New Year, New Roles

The new year is upon us and for many, that means new resolutions. Hopefully, your resolution for the new year has something to do with getting more involved with your community--and we're here to help! The auditions for our 2020 season are just NINE days away, so you really should schedule yours today.

You have three chances to audition: Saturday, January 11 from 9 AM-3 PM, Sunday, January 12 from 2-7 PM, and Tuesday, January 14 from 7-10 PM. Auditions take place on our home stage, the Ed Schaughency Theater at the Beaver Area High School. We do not require you to bring a headshot or resume, but we do require all auditioners to have prepared a one to two-minute monologue from a published play or literary work. You may be asked to cold read from various scripts. Auditions are by appointment only, so you must schedule with our artistic director, Patti Ross. You can contact her via e-mail (prossarroo@yahoo.com) or phone (412-953-0237).

There are roles available in every show next season, although the roles are limited for One Man, Two Guvnors. As you may recall, that show was scheduled for summer 2019, but had to be postponed due to theatre renovations. Fortunately, we were able to maintain almost the complete cast, though we are in need of four men to round out the show. We are specifically looking for two men aged 20-30, and the remaining two roles can be any age. One Man, Two Guvnors will take place in late March/early April.

The Gentleman Clothier is our spring special, meaning it will only have four performances over the course of one weekend in late May. This charming play by Norm Foster focuses on a new store-owner who has always felt out of place in this time period. A light comedy filled with lessons for us all, this show requires two males (one age 40-60s and one age 30-40s) and two females (one age 40-60s and one age 20-30s).

Over the summer, we will produce The President as our main outreach project for the year, and this marks the first year we will hold open auditions for this show. Performances will take place at the Oak Arbor Grille in mid-July. This show has lots of roles: we need eight males (four of any age, one age 20-30s, one 50s, and two 60-70s) and seven females (three 20-30s, four of any age). This fast-paced farce is sure to be an audience-favorite and has long been on our list of shows to produce!

Our fall special will take place in mid to late September and requires an all-female cast of five, ranging from age 20 to early 40s. Set in 1966, The Revlon Girl takes place months after the Aberfan Disaster. This drama studies the resilience of the human spirit when faced with grief and is a beautifully-written script offering interesting historical insight into a tragedy unfamiliar to most Americans.

Lucky Stiff is our first musical in over fifteen years and will take place in mid to late November. There are multiple ensemble roles available, as well as six lead/supporting roles. In particular, we need four males (one 30-40s, one 30-50s, one 40-50s, and one 50-70s) and two females (one 20-30s and one 30-50s). This musical is a hilarious murder farce full of mistaken identities and high stakes, the first written by the Tony Award-winning duo, Ahrens and Flaherty! In addition to your monologue, you will also need to sing one minute or 32 bars of a song to a karaoke track or accompanist auditioner provides.

We really hope you'll consider auditioning for us this year! Don't worry: if being onstage isn't really your scene, we have plenty of opportunities for you to get involved. Send us a message--we'd love to hear from you. And stay tuned for our next blog entry where we introduce those already assembled to tackle these shows next year!