Auditions January 9 & 11, 2024 for
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY by Tracy Letts
Schenectady Civic Players will be holding open auditions for
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
by Tracy Letts
Directed by Michael McDermott
Auditions:
Tuesday, January 9 & Thursday, January 11, 2024
Sign-ups begin at 7:15 pm, auditions begin at 7:30 pm
Location:
Schenectady Civic Players is located at 12 S. Church St, Schenectady, NY, 12305.
Performances Dates:
March 15 – 17 & 20 – 24, 2024
Friday / Saturday at 8:00 pm, Sunday at 2:30 pm, Wednesday/Thursday at 7:30 pm
Rehearsals:
There will be 3-4 rehearsals per week, days/times depending on cast availability.
Please, bring lists of conflicts to auditions.
Synopsis:
August: Osage County, the 2008 winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, centers around the Weston family, who reunite after their father, Beverly Weston, a poet and alcoholic, disappears and is later found dead. As the family gathers in their grief, the conflict between Violet, the drug-addicted mother, and Barbara, the eldest daughter explodes when the family’s horrifying secrets are exposed.
Available Roles:
Ages listed are for reference points only. Characters can easily skew younger or older, based on the best mix of talent. Casting may be determined by the mix of actors auditioning for the three sisters —Barbara, Ivy, and Karen — and adjustments made based on that group.
Violet Weston, 65 years old, is Beverly’s wife and is addicted to prescription drugs. Violet is a sharp-tongued woman who has raised three daughters, Barbara, Ivy, and Karen. A lifelong smoker, at the start of the play she is suffering from mouth cancer and has become addicted to prescription drugs, not for the first time. She prides herself on telling the often-unkind truth, but she never talked to her husband about his love affair or the child he fathered, Little Charles. Must have no fear of heights in climbing a multi-level set several times a performance.
Beverly Weston is a 69-year-old poet and university teacher. He is an alcoholic who takes his own life at the start of the play, leaving his wife, three grown daughters, and extended family to deal with the consequences. Beverly grew up poor and was homeless for a time. He becomes a successful poet and professor, although he never liked teaching and eventually his talent for writing dries up. Must have no fear of heights, possibly climbing a multi-level set.
Barbara Fordham, 46-year-old, is the oldest daughter of Violet and Beverly Weston. Barbara lives in Boulder, Colorado, with her teenaged daughter, Jean. She is in the process of separating from her unfaithful husband, Bill, a university professor who is having an affair with one of his students. Barbara once had ambitions of being a writer, ambitions her father thought she had the talent to realize. But instead, she became a faculty wife, like her mother.
Ivy Weston, 44 years old, is the Weston’s middle daughter. Ivy is the daughter who dutifully remains unmarried and at home while her sisters, Barbara and Karen, go on to build new lives far away. Taking care of the aging Beverly and Violet has fallen to Ivy, and she is bitter about it. She hopes to find happiness in New York with Little Charles, who turns out to be her half-brother.
Karen Weston, 40 years old, is the Westons’ youngest daughter. Karen has a new relationship every year, and she is unreasonably optimistic about her prospects with her latest fiancé, the sleazy, unworthy Steve, who has already been married three times. She is self-absorbed, prattling about her honeymoon while the family gathers to bury her father, Beverly.
Mattie Fae Aiken, 57 years old, is the younger sister of Violet Weston. Mattie Fae seems devoted to her sister, Violet, but she once had an affair with Violet’s husband, Beverly. Her only son, Little Charles, is Beverly’s child. Some combination of anger or sorrow over the affair seems to have left her permanently disappointed in her son, Little Charles, whom she treats with scorn.
Little Charles, 37-year-old, is the son of Violet’s sister Mattie Fae and is named for his purported father, Charlie Aiken. Bumbling and inept, Little Charles has never learned to drive and can’t hold down a job for long. His nickname shows the low regard in which most of the family holds him, as if he were a permanent child. Little Charles’s lack of confidence seems to come from the scorn with which his mother, Mattie Fae, treats him.
Charlie Aiken, 60-year-old, is an upholsterer. He was a close friend of his brother-in-law, Beverly Weston. Bill is a dutiful father to Little Charles and has a moment where he confronts his wife over her neglect of him.
Bill Fordham, 49 years old, is a professor of English and is separated from his wife, Barbara.
Jean Fordham, 14-year-old daughter of Barbara and Bill, is precociously experimenting with cigarettes, pot, and vegetarianism.
Sheriff Deon Gilbeau, 47 years old, used to date Barbara in high school. He delivers the news that Beverly has been found dead.
Steve Heidebrecht, 50 years old, a former Oklahoman and current Florida businessman, is engaged to Karen and is creepy and inappropriate with Jean.
The role of Johnna Monevata a Native American of the Cheyenne tribe who works as a housekeeper for the Westons will be pre-cast.
Notes from the Director, Michael McDermott: Rehearsals will start January 29. Dates will be based around cast conflicts, but the current plan is to rehearse Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. Individual conflicts will be considered at casting time. Please bring all possible recurring or individual dates to the auditions to enable us to ascertain your availability.
All Actors must be available for all performances, including rehearsals March 13 and 14. Actors must be available all day for Tech Run on March 9 and are expected to stay for the entirety of strike March 24.
Please email the director with questions: Irishmike518@yahoo.com
Schenectady Civic Players promotes inclusive casting, and encourages individuals, regardless of gender, gender identity, race, ethnicity, or disability, to participate in the audition process.