Auditions

UMass Theater productions are cast throughout the year; check here for audition information.

Time and place may be subject to change; updates will be posted as they become available.

Sign up sheets for auditions are posted on the Department of Theater Call Board outside Fine Arts Center Room 112 about a week before auditions. Copies of the scripts may be signed out from Room 112 for two hours at any time. Call (413) 545-3490 if you have further questions.

Audition Workshop

Led by Professor Gina Kaufmann; helpful techniques and advice for actors preparing to audition for one of our upcoming shows.

Sept. 8 at 2 p.m. in the Curtain Theater

Free, open to all, recommended for actors planning to audition for UMass Theater productions.

Auditions for Fall Productions

The Department of Theater holds joint auditions for both fall productions (Machinal and Violet).

Monday, September 10th from 6:00-10:30PM
Tuesday, September 11th from 6:00-10:30PM
Rand and Curtain Theaters, Fine Arts Center

Call backs:
Machinal : Sept. 12 from 6:30-10:30 p.m., Curtain Theater
Violet: Sept. 13, 14 and 15 from 6-10:30 p.m., Rand Theater

Please BE READY TO BEGIN YOUR AUDITION PROMPTLY at your chosen audition time (Plan to arrive early for your audition to allow check-in and warm-up time).

Please check the callboard in the Department of Theater for the callback list and schedule. Callbacks will also be posted online. Stage management staff will have instructions at the auditions.

Please see the Production Calendar for rehearsal and performance information.

CALLBACK AND CASTING INFORMATION UPDATED BY STAGE MANAGERS AT http://umassauditions.blogspot.com/

INFORMATION ABOUT MACHINAL:

In 1985, Doris Abramson chose Machinal as her final directing project before her retirement. We thought it fitting to open our tribute to her with a new production of a mesmerizing play that challenges us to reconsider our feelings about our industrialized society. What happens when we worship a machine? In the mechanized world of Machinal, everyone and everything is a cog in the function of the machine: simple, elegant, terrible. A young woman is trapped in a world without empathy, and the clock is ticking. As the play unfolds, Treadwell's expressionist masterpiece explores what might drive her to the desperate actions she eventually takes to be free.

Director Brianna Sloane would like actors to have a prepared monologue, NO MORE THAN two to three minutes in length. The monologue should be material the actor is confident and comfortable presenting. They should come ready for the possibility that she may work with them if time allows or ask them to read a side in addition to their prepared piece.

There are at least eleven roles available, though the final ensemble size will be determined by casting. Much of the ensemble will play more than one character. Actors with strong physicality are encouraged to audition.

INFORMATION ABOUT VIOLET:

For the auditions, please familiarize yourself with the musical and come prepared to read sides from the show and to sing 16 bars from the songs listed below.

For callbacks, come prepared to move/dance and learn more music from the show.

Exact copies of sheet music and sides will be made available the first week of school.

Women should prepare one of the following for auditions:
Violet, Old Lady - "All to Pieces"
Gospel Singer, Music Hall Singer, Hotel Singer - "Raise Me Up"
Young Vi - "Water in the Well"
Men should prepare one of the following for auditions: Father, Monty, Preacher, Radio Soloist - "That's What I Could Do"
Flick - "Let it Sing"
Musical Description: In honor of the UMass Theater Department's tribute to Doris Abramson and the women writers she advocated comes a touchingly delicate chamber musical penned by Tony Award Nominated composer, Jeanine Tesori. Set in 1964 during the early days of the Civil Rights Movement, Violet is the story of Violet Karl, a young, single, white woman tormented by a facial scar injury and desperate to be seen as someone who is beautiful and worthy of love. She embarks on a journey via Greyhound bus from Spruce Pine, North Carolina to Tulsa, Oklahoma to receive a miracle from a television evangelist who she believes can heal her. Fate intervenes when she meets Flick, an African American soldier who teaches her about love, courage, grace, and what it means to be an outsider.

Character Descriptions:
PRINCIPAL ROLES
Violet (mezzo/belt) - 20s, independent, proud, angry, carries deep-seated pain because of her facial scar and how others look at her
Young Vi (mezzo soprano) - early teens, feisty, adventurous, brave, clever
Flick (baritone) - 20s, African American, intelligent, empathetic, strong
Monty (tenor) - 20s, handsome, shallow, not the brightest bulb in the batch, has a soft side
Father (baritone) - late 30s, nurturing to the degree that he can, loves Young Vi, but doesn't always show it in the best way, remorseful
Preacher (tenor) - 30s, televangelist who prides himself at putting on a good show
ENSEMBLE ROLES
Old Lady (mezzo/alto) - older woman, blunt, not easily offended
Gospel Soloist, et. al (belter) - African American, sings for G-d and brings the house down
Landlady, Mabel, et. al (mezzo) - African American, not afraid to tell it like it is
Music Hall Singer, et. al (mezzo belter) - sings "Lonely Stranger"
Hotel Singer, et. al (mezzo) - gets to sing some blues
Radio Soloist, Waiter, Billy Dean, et. al (tenor) - gets to sing "Who'll Be the One (if Not Me)"
Radio Singer #1, Mechanic, Earl, et. al (tenor/baritone)
Radio Singer #2, Bus Driver #3, Creepy Guy, et. al (tenor/baritone)
LeRoy Evans, Bus Driver #2, Rufus, Virgil, et. al (tenor/baritone)
Sign up sheets for auditions are posted on the Department of Theater Call Board outside Fine Arts Center Room 112 about a week before auditions. If you have further questions, please email the musical's Director, Carol Becker at cbecker@theater.umass.edu

Cabaret 204 Auditions

Cabaret 204 auditions are arranged by production teams independently; check callboards for details.

