Watch a discussion about this production and auditions with director Carol Dunne and students Aidan LeWinter '28, Kris Garcia '28, Georgia Ryan '28, Lucia Hartray '27, Ari Rabinowitz '28, Dominuque Quinonez '28, and Patrick Balbo '29
Audition sign-ups are now live! Visit: dartgo.org/thecherryorchard
The Cherry Orchard
directed by Carol Dunne
scenic design by Alexander Woodward
costume design by Laurie Churba
lighting design by Dan Kotlowitz
Auditions:
Wednesday, September 16 - 6-9pm
Thursday, September 17 - 7-10pm
Callbacks:
Friday September 18 - 7-10pm
First Rehearsal:
Monday, September 21
General Rehearsal Schedule:
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday - 7-10pm
Thursday - No Rehearsal
Friday 4:30-7:30pm (Poss note that company will be released in time for Homecoming Bonfire on Friday, Oct 2)
Saturday - No Rehearsal
Sunday 1-5pm
Performances:
Friday & Saturday, November 6 & 7 - 7:30pm
Thursday-Saturday, November 12-14 - 7:30pm
Saturday, November 7 & 14 - 3pm
Audition sign-ups are now live! Visit: dartgo.org/thecherryorchard
Audition Information:
To prepare for the audition:
For the audition, please choose a reading (called a "side") to read for the director.
From this folder, choose the “side” linked here associated with the role in which you are most interested. A non-auditioning scene partner (called a "reader") will read the other role. There is not a side for every character, so at those auditioning should choose what they respond to. You do not need to memorize the lines in your side for the audition. Please just become familiar with the scene.
The full script is available here. We strongly advise that you read the entire script prior to your audition. Dartmouth login required.
Character List
All held identities are encouraged to audition for all roles. All abilities are encouraged to participate.
Liubov Ranevskaya Andreevna — Owner of the estate, mother of Anya
An aristocrat returning home from Paris after a suicide attempt following the death of her young son. She is a narcissist, reckless with money, incapable of practical action, and drawn back to the comfort of the past. She loves the cherry orchard and her family's house with an emotional intensity that blinds her to the financial catastrophe closing in. Female identifying.
Leonid Gaev Andreevich — Ranevskaya's brother
An impractical, aging aristocrat who talks constantly and accomplishes nothing. He shares his sister's inability to face reality, retreating into tennis jargon(in this production), empty gestures, and nostalgia rather than confronting the loss of the estate. He and Ranevskaya are siblings equally unable to save themselves. All genders.
Yermolai Lopakhin — A real estate developer; son of former serfs on the estate
A self-made businessman who proposes the pragmatic solution to the family's debt: chop down the cherry orchard and develop the land for summer cottages. He is quietly in love with Ranevskaya and paralysed when it comes to his unspoken feelings for Varya. His eventual triumph at auction brings him deep and unexpected sadness. He is a good man, though rough around the edges in his language, dress and bearing. Male identifying.
Pyotr Trofimov Sergeevich — A perpetual student; tutor to Ranevskaya's late son
An idealistic, self-righteous young progressive who lectures anyone who will listen about progress, inequality, and the corruption of the old order. His rhetoric on privilege is often correct in substance but delivered with such sanctimony that the other characters simply ignore him. He is devoted to, and gently pursued by, Anya. Male identifying.
Anya — Ranevskaya's daughter, seventeen
Ranevskaya's idealistic younger daughter, drawn to Trofimov's talk of a better future and increasingly uneasy about the privilege her family's world rests on. She represents the play's fragile note of hope in her willingness to let go of the cherry orchard and accept the changes the future will bring. Female identifying.
Varya — Ranevskaya's adopted daughter, twenty-four
The estate's practical manager, who keeps the household running on a shoestring while everyone else drifts through denial. She carries an unspoken, mutual attachment to Lopakhin that neither of them can bring themselves to voice. She longs for more in life, and is devastated by the impending loss of her home. She is truly the adopted, somewhat ignored adopted daughter. Female identifying.
Semyon Yepikhodov Panteleevich — A clerk on the estate
A jittery, accident-prone bookkeeper nicknamed for the '22 misfortunes' that follow him. He is a nervous, awkward, , faintly tragic character, hopelessly infatuated with Dunyasha and oblivious to how absurd he appears to everyone else. Male identifying.
Dunyasha — A maid on the estate
A young maid caught between two suitors, Yepikhodov's earnest devotion and Yasha's loutish charm. She tries to affect the manners and sensitivities of the gentry she serves. Female identifying.
Yasha — A young manservant
Ranevskaya's valet, who picked up big city airs while accompanying her in Paris and now looks down on Russia and everyone in it, especially Dunyasha, whom he uses and discards. He is probably a male looks maxer type, trying to be oh so Paris cool. Great trainers, pierced ear? Male identifying.
Firs — An old servant, in their eighties
The estate's ancient, devoted servant, who still speaks of the abolition of serfdom as a catastrophe rather than a liberation. This character can be played by any gender. They are a living relic of a vanished order, forgotten and finally left behind, literally locked in the empty house, when the family departs. All genders.
Charlotta Ivanovna — A governess
An eccentric governess and amateur magician of obscure origins, drifting through the household's chaos performing card tricks and ventriloquism. She is almost a clownish presence, an outsider with no real stake in the estate who nonetheless has nowhere else to go. Female identifying.
Boris Simeonov-Pishchik — A neighbouring landowner
A perpetually broke, good-humoured neighbour, endlessly scheming for his next loan and forever hopeful that some miracle will resolve his own debts. His genial, hapless presence provides comic counterpoint to the Ranevskaya family's slower-motion collapse. Male identifying.
Partygoers, Musicians — Seeking musicians: guitar, mandolin, fiddle, any folk music type instrument. All genders/identities.