Local theatre groups to hold auditions for shows
The Bigfork Community Players have selected three Neil Simon plays for the 2014-2015 season.
“We made a decision early this year that we were going to change the focus of our offerings and do plays that were funny, engaging, and didn’t require us to sing,” David Vale, president of the Players, said. “We didn’t actually set out to do a season of Neil Simon, but as we read through a tall stack of comedies and selected the ones that we thought were terrific, his name just kept appearing on the covers.”
The Players’ fall production will be the female version of The Odd Couple. Maybe you remember the odd couple, Oscar Madison and Felix Unger.
The story evolves as Olive and her Trivial-Pursuit-playing friends try to help the recently jilted Florence deal with her loss while not letting her compulsive neatness ruin their lives. Michele Shapero directs The Odd Couple, which is currently in rehearsal.
The second Simon play, scheduled to open in late February, is Rumors. Set in the somewhat snooty suburbs of New York City, we look in on the tenth wedding anniversary of Charley and Myra Brock. Charley is the Deputy Mayor of New York and he and Myra have invited their closest friends and business associates to celebrate with them: four couples that include two lawyers, a tax accountant, a psychoanalyst, a television celebrity, and a candidate for state senate. But, as the first couple arrives and exits the car, they hear an enormous … well, we’re not quite sure what.
When they enter the Brock mansion, Myra is nowhere to be found, the service staff have all disappeared, and Charley is in his bedroom, covered in blood, a gun in his hand. Solving the mystery while keeping it secret results in an evening of hilarious fun. Vale will direct Rumors. Auditions for five male and five female roles will be in early December.
The third Simon play, scheduled to open in April, is Jake’s Women. A playwright by vocation, Jake loves women and is always in their company. Some are real, some are imagined, and some are both.
But gifted with a writer’s imagination, he finds the women he creates equally enjoyable and considerably more agreeable. The problem is that his imaginary women are pushing the real ones out of his life and he’s being forced to choose between a life of imaginary bliss and a life. Karen Kolar will direct Jake’s Women.
Watch the Players’ website, www.BigforkCommunityPlayers.com, for further announcements and information.
Bigfork Playhouse Children’s Theatre
The Bigfork Playhouse Children’s Theatre is holding auditions for its first musical production of the 2014-2015 season, Peter Pan. Auditions will be Tuesday, Sept. 2, at the Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts.
Wendy Darling loves to tell stories to her brothers, Michael and John. But when her father announces she must move out of the nursery, Peter Pan comes to visit the children and whisks them away to Never Land. Their adventure introduces them to the Lost Boys, Mermaids, Indians and even the infamous pirate, Captain Hook.
Based on the Disney film and J.M. Barrie’s enchanting play, Disney’s Peter Pan JR. is a modern version of the timeless tale about a boy who wouldn’t grow up. The score includes new arrangements of classic Disney songs, such as “Following the Leader,” “You Can Fly,” “The Second Star to the Right” and “Yo Ho, A Pirate’s Life for Me.”
They are looking for about 50 actors in grades 2 through 12 and no experience is necessary.
Performers are asked to prepare a 30 second monolog.
Following the monologues the performers will get on stage and try several different things. They will probably learn a part to a song and should be prepared to stay the entire time and be ready to try new things.
The Children’s Theatre will be casting around 50 people but are also looking for extra help backstage and with several technical areas for the productions. Rehearsals will begin on Wednesday, Sept 3.
Performances are Sept 19, 20, 26, 27, 28.
For more information email bpct@bigforksummerplayhouse.com or call 837-4886.
Audition Times
4:00-5:00 p.m. for grades 2-3
5:00-6:30 for grades 4-7
6:30-8:30 for grades 7-12