Suitors auditions

Nov. 6 and 7 from 6:30-10:30 p.m., Room TBA, Fine Arts Center

Call backs:
Nov. 8 from 6:30-10:30 p.m., Room TBA, Fine Arts Center

Director Kara-Lynn Vaeni has requested that auditioners prepare 10 - 20 lines of a classical, comedic monologue for Suitors Auditions. The material may be from the text of Suitors. Auditioners should have the material memorized. Special provisions will be made for members of the cast and crew of MACHINAL. UMass students who are abroad for the semester may request an audition via electronic conferencing by prior arrangement with Julie Fife, production manager.

Please BE READY TO BEGIN YOUR AUDITION PROMPTLY at your chosen audition time (Plan to arrive early for your audition to allow check-in and warm-up time).

Please check the callboard for the callback list and schedule. Callbacks will also be posted online. Stage management staff will have instructions at the auditions.

Please see the Production Calendar for rehearsal and performance information.

CALLBACK AND CASTING INFORMATION UPDATED BY STAGE MANAGERS AT http://umassauditions.blogspot.com/

PLEASE NOTE THAT THERE WILL BE REHEARSALS FOR THIS PRODUCTION DURING JANUARY BREAK.

INFORMATION ABOUT SUITORS:

In early 17th-century Spain, women playwrights turned out reams of scripts that were by turns imaginative, magical, funny and raunchy. Department of Theater professor Harley Erdman is on a mission to help the world rediscover these talented women and brings us Suitors, an interpolation of two plays about women with multiple suitors who have to figure out how to get what they want from their situations. The main play, Count Partinuples by Ana Caro, is a magical fairy tale. With the help of her cousin (who is conveniently a sorceress), the empress Rosaura puts a magical spell on the man of her dreams. Invisible, she puts him to a test of love, all the while putting off these three shallow suitors whom her advisors want her to marry. The interlude, The Moldy Graces by Feliciana Enriquez, is a farce in which six grotesque, drunken suitors serenade three very horny sisters. Each play is outrageous in its own way, and both will have you wondering how it's possible that no one has seen these fabulous works in English before.

Venus and Casanova Joint Auditions

The Department of Theater holds joint auditions for the two remaining spring productions (Venus and Casanova).

Sign up sheets for auditions are posted on the Department of Theater's Call Board outside Fine Arts Center Room 112 about a week before auditions.

Jan. 28 and 29 from 6:30-10:30 p.m.
Rooms 204 (Casanova) and 206 (Venus), Fine Arts Center

Call backs:
Venus: Jan. 30 from 6:30-10:30 p.m., Room 204
Casanova: Jan. 31 from 6:30-10:30 p.m., Room 204

Auditioners should check in with the stage management team in FAC 201 upon arrival.

Please BE READY TO BEGIN YOUR AUDITION PROMPTLY at your chosen audition time (Plan to arrive early for your audition to allow check-in and warm-up time).

Please check the callboard for the callback list and schedule. Callbacks will also be posted online. Stage management staff will have instructions at the auditions.

Please see the Production Calendar for rehearsal and performance information.

CALLBACK AND CASTING INFORMATION UPDATED BY STAGE MANAGERS AT http://umassauditions.blogspot.com/

INFORMATION ABOUT VENUS:

For auditions, please familiarize yourself with Venus or any of Parks' other works. Please prepare a one-to-two minute contemporary monologue of your choice.

INFORMATION ABOUT CASANOVA:

Auditioners should familiarize themselves with the play prior to auditions. Auditoners should prepare a monologue of their choosing, NO MORE THAN ONE MINUTE in length. The material must be memorized and may be contemporary or classical, comedic or dramatic. It may be from the text of Casanova. The monologue should be material the actor is confident and comfortable presenting, that shows off their physicality and use of space. They should come ready for the possibility that she may work with them if time allows or ask them to read a side in addition to their prepared piece. Members of the cast and crew of SUITORS are encouraged to audition, and CASANOVA will attempt to work with their commitments if cast.

In addition to student actors, we would like to encourage older auditioners from the community for Casanova. We seek two men who can play age 40-70 for Casanova and Bobo, an older woman (above 50) who can play Madame D'Urfe, and a woman age 35-45 for Sophie.

Street Scene: Five College Opera

by Kurt Weill (music), Langston Hughes (lyrics), & Elmer Rice (book)
directed by Gina Kaufmann
Auditions: April 6, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. April 7, 2 - 6 p.m.
Callbacks: April 8, 6 - 10 p.m. UMass Fine Arts Center Rooms 204 and 206

The score calls for various styles of singing. We seek a multi-ethnic, multi-racial, & multi-generational cast. We encourage singers from all Five Colleges & the Pioneer Valley community to audition.

To audition: Please bring a piece of your own to sing and prepare both the musical and dialog excerpts indicated for your character. Visit fivecollegeopera.blogspot.com to sign up for an audition slot & download your music and dialog excerpts. An accompanist will be provided.

five college opera auditions

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The University of Massachusetts-Amherst Department of Theater is fortunate to count renowned playwright Constance Congdon among its alumnae. We are pleased to end our celebrating of women playwrights with one of her favorite works, Casanova. This play nimbly examines the story of the famous Italian seducer and across time and space, weaving memory with fantasy and prompting intriguing questions about the nature of love and remembrance. Sensual and rich, elements that include touches of Restoration comedy, hints of Commedia dell'Arte and allusions to the lavish and bawdy European capitals of the 18th century come together to create a delightful and insightful whole.

 

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