Season Breakdown
“Paint Night”
Synopsis:
Imagine Steel Magnolias with modern-day issues, as six women get
together for a much-needed girls’ night out. The plan is to eat, drink
and create works of art at a local Paint and Sip night while celebrating
a bride-to-be. But as the alcohol flows, so do their thoughts about
motherhood and womanhood and their carefully curated lives get
hilariously and heartbreakingly real. Paint Night is about the powerful
way women support each other in an unpredictable world and what happens
when we put down our cellphones, truly connect, and paint outside the
lines of our comfort zone.
Seeking:
- Miriam: Late fifties
to early sixties. Any ethnicity. A smart, likable, usually centered
humanities professor with a grown son and daughter whose desire to see
the bright side of life is being greatly tested by her son with mental
health issues and her unfocused and seemingly flakey daughter who is now
pregnant and unmarried.
- Bree: mid/late thirties to early forties.
Caucasian. Fern’s daughter. A working mom with a stay-at-home husband
and a six-year-old son. She leads an overly scheduled life which she is
trying to control and perfectly execute, stretching herself too thin in
the process.
- Gwen: Forties. African American. She was a very
successful, intelligent, business wunderkind who, after taking time off
to raise her three kids, is finding it difficult to reenter a workforce
that no longer values her. Being a highly successful mom is not
fulfilling enough.
- Fern: Late fifties to early sixties. Caucasian.
Bree’s mother. She puts everything into her family, even when they
don’t want her to. A good Christian woman trying to do the right thing,
but the world is changing too fast for her. Her judgments come from a
place of idealism and her desire to have things the way she thinks
things should be rather than a place of moral superiority.
- Lolly:
late twenties to thirties. Miriam’s daughter. Any ethnicity. A bit of a
flakey Peter Pan lost soul. Five careers in as many years. She grew up
with a schizophrenic older brother who tended to suck all the air out of
a room and left none for her. She has recently returned from a trip to
an ashram where she met a man on a retreat she will soon marry as she
has recently discovered she is pregnant by him.
- Vera: Sixties to
seventies. Any ethnicity. The paint night leader. A straight-shooting
free spirit. She’s been around the block and now has much wisdom to
share. Her relationship with her daughter is currently difficult and she
hasn’t been able to see her grandson in way too long.
“A Christmas Carol”
Synopsis:
This adaptation features a small cast playing multiple roles. All
actors perform narration of Dickens’ text, as well as scene work in both
British dialect and Standard American. Requires versatile playful
actors, good with language. All Equity roles are currently cast.
Auditioning performers will be considered as possible replacements, if
necessary.
Seeking:
- Scrooge: 50s and up, any ethnicity. Cold,
stern, miserly, and lacking empathy, he undergoes a positive emotional
transformation.
- Bob Cratchit/Marley: 40s – 50s, any ethnicity. A
warm and loving father, timid employee, and a formidable ghost with an
important message for Scrooge.
- Xmas Past/Mrs. Cratchit: 40s – 50s,
any ethnicity. A warm and loving mother with a lot of opinions. Also, a
tenderhearted ghost who reminds Scrooge of a kinder way of life.
“Incident At Our Lady Of Perpetual Help”
Synopsis:
Whether you grew up Catholic, lived through the 1970s, or your family
resembles the “fun” in dysfunctional - this nostalgic and heartfelt new
comedy is for you! Travel back in time to a world before cellphones and
social media when public ridicule in a hermetically sealed Catholic
parish was the ultimate nightmare. It's 1973 and the O’Shea family faces
a comic crisis of biblical proportions when their 19-year-old daughter
tells her younger sister about “the birds and the bees” and their bawdy
conversation is overheard by the parish priest. Holy hell and hilarity
break loose as the O’Sheas band together to preserve their good name and
prove that nothing is more sacred than family. Get ready for
heartwarming laughter and all the polyester you can handle!
Seeking:
-
Linda O’Shea: early 20s, this is her memory play and much like Eugene
in Brighton Beach Memoirs, she provides an engaging connection with the
audience as she narrates a story about her family and her 19-year-old
self. Likable, full of charm and wit, she is an aspiring writer and
feminist, highly intelligent and curious. She alternates between
thinking she knows everything and thinking she knows nothing.
-
Josephine O’Shea: 40s. An exhausted but nurturing and relatable mother,
she juggles more plates than Cirque de Soleil. She loves her children
and honors her subservient role as “mom” in the family. A tireless
homemaker and church stalwart, at the moment she’s unusually emotional
because she’s unknowingly pregnant.
- Theresa “Terri” Carmichael:
50s. Jo’s sister. Wisecracking, sassy, bold, and often blunt. The
outspoken and crazy aunt we all know and love. She’s going through a
rough patch in her marriage, but her caustic wit will get her through
it.
- Mike O’Shea/Father Lovett/Betty Heckenbach: 50s. As the male
patriarch of the O’Shea family, Mike also knowingly portrays the stern,
egotistical, and self-righteous Father Lovett and the gossipy, morally
superior, nosy neighbor Betty. Mike is loud, loyal, and single-task
oriented. He is a lousy listener and his definition of a father is a
“breadwinner” and “disciplinarian”. As the overworked, gruff,
stressed-out working-class father of the family, he could have been
Archie Bunker’s best buddy.
“The Secret Hour”
Synopsis: Is
it possible to be your authentic self in a relationship if sharing your
life with another person means having to compromise what you want? Like
most married couples, Kate and Ben hold back being completely honest
with each other to avoid conflict and feel loved. For fun, they invent a
game called “terrible secret hour” where they each confess an
unflattering truth and promise to love one another regardless. But is
being truthful the same thing as being true to oneself? Thankfully their
wise and hilarious handyman has a life coach certificate and is happy
to help them navigate life’s tough spots. Entertaining, humorous,
poignant, and thoughtful, you’ll be talking about this provocative new
play all the way home.
Seeking:
- Kate: late 30s to early
40s. Any ethnicity. An intelligent, witty, likable and successful Ethics
professor at a university, Kate is on a career path she is very excited
about and uncertain if she wants to have a baby. She feels ethically
conflicted about her inability to be fully truthful with her husband
about not wanting a child.
- Ben: late 30s to 40s. Any ethnicity.
Kate’s husband. Likable, funny. He wants to become a dad. He lost the
lucrative and successful career he had through a moment of bad personal
judgment and is currently unfulfilled and working at Best Buy. He is
hungry for a life-course correction in the form of a baby or a new job.
-
Leaf: male, 40s. Any ethnicity. He is a handyman with a funny,
stoner/surfer vibe who comes to fix Kate and Ben’s bathroom and stays
for several months. Very “go-with-the-flow”, he lives in a treehouse and
has recently completed a life-coach certification. He is deceptively
wise.
“Lunenburg”
Synopsis: It’s the perfect combination of
mystery, comedy, and romance. When Iris’s husband is unexpectedly killed
in a plane crash, her lawyer reveals she has inherited a beautiful home
in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia - that she never knew existed! Setting out
from her home in Brunswick, Maine with her best friend in tow, she
begins a laugh filled, poignant road trip North to unravel the mystery
of her husband’s secret life. What follows is a series of gasp-worthy
surprises, powerful personal transformations, and lots of funny flirting
between her best friend and new neighbor. Don’t miss this intelligent
comedy about how we embrace change and learn to move forward.
