Director Jay Fontanetta announces auditions for Wheaton Drama’s production of Sex in the Title, a contemporary farce by local playwright George Zahora.
Auditions will be Monday and Tuesday, Nov. 20 and 21, from 7–10 p.m.
No appointments are necessary. Auditioners must prepare a one-minute contemporary comedic monologue and will perform cold readings from the script.
Callbacks (if necessary) will be Wednesday, Nov. 22, from 7–10 p.m.
Performances run Jan. 19 to Feb. 11, 2018. Rehearsals begin Nov. 26.
All auditions, rehearsals and performances will be held at 111 N. Hale St., Wheaton, IL.
Headshots and résumés are optional. Auditioners must fill out the audition form, Sex in the Title Audition Form_RR. Please direct questions to sxtitle@gmail.com.

CHARACTERS:

STEPHEN RAUGHBAUTHAM (30s): The serious half of a successful comedy writing team.
GEOFFREY MILLHAWKINSBY (30s): The not-so-serious half of the comedy writing team.
ELAINE HANNETT: Their manager, businesslike but not humorless; hints of a boozy past.
JACK MACTANGLEPOON: The addled Scottish caretaker/landlord.
SUSAN OSTRICH (20s/30s): Geoffrey’s fiancée. Tenuous grip on sanity.
CLAIRE KIRKWOOD (30s): Stephen’s ex-wife. Indecisive; Daddy issues. Too clever by half.
DESMOND WAGSTAFFE: A lecherous attorney.
JENSEN: An assassin suffering from scope creep.
*M. BENOIT: The seedy French photographer whose studio is across the hall.
SABINE GRIFFIN (20s): A nude model, mistaken for a maid.
GERALD ASGARD (20s): A maid, of sorts, mistaken for a nude model.
*POLICEMAN: A run-of-the-mill, somewhat dim cop.
*MR. GODDOE: A potential patron with a longstanding gripe with Samuel Beckett.
Note: The roles of Benoit, Goddoe and the Policeman may be played by a single actor.

Director Randall W. Knott is adding a third evening of auditions, Tuesday, Sept. 19, for “Sense and Sensibility,” running Nov. 17 through Dec. 10.

Knott says: “We are expanding auditions to accommodate additional younger men for several outstanding dramatic/romantic roles. Women who have not yet signed up and who wish to reserve a slot will be put on a waiting list and will be added as space opens. All waiting list participants will be given all audition materials to familiarize themselves with audition scenes.”

Please email sensewdi2017@gmail.com by Sept. 15 to request an audition appointment.

Character descriptions and other information can be found at http://www.wheatondrama.org/news-auditions/.

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)

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

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.

Wheaton Drama is proud to announce auditions for its Holiday Radio Play, “A Christmas Carol,” which will be performed in a readers’ theater style. Director Pam Turlow is looking for strong, versatile actors of all ages and ethnicities who are capable of authentic British dialects.

Auditions are Saturday, Nov. 5, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 6, from 7-10 p.m at Playhouse 111, located at 111 N. Hale St., Wheaton, IL 60187.

Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. No callbacks are scheduled.

The following roles are available and may be double or triple cast, depending on turnout:

MEN:

Charles Dickens  (30s to late 50s): Our narrator. Should be a superb storyteller with a sense of drama, able to bring the classic images in the story to life. Standard British dialect.

Ebenezer Scrooge (40s to 70s): Our anti-hero curmudgeon. Looking for a strong actor who can believably take us along on his journey, to his epiphany. Standard British dialect.

Bob Cratchit (30s to 50s): A kind soul, a charming gentleman, much put upon, but whose soul shines bright. Standard British, London, or Cockney dialect.

Nephew Fred (20s to 30s): A true believer in the Spirit of Christmas. Positive and cheery, even in the face of Scrooge’s rebuffs. Standard British or London dialect.

Mr. Bentley (30s to 50s): A business man who is doing charity collection work. Standard British or London dialect.

Mr. Charlton (30s to 50s): See Mr. Bentley.

Jacob Marley (40s to 70s): The Spirit of Regret, incarnate (or semi-incarnate). Woeful, wise, inclined to fits of melancholy. Oh, and terrifying. Standard British dialect.

Fezziwig (40s to 70s): Dimpled, humorous, festive, and a wee bit tipsy. Standard, London, or Cockney dialect.

Young Ebenezer (late teens to 20s): Hopeful and in love, but torn by the lure of monetary wealth. Standard British dialect.

Belle’s Husband (30s to 40s): A good husband, kind to his family. Standard British dialect.

Ghost of Christmas Present (30s to 50s): The Spirit of the God Bacchus! Robust, a booming voice, and larger than life. Standard British or London dialect.

Topper  (20s to 30s): A tipsy, boisterous friend of Fred.

Old Joe (40s to 70s): A lower-class London buyer and purveyor of rags. Maybe drunk, maybe toothless. Cockney or London dialect.

WOMEN:

Belle (late teens to 20s): Wise beyond her years. Heartbroken over the love she knows she can never have. Standard British dialect.

Mrs. Cratchit (30s to 50s): Much like her husband in temperament, but she probably wears the pants in the family. Standard British, London or Cockney dialect.

Bess (20s to 30s): A smart, savvy young woman, devoted to Fred.

Nancy (20s to 40s): A giggly, not-so-bright friend of Bess.

Wretched Woman (40s to 70s): A poor, sickly woman in the Alms House.

Charwoman (20s to 70s): A lower-class London cleaning woman. Probably possessing same dental affliction as Old Joe. Crass and blowsy. Cockney or London dialect.

Laundress (20s to 70s): Hangs with the same crowd as the Charwoman and Old Joe. Probably needs a bath. Cockney or London dialect.

MAN OR WOMAN:

Ghost of Christmas Past (Age, gender open): Ageless, ethereal, wise. Standard British dialect.

CHILDREN (all children should attempt a Standard or London dialect):

Boy Ebenezer (10 to 12): A sad, lonely lad.

Fan (8 to 10): Boy Ebenezer’s sister. Full of joy and promise.

Martha Cratchit (teens): The eldest Cratchit girl. Capable, smart, and loving.

Peter Cratchit (teens): The eldest Cratchit boy. Gentle and bright.

Belinda Cratchit (8 to teens): The youngest Cratchit girl. Hopeful and energetic.

Tiny Tim (7 to 10): A wise soul inside a small, sickly body. The child who is cast must be able to convey his unerring hopefulness. A boy is preferred, but the role is open to girls as well.

Boy at Alms House (12 to teens): A sweet soul who only wishes to help those less fortunate.

Goose Boy (8 to teens): A bundle of energy, eager to earn some tuppence on Christmas morning.

Caroler (boy or girl, 8 to teens): A lower-class child who’s caroling in hopes of earning money for his/her family.

“A Christmas Carol” will be performed Dec. 15-18, Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m., and Sunday at 3 p.m. A read-through will be held Nov. 12 from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Mary Lubko Center (formerly Leisure Center), 208 W. Union Ave., Wheaton, IL 60187, and rehearsals are Monday through Wednesday evenings, Dec. 12-14, at Playhouse 111.