A U D I T I O N S

DREAM OF A COMMON LANGUAGE by Heather McDonald. Directed by Rachel LePell.  

Available roles (info from script - may differ somewhat from what ends up being director's vision):

Victor - An impressionist painter.  Thick-haired and full-bearded.  A large, burly man with a powerful mail energy.  Vigor.  A bouncing gregariousness as though he is anxious for people to think well of him.

Marc - A painter a few years younger than Victor.  He wears fine clothes well.  There is a bit of the dandy about him but not silly.  A walrus moustache waxed and twisted up at the ends.  Fingernails buffed to a fine polish.  A fastidious man, he has a horror of being out of control.

Mylo - Clovis and Victor's son.  A thin, nine-year-old boy with yellow hair and pale gray eyes.  Something sad and lost about him.

Dolores - A nurse/companion to Clovis and teacher/governess to Mylo.  Of another place and culture suggesting magic, mystery, secrets.  Dresses simply, plainly.  Catholic.  A comforting presence but not grandmotherly.    

Themes - The play explores the delicately complex balance between a woman's artistic calling, her family life, and the influence of societal constraints and expectations.  Inspired by the fact that woman were banned from the artists' dinner to plan the first Impressionist painting exhibit in 1874, even though works by women were to be shown.      

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~VIRAGO WORLD PREMIERE~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

THE HERMIT BIRD by John Bird

Available roles (info from script - may differ somewhat from what ends up being director's vision):

Linda - A talker; will fill a room with speech rather than let silence pervade. A realist. Feels that her lot in life, being the primary technical maintainer of the family, is unfair. Into just-so control; has become querulous with the constant stress of trying to maintain. Currently, Linda is the breadwinner of the household. She works a long shift, and her job is quite a drive away; she’s a bit sleep deprived as a result. Worships at the holy shrine of television. Most of the TV programs she enjoys are Harlequin style white-knight soaps and romances – she cannot however even acknowledge to herself how much she has been desirous of rescue. Linda has a deep emotional void in her life, iconified by a man she barely remembers.  

Missy - A natural poet. May suffer from a mild form of (undiagnosed) autism, Asperger’s or the like. (q.v. Aspie on the internet) Tends to communicate in short bursts, if at all; is not capable of generically reading other people’s emotions, or presenting her emotions in a standard way. Emotions she does have, but at the beginning of the play she is “mindblind” to the emotions of others; this frustrates her fiercely. Missy possesses an unusual gift; she can foresee or recall the weather from any time at any place on the globe. She communicates in bursts of free verse when overwhelmed with emotion. Wants to be a normal girl, but is not certain what normalcy might be; occasionally capable of “acting” normal in the strictest sense of the term. As with other autistics, she tends toward introverted and repetitive choices; a change in routine can cause her to become stubborn or violent. Portrayal of autistic characters in literature is problematic. Literarily, it’s extremely useful to ascribe magical qualities to autistics, and there must of necessity be some of that here (and this is a dramatic story, first and foremost). But, any chance we have to be true to the nature of autism and Asperger’s specifically – we’ll need to take it. Missy is frustrated with her disease, which provides her an exquisite insight into the deeper nature of the weather, and the secret garden that grows within her… but she’d trade that continent in a heartbeat for the chance to feel as a normal girl.

Roger - Kant said, “I had rather be Socrates dissatisfied than a pig satisfied”. If Roger read Kant (and he doesn’t), he would disagree. Roger is a man of Slack; he is mellow, philosophical, and prefers the solution of least resistance. He likes eating, drinking, sleeping, having sex, hunting, and occasional television programs about painting and art. Roger is probably the naturally happiest person of the bunch of them. He is NOT a Tennessee Williams-style wife-beater husband. Roger was working for a time, but he’s not working now – he’s ashamed to tell Linda this truth, and so it “slips his mind”. Roger will prefer to tell a pleasant lie sooner than an unpleasant truth any day.

Tom -  Young, horny, smitten, stoic – classic American backwoods stock. Not quite old enough to be philosophical, but upwardly mobile (within his sphere) nonetheless. Uncomfortable around what he perceives to be elders. About to get a promotion at work. Fell in love with Missy while she was still in school (she’s since been removed). Might drink a beer or two with his buddies. In love with what he perceives as Missy’s mystic qualities. Cut from the same weave as Roger, but of a different generation, so he perceives Roger more or less as “authority”. Tom wants Missy.

Themes - The inability to escape from one’s genetic destiny: birth, marriage, death. Longing and nostalgia for old romance. Half-memories. The loss of magical resources, reduction of the sixth sense, surrendering of dreams to practicalities. The majestic American shrine of television. The soul and spirit of water.  The sweet deadly truth that can never be spoken.