AUDITIONS for "Unnamed Play" by Nicolle Allen '16

An honor’s thesis project written and costume-designed by Nicolle Allen.

This fully-produced show will be directed by a professional guest artist and performed in early spring.

ROLES FOR TWO WOMEN (one speaking, one non-speaking)

This new experimental piece explores how women interact with their clothing, constructing and reforming identities as they dress each day. It is divided into three parts, each part taking place in either 1875, 1928, or 1949. The play requires two actresses, one will play Women 1, 2, and 3, and the other will play the Silent Narrator. Women 1, 2, and 3 were inspired by Emily Dickinson, Simone DeBeauvoir, and the American fashion designer Elizabeth Hawes, respectively. The Silent Narrator, an eerie and manipulative force onstage, dresses and undresses each of these women onstage. The writing of this play was only part of the thesis project, the other being the designing and constructing of costumes for each of the three women, and the Silent Narrator. Just as the costumes and the clothing are integral to the functioning of the piece, so too is the Silent Narrator. More than anything, this play is about our struggles with identity within society, and just how painful creating that identity may be. It is highly recommended that those interested in auditioning read the play before their slot.

Characters

First Role:

WOMAN 1: A poet in the 1870s and 80s, late 30s, her husband has died, the first of many deaths of those close to her, inspired by Emily Dickinson.

WOMAN 2: A philosophy student in the late 1920s, 19 or 20, she will soon find out that someone she looks up to intellectually, and possibly loves, is to marry another woman. Inspired by Simone DeBeauvoir during her time as a philosophy student.

WOMAN 3: A fashion designer in the late 1940s and early 50s, 27 or so. She has returned from working in Paris and is fed up with the ephemeral and unattainable nature of fashion. She desires simplicity, practicality, equality. Inspired by the American fashion designer Elizabeth Hawes.

Second Role:

SILENT NARRATOR: She will assist these women in dressing and undressing, an observer and string puller otherwise.

AUDITION DATES: 

Tues, Jan 19 from 6 PM – 9 PM

Wed, Jan 20 from 5 PM – 8 PM

(callbacks will be on the Jan 21 from 6-9  PM; the first hour of callbacks will consist of a movement exercise with choreography -- no dance experience required!)

All auditions will take place in 301 Wilson.  Sign up now for a 6-minute audition slot; Sign up sheets are posted on the bulletin board in Shakespeare Alley in the HOP.

You are encouraged to read the play in advance.  You can read the play HERE.

Questions?  Blitz Nicolle.C.Allen.16@Dartmouth.edu