| Performers: Be in one of our fall productions! UMass Theater celebrates 50 years since its founding this year, and we’re looking for performers of all backgrounds to help us mark the occasion by being in our shows! Coming up Monday and Tuesday, Sept. 12 & 13, we’ll hold auditions for both the BLACK PLAYWRIGHTS: 50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EVENT and ORLANDO. Both auditions are open to community and Five College members as well as theater majors and minors, and we hope to see a diverse group of performers in the audition rooms in the Bromery Center for the Arts! Please read on for details about how to prepared for both shows, or visit our website Audition page. And if you want to brush up on your audition skills, make plans to attend our free audition workshop on Friday, Sept. 9 at 6:30 in the Curtain Theater with Prof. Milan Dragicevich. AUDITION INFORMATION BLACK PLAYWRIGHTS: 50TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL EVENT Directed by Behnam Alibakhshi, Curated by Dr. Priscilla María Page Rehearsals start Sept. 19, performances run Oct. 27 & 28 in the Curtain Theater The is an evening-length piece that brings together extraordinary works by Black theater artists that have been presented on our stages in the past fifty years. These plays vary widely in content and form as they demonstrate the vast creativity inherent in Black expression. When & Where Audition: Sept. 12 & 13 (Monday & Tuesday) 6-10 p.m. Callbacks: Sept. 14 & 15 (Wednesday & Thursday) 6-10 p.m. Bromery Center for the Arts, Curtain Theater How to Prepare We are seeking Black actors and a multiracial/multicultural ensemble for this piece that will be a collage of scenes and monologues from the Black Theater canon. The text will be supported with movement, music, and song. Members of this ensemble will have skills in the following areas: improvisation, physical theater, music, movement/dance, and singing. An understanding of devised theater and an openness to collaborative process are welcome. It is also important for actors in this piece to have a serious interest in Black theater, history, and culture. Please come prepared with a 1 or 2-minute monologue, poem, and/or song that comes from the Black Theater canon. Examples can be found in the writings of Lorraine Hansberry, James Baldwin, Aishah Rahman, Ntozake Shange, August Wilson, Suzan-Lori Parks, Lynn Nottage, Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, and Michael R. Jackson. Actors will also work with sides in pairs or trios during the audition. ORLANDO Directed by Iris Sowlat Rehearsals start Sept. 19, performances run Nov. 11-19 in the Rand Theater When & Where Audition: Sept. 12 & 13 (Monday & Tuesday) 6-10 p.m. Callbacks: Sept. 14 & 15 (Wednesday & Thursday) 6-10 p.m. Fine Arts Center, Rand Theater Synopsis Orlando is the story of a charismatic genderfluid English noble and poet who journeys from Queen Elizabeth I’s court to Shakespeare’s London, from Constantinople to Victorian England, and finally to the bustle of the 20th century. As they fall in and out of love, create poetry, and explore their gender, their world expands and time leaps forward. Orlando is a joyous romp through the universal quest to discover one’s true self, one’s place in the world, and one’s happiness. Content advisory: Discussions of death How to Prepare For general auditions, please prepare a 1-2- minute classical or contemporary monologue with heightened language. Actors will do a brief group exercise offered at 6:00pm and 8:00pm each night (please sign up for one of these time slots) and then individually present monologues. Callbacks will involve more group activities and sides from the play. Note About Gender and Casting We want to celebrate the resonances this play has with contemporary queer and trans identities and invite performers of any gender to audition for any roles they feel comfortable playing. More information about auditions, including sign up details, is on our website Audition page: https://www.umass.edu/theater/auditions |
