General Notes
- We welcome and encourage new people to audition.
- This is a sung through musical; vocal ability will carry a heavy weight in casting decisions.
- Due to the mature nature and adult content of this show, casting is limited to those 18 and over.
- This will be a small cast with 16-18 people. There are 8 named characters and a variety of smaller characters played by members of the ensemble. This is a company show with all cast members playing an important role.
- We intend to honor as much as possible the historically diverse casting in this show. We also know we can be limited due to the smaller population of people in our rural area. Though vocal and acting ability will carry the most weight, we will also work to make the show as diverse and inclusive as possible.
- Rehearsals will run October through February. October and November will start with 2 or 3 days a week, more going into the end of November. December, January, and February will consist of 4 or 5 days a week. 1 day for Thanksgiving and 1 week for Christmas will be taken off. This is a show with a big commitment; other than those times off, everyone will be expected to be at every rehearsal with very limited exceptions.
Audition Dates: Friday, October 4th at 6:30 PM and Saturday, October 5th at 3:00 PM @ The Hales Center for the Performing Arts (on the campus of Southwestern Oregon Community College)
Friday and Saturday auditions will require the following:
- Prepared short (up to 1 minute) monologue, memorized.
- Prepared song of your choice (you can choose to sing a song from the show)
- Please bring sheet music if you would like accompaniment or bring a backing track on a device with Bluetooth capability.
- The group will be learning the song Will I? from the show and singing it as a round. Please be familiar with the song.
- Auditioners will be learning a short piece of choreography. Please wear appropriate clothes and shoes.
You may attend auditions on either Friday or Saturday or you are welcome to come for both days. You will only be asked to do your monologue and individual song on one day.
Callbacks: Sunday, October 6th at 3:00 PM (We will call you on Saturday evening to let you know if we need you for callbacks on Sunday.)
During callbacks we will be performing selections of songs and dialog from the show.
Please call or text Director Julianna Seldon @ 541-297-7766 for more information or if you have any questions. We would love the chance to work with new people; please call or text if interested.
Characters
Named Characters (descriptions taken from Wikipedia):
Mark Cohen: A struggling Jewish-American documentary filmmaker and the narrator of the show. He is Roger’s roommate; at the start of the show, he has recently been dumped by Maureen.
Roger Davis: This part has already been cast. All others are open. A once-successful-but-now-struggling musician and ex-lead singer and rock guitarist who is HIV-positive and an ex-junkie. He hopes to write one last meaningful song before he dies. He has difficulty coping with his own mortality as well as that of his friends. His girlfriend, April, killed herself after finding out that she was HIV-positive. He is roommates with Mark.
Mimi Márquez: A Latina stripper and drug addict. She lives downstairs from Mark and Roger, is Roger’s love interest, and, like him, is HIV-positive. She is also Benny’s ex-lover.
Tom Collins: An anarchist professor with AIDS. He is described by Mark as a “computer genius, teacher, and vagabond anarchist who ran naked through the Parthenon.” Collins dreams of opening a restaurant in Santa Fe, where the problems in New York will not affect him and his friends. He was formerly a roommate of Roger, Mark, Benny, and Maureen, now just Roger and Mark, until he moved out.
Angel Dumott Schunard: A young drag queen who is addressed as female when in drag and as male when out of drag. Angel, who has AIDS, is a street percussionist with a generous disposition as well as Collins’ love interest.
Maureen Johnson: A performance artist who is Mark’s ex-girlfriend and Joanne’s current girlfriend. She is very flirtatious and cheated on Mark. Larson considered Maureen a lesbian, despite her previous relationships with men, and he specifically identified her as “lesbian” in the script itself.
Joanne Jefferson: An Ivy League-educated public interest lawyer and a lesbian. Joanne is the woman for whom Maureen left Mark. Joanne has very politically powerful parents (one is undergoing confirmation to be a judge, the other is a government official).
Benjamin “Benny” Coffin III: The landlord of Mark, Roger, and Mimi’s apartment building and ex-roommate of Mark, Collins, Roger, and Maureen. Now married to Alison Grey of the Westport Greys, a very wealthy family involved in real estate, and he is considered yuppie scum and a sell-out by his ex-roommates. He at one time had a relationship with Mimi.
Minor Characters (these will all be played by 8 to 10 cast members) (descriptions taken from Wikipedia):
- Mrs. Cohen: Mark’s stereotypical Jewish mother. Her voicemail messages are the basis for the songs Voicemail #1, Voicemail #3, and Voicemail #5.
- Alexi Darling: The producer of Buzzline, a sleazy tabloid company that tries to employ Mark after his footage of the riot makes primetime. Sings Voicemail #3 and Voicemail #4.
- Mr. and Mrs. Jefferson: The wealthy parents of Joanne Jefferson, they leave her Voicemail #2.
- Mr. Jefferson is also one of the a cappella singers in Voicemail #5.
- Mrs. Davis: Roger’s confused mother who calls in Voicemail #5, asking continuously, “Roger, where are you?”
- Mrs. Marquez: Mimi’s Spanish-speaking mother who sings in Voicemail #5, wondering, in Spanish, where she is.
- Mr. Grey: Benny’s father-in-law who wants to buy out the lot.
- The Man: The local drug dealer whom Mimi buys from and Roger used to buy from.
- Paul: The man in charge of the Life Support group.
- Gordon: One of the Life Support members.
- Steve: One of the Life Support members.
- Ali: One of the Life Support members
- Pam: One of the Life Support members
- Sue: One of the Life Support members.
- Squeegee Man: A homeless person who chants “Honest living!” over and over during “Christmas Bells”.
- The Waiter: A waiter at Life Cafe.
- The Woman with Bags or Homeless Woman: A woman who calls Mark out for trying to use her to assuage his guilt during “On The Street”.
- The Preacher or The Pastor: The Preacher kicks Collins out of the church because he can’t pay for Angel’s funeral.
- There are also many other non-named roles such as Cops, Bohemians, Vendors, Homeless People.