French Creek Theatre<http://metroparks.cc/theatre.php> announces auditions for... TUCK EVERLASTING Book by Claudia Shear & Tim Federle Music by Chris Miller | Lyrics by Nathan Tysen Based on the novel by Natalie Babbitt Directed by Fred Sternfeld Musical Direction by David Williams The woods of Treegap, New Hampshire beckon eleven-year-old Winnie Foster to escape her humdrum, small town life. Once within, she discovers a spring with a powerful secret, and a boy with a mysterious past. Pursued by a strange man in yellow, she learns the truth about the connection between the boy's family and the water, and is forced to make a decision with everlasting consequences. PERFORMANCES July 19 - August 4, 2019 Fridays & Saturdays at 7:30PM Sundays at 3:00PM AUDITIONS Tuesday, January 15 6:00PM-10:00pm Thursday, January 17 6:00PM-10:00pm Sunday, January 20 1:00PM-5:00PM BY APPOINTMENT* Email<mailto:fctheatre@metroparks.cc> or call (440) 949-5200 to reserve a 5-minute slot Callbacks are by invitation and will be held on Saturday, January 26 and Sunday, January 27 during the day. *Walk-ins will be accepted as time permits. If you are unable to make those dates, video submissions and alternate dates are acceptable. To inquire about a video submission or alternate date, please write to director Fred Sternfeld<mailto:fredsternfeld@gmail.com> PREPARATION · Present a memorized, one-minute song that is character / objective driven. Songs from the show or other Broadway musicals are acceptable. Please bring sheet music; an accompanist will be provided. · Present a memorized one minute contemporary monologue OR read a selection from the script. Sides will be available at auditions to look over. · Please bring a resume/headshot or a list of experience and picture of yourself. REHEARSALS Beginning June, 2019. Rehearsals will be scheduled based on availability of the cast on weekday evenings and weekend mornings, afternoons or evenings 4 to 5 times per week. There will also be one cast gathering in March or April for a meet and greet and read / sing through. CAST REQUIREMENTS Seeking a multi-racial, multi-ethnic cast, ages 10+. All roles are open. All actors receive a stipend. WINNIE - Female, to play 11 (actresses age 10 to 20 may audition). A little girl without cuteness - she has lost her father. She is too skeptical for her age, but with an unknown longing for romance and adventure. JESSE TUCK - Male, to play 17. Light and laughing, he is eternal youth writ large, the lightness shown all the brighter for the shadow of loneliness that he has. MILES TUCK - Male, 23. A burned and bitter man. His natural sweetness shut away. Lost his wife and child, doomed to live with regret. MA TUCK - Female, 40s. Still beautiful after all these years, a matriarch, a mother, a wife. Her homespun wisdom is leavened by her humor and still girlish delight. PA TUCK - Male, 40's. Once awakened, a vibrant, virile man. He is an indulgent father, a fond if forgetful husband, but a true soul with a deep well of love and profound understanding of the life around him. NANA - Female, 60. A loopy old woman, but a loving Grandmother and Mother. MAN IN YELLOW SUIT - Male, 60's. Creepy and persuasive, a man with an obsession, a secret. HUGO - Male, to play 17. Painfully shy, awkward and goofy; but smart and eerily observant - His father (Constable Joe) knows this. The two of them have a "routine" that fools most of the people all of the time. MOTHER - Female, 30's. A gentle woman almost broken by grief and fear and loss. Adversity finds her brave and unbending. CONSTABLE JOE - Male, 60's. Seemingly a buffoon, his simple manner belies a sharp wit and kind heart. ENSEMBLE (13) - Any gender, ages 10+. A strong singing and dancing ensemble that also plays other characters including the people working at and participating in the Carnival. CREATIVE STAFF FRED STERNFELD, DIRECTOR Fred is pleased to be returning to French Creek Theatre, where he has directed eight productions over the last ten years: Baby, Steel Magnolias, West Side Story, The Miracle Worker, The Fantasticks, The Glass Menagerie, Next to Normal and Death of a Salesman. Over the past 40 years, he has concentrated his efforts on directing more than 130 productions in Cleveland, Seattle and Dallas. Current local directorial credits include Other Desert Cities at Clague Playhouse, the upcoming Mamma Mia! at Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, You Can't Take It With You at Karamu House Theatre, Of Mice and Men at Coach House Theatre and Good People at Aurora Theatre. Fred is widely represented on Northeast Ohio stages through diverse projects, garnering numerous honors and awards, some of which are listed here: Company, Les Miserables: School Edition and A Little Night Music at Fairmount Performing Arts Conservatory, Next to Normal, West Side Story, The Miracle Worker and Baby at TrueNorth, Rent and Into the Woods at Hathaway Brown Theatre Institute, Yellowman and The Bluest Eye at Karamu Theatre, Saturday Night, Disney's Beauty and the Beast and Peter Pan at Beck Center, Ragtime, the musical, Conversations With My Father and Man of La Mancha at the JCC and Fiddler on the Roof and The Sound of Music at Cain Park. Additionally, he and his wife Randi recently started producing shows on Broadway - the off broadway hit (transferring to Broadway in February) Be More Chill, the upcoming revival of The Secret Garden and a new musical written by Jerry Zucker (film: Airplane, Naked Gun, Ghost) currently titled Intermission! The Musical! www.fredsternfeld.com<http://www.fredsternfeld.com>. DAVID A. WILLIAMS, MUSIC DIRECTOR David was born in Cleveland, Ohio into a musical family. His older brother, Wayne, was minister of music at East Mount Zion Baptist Church where the family attended and W.C. Handy was a cousin to their maternal grandmother. David began his professional career as a pianist for "The Gene Carroll/Entertainment Five Show" (WEWS-TV, ABC). In junior high school at the time, he was hired as music director for the last five years of its run. During this time, he sang with the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus and studied piano and voice at Cleveland State University. David also attended Summer Music Academy in Hudson, Ohio. There, he studied choral conducting with William Appling and Robert Shaw. David then left Cleveland to attend The University of Cincinnati-College Conservatory of Music. While there, he worked on productions of Carousel; Flora, the Red Menace; Chess; Evita; Into the Woods; and Two Gentlemen of Verona. In 1988, he earned his bachelor's degree in Jazz and Studio Music. Upon graduation, he began three years of sailing around the world with Princess Cruises. David would play the main lounge shows, with small combos, or solo piano bar. In 1991, David returned to Cincinnati and in 1993, earned his master's degree in Orchestral Conducting. He then moved to Ft. Lauderdale where he musically directed shows with Jean Ann Ryan Productions for the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet. These productions included George M; Chorus Line; Dreamgirls; Hello, Dolly; Pippin; Meet Me in St. Louis; and My Fair Lady. David left Ft. Lauderdale when he started conducting over six hundred performances of Smokey Joe's Café in Reno, Nevada; Germany; Switzerland; and Brazil. He later returned to Germany for productions of Beauty and the Beast and Grease. In 2007, David joined a company of West Side Story as assistant conductor/principal pianist. The tour included performances in Italy, Holland, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, and China. It was the fiftieth anniversary of the show and included the Chinese premiere. A U.S. tour of I Can't Stop Loving You, a Ray Charles tribute, followed. After this, he decided to move back home to be closer to his family. Back in northeast Ohio, David performs with the Cleveland Pops Orchestra at Severance Hall and has conducted productions of Ragtime; A Little Night Music; Les Miserables; 1940's Radio Hour; 13, The Musical; She Loves Me; Jesus Christ Superstar; Sideshow; Man of La Mancha; Five Guys Named Moe; The Boys from Syracuse; and Children of Eden at various theaters.