Near West Theatre announces AUDITIONS for ASSASSINS Teen/Young Adult Production (ages 16 to *25) *The age range for this production has been expanded! May 16, 17 & 18 , 2016 from 7:30-10:00pm Mon, Tues & Weds Come one of these evenings. Plan to stay for the entire time specified. See list of roles below! Assassins runs July 15, 16, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30, 31, 2016 Rehearsals begin Tuesday, May 31, 2016 AUDITION SITE: Near West Theatre (6702 Detroit Ave., Cleveland, OH 44102) Questions? Call our office at 216-961-9750, M-F 11am-4pm or EMAIL info@nearwesttheatre.org<mailto:info@nearwesttheatre.org> ABOUT THE AUDITION: This is a group audition in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere. No experience or preparation required. Dress for movement. Please plan to stay for the entire time specified, and arrive 15 minutes before audition time to register. Anyone arriving after the starting time will not audition that day. At Near West Theatre we encourage everyone to audition. People of all experience levels, races, ethnicities, neighborhoods, sizes, gender identities and backgrounds are needed. We use theater to build community and relationships. We're a great place to express yourself and make friends. Come try us! Bring a friend! ABOUT THE SHOW ON THE EVE OF THE 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, NEAR WEST'S SUMMER YOUTH THEATER PRESENTS STEPHEN SONDHEIM'S EXAMINATION OF THE AMERICAN DREAM, THE HAVES AND THE HAVE-NOTS, AND GUNS. "We're the other national anthem, folks, the ones that can't get in to the ball park. There's Another National Anthem, folks, for those who never win... for the ones who might have been."- from "Another National Anthem" A multiple Tony Award-winning theatrical tour-de-force, Assassins combines Sondheim's signature blend of intelligently stunning lyrics and beautiful music, with a panoramic story of our nation's culture of celebrity and the violent means some will use to obtain it, embodied by America's four successful and five would-be presidential assassins. Bold, original, disturbing, and alarmingly funny, Assassins is perhaps the most unexpected musical ever written. CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS The Balladeer - Tenor C3-G4; ability to play guitar is a plus. The Balladeer is the conscience of America and the champion of the American Dream. He acts as a foil against the assassins and their warped perspectives and actions. The Proprietor - Tenor Gb2-F4; The Proprietor is the Grim Reaper, handing out weapons and overseeing the demise of presidents and assassins alike. His power is in his omnipresence and indifference; his characterization requires both dramatic irony and restrained wit. John Wilkes Booth - Baritone F2-G4; tall and distinguished; character will need a genteel Southern accent. A political zealot, "Wilkes" is the pioneer of American assassination and acts as leader and twisted mentor to the other assassins. "The Ballad of Booth" and his seduction of Lee Harvey Oswald are two of his pivotal scenes. Leon Czolgosz (pronounced "CHOL-gash") - Bass Baritone G#2-G4; slight of build. Czolgosz was an anarchist who, in killing William McKinley, decided to take matters of government into his own hands for the sake of the common man. Important scenes include "The Gun Song" and the meeting with Emma Goldman. Guiseppe Zangara - Tenor B2-A4; a short actor is preferred but not required; MUST use a heavy Italian accent for this character. Zangara blamed capitalists and "kings" for his medical conditions and attempted an assassination of Franklin D. Roosevelt-instead killing Mayor Cermak of Chicago. Zangara has a solo on the electric chair in "How I Saved Roosevelt." Sara Jane Moore - Soprano F3-Eb5. Actress is middle-aged and frumpy. Moore, a former FBI informant five times married, nearly assassinated Gerald Ford in 1975 - the second such attempt on his life in three weeks. Moore provides much of the comic relief in the show and requires an actress with good comic timing. Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme - Mezzo A3-G5; slender and pretty. Fromme, a flower child and member of Charlie Manson's cult "family," attempted an assassination of Gerald Ford in 1975. She is the lunatic foil to Sara Jane Moore's airheadedness in several scenes and sings a duet with John Hinckley. John Hinckley - Baritone A2-G4; blond and husky; ability to play guitar is a plus. Hinckley used a sociopathic obsession with Jodie Foster as his excuse to attempt an assassination of Ronald Reagan in 1981. Hinckley's clinical insanity and love-sickness add dramatic weight to this character. His pivotal scene is a duet with Squeaky Fromme. Charles J. Guiteau - Tenor A2-Ab4; average in stature; a beard would be helpful but not required. Guiteau was a multi-careered charlatan with delusions of grandeur who assassinated James Garfield in 1882. This intense libertine requires a multi-personality characterization and a flair for the dramatic. His key scene involves a cakewalk to the gallows. Samuel Byck - Heavy set; blue-collar Philly accent required. Byck was disgruntled at government and all it stood for when he attempted to hijack a plane with the intent of crashing it into the Nixon White House. A small vocal role, it requires an actor capable of presenting two dramatic, page-anda-half monologues. For Byck, please choose from the excerpt that fits your vocal range (tenor, baritone, or bass-baritone). Lee Harvey Oswald -Actor is slight to average build; rural Louisiana twang required. Oswald sings in the closing number and requires the dramatic capacity to spar with John Wilkes Booth in the pivotal Book Depository scene. Emma Goldman-Turn-of-the-century anarchist agitator and feminist. Townspeople - Required to play a variety of parts. The "townspeople" require strong individual voices as they sing "How I Saved Roosevelt" and the gut-wrenching "Something Just Broke." Other - A Bartender, President James Garfield, President Gerald Ford, Various reporters, photographers, tourists, bystanders, etc.