth theatre. This year's festival received one hundred seventy-eight submissions from today's most promising playwrights. Each play was read and evaluated by a committee of theatre professionals, members of the BGSU Humanities Department, and our Teen Board's student reading committee.The five finalists below offer a wide variety of entertainment and education, and truly reflect our hope for the future of youth theatre. 

SEEKING: Child/Teen Actors and Singers to portray over 60 parts in staged readings of the 5 finalist plays and musicals. 
Especially looking for strong teenage singers and actors who can learn music quickly. 
Specifically seeking African American males to portray several lead characters in the readings. 

Rehearsals for the play festival are minimal (no more than 4 rehearsals per each show) and actors may be cast in more than one show. 
If interested here is what we need you to do! The plays for the New Play Festival are listed below. Reply to this email with the # of the plays you are interested in/available for Only. It doesn't mean you will be cast in them (if there isn't an appropriate part) but it will certainly help me piece together the weekend! Please indicate in your email if you are a singer and what your vocal part is. Full descriptions of finalists listed under. 

1. O'Sullivan Stew. Musical. Saturday, April 28, 2 PM
2. Constellation Prize. Play. Saturday, April 28, 4 PM
3. Keep On Walkin'. Play with Music. Saturday April 28, 7:30 PM
4. Princess K.I.M. Musical. Sunday April 29, 2 PM
5. The Star Child. Musical. Sunday April 29, 4 PM

Thank you, 

Brian Marshall
Artistic Director
Caryl Crane Children's Theatre
BGSU Firelands


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O'Sullivan Stew
Saturday April 28, 2:00 PM

Music & Lyrics by Frank Cuthbert
Book by Laura Maria Censabella

Based on the beloved children's book by Hudson Talbott which uses motifs from Irish fairytales, O'Sullivan Stew
is a coming-of-age musical about a young Irish girl Katie O'Sullivan who saves her family and town through the power of storytelling.

When Crookhaven's most beautiful treasure is taken by the King's forces, the strange old hermit lady puts a curse on its inhabitants.  In order to lift the curse, Katie summons her courage and enlists her two brothers and father to go on a quest to steal it back from the King.  They are soon captured and the enraged monarch orders them put to death.  In her attempt to save her family, Katie learns that she possesses an amazing gift: a talent for storytelling.  With this talent she bargains for the life of her family with a wondrous tale about each of them.   

 
O'Sullivan Stew was originally commissioned by Greene Arts Foundation.

- - - - - 

Constellation Prize
Saturday April 28, 4:00 PM 
By D.J. Jones

Camp Pleiades.  
Community Service.  
All summer. 
 
Derek, an inner-city youth, resents having to spend his summer doing community service at Camp Pleiades. He assumes he will be waiting on spoiled, rich kids, who are accustomed to playing on the sympathies of others, while he, alone, is a true victim of injustice. Derek quickly demon-strates a knack for offending almost everyone with whom he comes into contact. Yet, in spite of himself, Derek is drawn to Chris, a double amputee, who somehow reminds him of his younger brother. Before long, Derek realizes that the camp is filled with young people facing a daily battle with cancer. Their relentless exploration of each new day leaves little time or patience for self-pity and teaches Derek to put his own life in perspective. Despite tragic circumstances and difficult decisions, Derek discovers, for the first time, a sense of self-worth, and a determination to pursue his own future. 

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Keep On Walkin'
Saturday April 28, 7:30 PM 

Book by James Armstrong

Music by Lavell Blackwell
Lyrics by Joshua H. Cohen

 

In 1955, a white girl on Staten Island develops a pen-pal relationship with a black girl in Montgomery, Alabama, on the eve of the famous bus boycott. Both girls have to confront their own prejudices and discover their own strength to do the right thing. 

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Princess K.I.M.
Sunday April 29, 2:00 PM 

Created by Maryann Cocca-Leffler
Adapted by Maryann Cocca-Leffler & Toby Tarnow 
Lyrics by Andrew Cass  
Music by Andrew Cass & Premik Russell Tubbs  
Arranged by Premik Russell Tubbs 
Based on the books
Princess K.I.M and the Lie that Grew & 
Princess KIM and too Much Truth
Written & Illustrated by Maryann Cocca-Leffler 

PRINCESS K.I.M. THE MUSICAL is an upbeat, humorous tale about a little girl named Kim, who along with her geeky Dad and theatrical grandmother, moves to a new town. Kim, who has lost her mother and now struggles to find her way without her, desperately wants her new classmates to like her. Thinking that a title will give her status and friends, Kim tells a little lie; that her name is K.I.M., which stands for Katherine Isabella Marguerite and that she is a Princess. At first, Kim loves all the attention, but then her lie grows and grows, causing her life to get very complicated, especially when her grandmother is mistaken for the Queen! With the help of many, including her exuberant grandmother, and her mother's wisdom, written in a journal during her illness, Kim gains the courage to drop the artifice and simply be herself. 

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The Star Child
Sunday April 29, 4:00 PM


Book by Jennifer Stafford
Music by Josh Freilich
Lyrics by Sarah Underwood
 
Based on Oscar Wilde's short stories, this fun-filled family musical follows Mattan, who believes he is the most beautiful boy the world has ever seen. But when he becomes so self-centered and cruel that a witch takes his beauty, he must go on a journey to get it back, and learn to see beauty through the eyes of others. 

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http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Finalists-Selected-for-The-Ronald-M--Ruble-New-Play-Festival-.html?soid=1103817697484&aid=_Vz_diet_p0