Upcoming Auditions: Brighton Beach Memoirs, Workshop Production

UPCOMING AUDITIONS
Workshop Production, Winter 2022:
Brighton Beach Memoirs
by Neil Simon
CLICK HERE to sign up for an audition.
No previous performance experience is neccesary! 

AUDITION DATE
Thursday January 27, 7-10 pm
Friday January 28, 7-10 pm
Saturday January 29: callbacks, time TBD

LOCATION
TBD
OR via Zoom (links will be emailed to participants in advance of their scheduled audition time)

ABOUT THE PLAY AND THE PRODUCTION

It is 1937 in Brooklyn during the heart of the Depression, and fifteen-year-old Eugene is dreaming of baseball and girls. Instead, he must cope with the mundane existence of family life in his crowded Brooklyn walk-up: a formidable mother, an overworked father, and an worldly older brother, plus his widowed Aunt Blanche and her two young (but rapidly aging) daughters. Part one of the great Neil Simon's autobiographical trilogy is a hilarious, bittersweet memoir of a struggling Jewish household in which "if you didn't have a problem, you wouldn't be living here."

Brighton Beach Memoirs is a full-length play written by Neil Simon; the play will be directed by Reagen Readinger '23.  Rehearsals will begin immediately; the project will rehearse approximately 8-10 hours/week for five weeks, with final performances Friday and Saturday, March 4-5. This is a workshop production; the first act will be fully staged, while the second will be performed as a reading. Some memorization will be required.

ABOUT THE AUDITION
No previous performance experience is neccesary!

CLICK HERE to sign up for an audition slot; time slots are in 10-minute increments. If you are not able to make any of the available time slots, please email production manager Brianna Parry to discuss alternate possibilities.

The audition will include reading selected scenes from the play (called "sides"), so students are encouraged to read the play prior to auditions; the script is available (note that this is a perusal copy only; absoluletly NO printing!). Audition sides are available HERE. Please select one side to read for each role that you are interested in auditioning for; sides with two characters can be used to audition for either role.

Please note: in an effort to expand available opportunities for all, students already cast in the MainStage production of Rent are ineligible to audition for other dept of theater projects this term.

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN/AVAILABLE ROLES

Eugene Morris Jerome, 15. A Jewish boy living in Brooklyn, New York. Eugene is an enthusiastic, energetic,and persistent boy with a passion for baseball, especially his hometown Dodgers. Newly aware of girls, he is impatient forsexual knowledge and lusts after his cousin Nora. He is young enough to take life, his family, and all their problems, slightly and clever enough to be very humorous in the process.He is blamed for everything and must continually cover his tracks. Behind his innocent cleverness is the sharp and in-sightful mind of an aspiring writer; storytelling and entertain-ing are already basic elements of Eugene's highly expressive manner.

Kate Jerome, 40. Eugene's mother; an optimistic yet realistic woman. Her generous and nurturing nature can become overprotective; her capacity to worry and dominate sometimes overwhelms the membersof her family. Kate works hard to keep them all going but har-bors deep anger and resentment for the sacrifices she mustmake and the trials she must endure.

Blanche Morton, late 30s. Kate's widowed younger sister. Blanche isa mournful woman who suffers from asthma and headaches and is gradually losing her eyesight from overwork at her sewing machine. Not interested in remarriage, she is con-tent to wallow in self-pity over her undeserved tragedy until a fight with Kate inspires her to accept some responsibility for her life.

Nora Morton, 16. Blanche's pretty older daughter. Nora dreams of being a Broadway dancer and is hungry for independence. Headstrong and enthusiastic, Nora says what is on her mind.

Laurie Morton, 13. Blanche's younger daughter. Laurie has a heart flutter that makes the family members treather like an invalid, and she has learned to indulge herself in their attention and exploit their concern. She studies hard and has no interest in boys yet. Precocious and contrary, she delights in correcting people and meddling tactlessly in their discussions and problems.

Stanley Jerome, 19. Eugene's older brother. Stanley is a sincere and serious young man with a strong belief in principles and asense of underdog morality. For all of his wayward tendencies, Stanley is in awe of his father and generally acts out of selfless devotion to his family's welfare.

Jacob(Jack) Jerome, 42. Eugene's father. Between a day job cutting raincoats and a night job selling party favors, Jack is horribly overworked, and his labors have made him older than his forty-two years. He has both strong ideals and a businessman's sense of compromise; rather than give orders, he offers advice.

QUESTIONS?

Email production manager Brianna Parry.