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.
Knight of the Burning Pestle
Open auditions for The Renaissance Center Theater Company’s fall production,
Francis Beaumont's ground breaking 17th century comedy, Knight of
the Burning
Pestle are scheduled for Saturday,
August 29 and Sunday, August 30.
Auditions
will be held at the UMass Renaissance Center, 650 East Pleasant Street,
Amherst,
from 5-7pm. The show runs October 9-11, 15-18.
Auditions are open to all. Please come ready to cold read and prepared
to list
scheduling conflicts for September and October. A prepared monologue
would be
welcome but is not necessary; it won't count against you if you do
not have one.
Francis Beaumont's 'Knight of the Burning Pestle,' is a staggeringly
funny
satire of the English Renaissance stage and popular treatments of chivalric
romance. The play revolves around two central plots: the first a parody
of early
modern city comedies which focuses on an apprentice who is in love
with his
master’s daughter, while the second expounds upon the
mis-adventures of a heroic grocer named Rafe. The play is filled with
comic
fights, romance, silly monologues, and ridiculous characters, all written
in a
style which seems more like a Monty Python film than a Shakespearean
comedy.
Please email the director, Nate Leonard, at nleonard@english.umass.edu with
questions. For directions to the Renaissance Center, call 413-577-3600,
or visit
our web site.
Audition Workshop
The Department of Theater Undergraduate Advisory Council has organized an audition workshop for any and all people who are interested in auditioning for department shows this school year.
It will be held Saturday, Sept. 12, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the Curtain Theater. Professor Gina Kaufmann and Dawn Monique Williams, who are directing the first two shows of the season, will be leading the workshop.
It is free.
The Burial At Thebes and Marta the Divine Joint Auditions
Joint Auditions: Sept. 14 and 15 from 6:30-10:30 p.m.
Curtain Theater, Fine Arts Center
Call backs:
B@T: Sept. 16 from 7-10 p.m.,
Curtain Theater
PLEASE NOTE EXTENDED CALLBACK TIME FOR THIS PRODUCTION: Marta: Sept. 17 from 6:15-10:30 p.m., Rand Theater
Please sign up on the callboard for a five (5) minute audition slot. Please check in with the stage management staff in the Curtain Theater Lobby when you arrive for your audition.
Please READ THE PLAYS BEFORE ARRIVING FOR THE AUDITION. Be prepared to make an entrance and take the stage at the beginning of your audition. Prepare a joke and a 1-2 minute monologue with heightened language (either comedic or dramatic). Come dressed to move comfortably.
Please BE READY TO BEGIN YOUR AUDITION PROMPTY at your chosen audition time (Plan to arrive early for your audition to allow check-in and warm-up time).
Please check the callboard on Wednesday morning 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/
Cabaret 204 Auditions
Cabaret 204 productions "From Milford to Mexico" and "Cupidity" are holding joint auditions. (The other two productions are not holding auditions.)
If you are interested in auditioning for "From Milford to Mexico" or "Cupidity," sign up on the Cabaret 204 bulletin board. Please prepare a short monologue and a cappella song.
Auditions:
Oct. 1 from 4-7 p.m. in FAC 201 and
Oct. 2 from 4-7:30
p.m. in FAC 08
Curiosity
A puppetry project
No information available yet
To be performed Dec. 8-12
1905
No information available yet
To be performed Jan. 22-24
Pre-Audition Dance Workshop
In advance of the auditions for Spring Awaekenings and Little Shop of Horrors, Marcus Gardley will conduct a dance workshop that everyone auditioning should try to attend (they need only attend one, but are welcome to attend both- same material will be covered each day). The dates and times for this are Wednesday November 11 3:30pm-5:30pm and Thursday November 12 4:30pm-6:30pm. (Those unable to attend the workshop should prepare a dance/movement combination of their own to present. )
Spring Awakening and Little Shop of Horrors Joint Auditions
Auditioners should prepare a 1-2 minute contemporary monologue and 32 bars of a song (bringing either recorded accompaniment, or sheet music in their key) in the style of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (pop/rock). They will also be asked to present the dance routine from the workshop. Those unable to attend the workshop should prepare a dance/movement combination of their own to present.
1-2 minute contemporary monologue
32 bars of song
dance combination
PLEASE NOTE: performers who are auditioning only for Spring Awaekenings do NOT need to prepare a song. Those auditioning for both shows or only for Little Shop DO NEED to prepare a song.
Joint Auditions: Nov. 13, 1-5 p.m. and Nov. 14, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The Rand
Theater
Callbacks for Spring Awakening: Nov. 16, 6:30-10:30 p.m., Fine Arts Center Room 204
Callbacks for Little Shop of Horrors: Nov. 17, 6:30-10:30, Fine Arts Center Room 204
PLEASE NOTE: REHEARSALS FOR SPRING AWAKENING BEGIN JAN. 11, DURING SEMESTER BREAK.
Casting Policy
The Department of Theater is committed to racial, cultural and individual diversity.
Casting for all department-sponsored productions is open to any student, staff,
or faculty member of the Five College Consortium, any member of the community,
or any invited guest artist regardless of race, ethnic origin, or sexual orientation.
Equal-opportunity casting is encouraged.
All Theater majors are welcomed and strongly encouraged to audition. The
Department chooses plays each year with the intention of using
as many majors as possible, but casting of any individual major is not guaranteed.
Most casting will be determined by open auditions.
You are expected to sign up for a given audition appointment, and to arrive at
the audition site well ahead of the scheduled time. Students who arrive after
their scheduled time may not be allowed to audition.
After open auditions have been completed, the director will post
call back announcements. If you are called back, you are expected to initial
next to your name to acknowledge the call back.
Additional audition policy information may be found in the student
handbook.
