Your theater needs you, members.  Please volunteer to usher for Outside Mullingar (March 24 – April 15).  For more information, and to sign up, contact: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/30E0D4CACAE2CA7FE3-outside

Wheaton Drama announces auditions for its 2016-17 season closer, “The Producers”—one of the funniest and most popular musical comedies of all time–to be held March 26-27.

Craig Gustafson is directing. Music Director: Joni Kotche. Choreographer: Katy Smith. Production Managers: Elyse Wadzinski and Leah Rae Witt.

To best utilize the time of actors auditioning for “The Producers,” auditions are by appointment only at Playhouse 111, located at 111 N. Hale
St., Wheaton.

This show is rated R and will not be diluted in any way. Actors must be completely comfortable with content that is bawdy, politically incorrect, deliberately offensive and bawdy. Did we mention “bawdy”? Actors must be 18 or older to audition.

The process is as follows:

To schedule an appointment, please email ProducersWDI@comcast.net. State your name and which day you would like to audition. Attaching a headshot and résumé is acceptable but not required. Details on what you will be asked to sing and read will be provided when your appointment is scheduled.

1. Actors will be scheduled for March 26 or 27. If all slots fill up on those dates, other dates will be added.
2. Actors will be assigned a call time, either 7, 8 or 9 p.m.
3. Actors will be assigned to a group and will spend 20 minutes in the singing audition, 20 minutes in the dance audition and 20 minutes in the reading audition. Everyone who attends will get to read.
4. Walk-ins will be seen only if there are any cancellations or open slots, so making an appointment is strongly encouraged.
5. Those cast or called back will be called by noon on Wednesday, March 29. Actors who are not cast or called back will be contacted by email. Callbacks will be held at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, March 29.

Performances of “The Producers” are May 26 through June 18, 2017. Shows are Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m.

“The Producers” is presented by special arrangement with Music Theatre International.

For tickets and information, please visit: http://www.wheatondrama.org/show/the-producers/

Character breakdown

(Character ages listed are guidelines only. If you’re not that age, but you want a part, convince us.)

MAX BIALYSTOCK

The consummate con man. Naturally animated and bombastic, he is never at a loss for charm and deviousness.

Gender: Male

Age: 35 to 55

Vocal range top: F#4

Vocal range bottom: A2

LEO BLOOM

An accountant. Lovably boring and mousy, he is a hesitant optimist who longs for something more.

Gender: Male

Age: 25 to 45

Vocal range top: F4

Vocal range bottom: A2

FRANZ LIEBKIND

Unrepentant Nazi/sensitive playwright. German accent required.

Gender: Male

Age: 30 to 55

Vocal range top: G4

Vocal range bottom: F2

ROGER DEBRIS

New York’s most flamboyant stage director. Doesn’t stand out in a crowd; he is the crowd.

Gender: Male

Age: 35 to 60

Vocal range top: G4

Vocal range bottom: G#2

CARMEN GHIA

Roger Debris’ common-law assistant. Prissy, caustic and slavishly devoted. He may appear younger than he actually is, thanks to skilled surgeons.

Gender: Male

Age: 25 to 35

Vocal range top: A4

Vocal range bottom: C3

ULLA INGA HANSEN BENSON YONSEN TALLEN-HALLEN SVADEN-SVANSON

A young and hopeful actress. A sex bomb, which frequently explodes. Swedish accent required.

Gender: Female

Age: 18 to 35

Vocal range top: G5 NOTE: Must have a strong belt.

Vocal range bottom: A3

ENSEMBLE

Accountants; Bavarian Peasants; Convicts; First Nighters; Little Old Ladies; Storm Troopers; Chorus Girls; Girl Prisoners; Usherettes

About “The Producers”
:

Adapted from the Academy Award winning screenplay by Mel Brooks, the original production of “The Producers” opened at the St. James Theatre on April 19, 2001, and ran for 2,502 performances, closing on April 22, 2007, and winning 12 Tony Awards (including Best Musical)—more than any other show in Broadway history. The cast album won the Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album.

For a synopsis of the show, go here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Producers_(musical)

To hear samples of the music, go here:

http://www.mtishows.com/the-producers

“Everybody who sees ‘The Producers’ is going to be hard-pressed to choose one favorite bit from the sublimely ridiculous spectacle… ‘The Producers’ is as full of gags, gadgets and gimmicks as an old vaudevillian’s trunk. But the show, which has a book by Mr. Brooks and Thomas Meehan with songs by Mr. Brooks (you heard me), is much more than the sum of its gorgeously silly parts. It is, to put it simply, the real thing.”—New York Times

“Extraordinary tickling power… it is irresistible.”—LA Times

“Entirely irresistible and irrepressible confection.”—The Stage (UK)

Are you interested in directing one of our 2017-2018 shows?  Please download and complete the director application: 2017-2018 SEASON-DIRECTOR APPLICATION.

Applications are due by Feb. 13, 2016.

Wheaton Drama proudly announces the cast of “Outside Mullingar.”

Playwright John Patrick Shanley’s bittersweet comedy, set in the Irish Midlands, runs March 24 through April 15:

Anthony Reilly: Aaron Hoge 
Tony Reilly: Bill Donaldson
Aoife Muldoon: Jean Austin
Rosemary Muldoon: Leah Rae Witt

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Outside Mullingar

Auditions: Jan. 22–23, from 7–9 PM

Callbacks: Jan. 25, from 7–9 PM

Auditions will consist of readings from the script. Please arrive by 7 with your headshot and résumé.

To help the production team, please email mullingarwdi2017@gmail.com with your contact information, targeted role and the date you plan to attend. We will provide audition sides on or before Jan. 20.

Performances will be March 24 through April 15, 2017—Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 3 p.m. Performers must be available for Tech Week (March 19–23) and for strike (evening of Monday, April 17).

Auditions, rehearsals and performances will be held at 111 N. Hale St., Wheaton, IL, 60187.

Characters
(All are native-born Irish farm people; actors must deliver authentic accents):

Tony Reilly (70s): A no-nonsense man of the land. He is sly, though, and rather unsentimental—until nature and the passing of time reveal to him the elemental connections in his life.

Anthony Reilly (Early to mid-40s): Tony’s youngest child and only son. Devoted to the family farm, but with a wistful, dreamy sensitivity. A deep emotional wound has persisted for decades.

Aoife Muldoon (70s): A recent widow in declining health, she is piecing together the meaning of life. Deeply devout, yet still sharp-tongued. Afraid of nothing—except her daughter, Rosemary.

Rosemary Muldoon (Mid-30s): Aoife’s only surviving child. Hell on wheels, yet with a deep well of emotions and keen vision of reality. Proud yet pragmatic, she is robust and sharp of wit.

About the play:

Outside Mullingar is a charming and compelling tale of two families, based on playwright John Patrick Shanley’s heritage. It is a tag-team sparring match, a testament to love in all its forms, a clever comedy, and a tale of an awkward romance that is anything but inevitable. This story of adjacent family farms in central Ireland spans several years and concerns property legacies and disputes, vendettas, questions about personal identity, wars against nature, and people’s connection to the land and to one another.

Outside Mullingar is produced by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service Inc., New York.