2020 Virtual Playwrights Retreat Auditions

2020 Virtual Playwrights Retreat

Auditions DUE MAY 6 2020!!

WHAT TO PREPARE:
  • 2 contrasting monologues totaling up to 3 minutes,
  • Part of a song totaling up to 1 minute,
  • List of character(s) for which you're auditioning for,
  • List of conflicts with any of the schedules below,
  • Headshot/resume. 

HOW TO SEND:
  • Include all of the above in one email if possible,
  • Combine all monologues and song in one video if possible,
  • Email subject line should read 'Your Name - 2020 Retreat Audition',
  • Send to eblandford@theautry.org by May 6 2020.

COMPENSATION: $20/hr, 3hrs/day, 7 days. Total of $420 minus taxes.


ZOOM RETREAT SCHEDULE:
At this time, we will not have public staged readings or internet broadcasts of the table reads. The following schedules are for play development alone.
  • Under a Big Sky
    • May 19-26, 9am-12pm PST
    • day off on Monday, May 25th

  • Native Pride (and Prejudice)
    • June 9-16, time TBA
    • day off TBA

  • Antíkoni
    • June 23-30, time TBA
    • day off TBA

SYNOPSIS / CHARACTER BREAKDOWN:

Under a Big Sky by Randy Reinholz 
Liz Leaf is 32 and a freelance artist in New York City with a recent gallery exhibition. When she returns to Whitefish, Montana for a family birthday celebration, she unearths secrets and is confronted with new realities. One of which includes the possibility of her mother, Velma Leaf’s, demise. Now Liz is forced to decide between pursuing the dreams of her youth – the dreams that shaped her identity – or returning to help her mother and her mother’s partner, Sunshine King, as they confront some hard realities. Liz discovers that she is mixed race, the two partners of Glacier Designs – already life-partners, Velma and Sunshine - want to claim their own LGBT identity in spite of the less-than-open-minded Whitefish, Montana culture. Gil Benson walks into Liz’s life offering hope, new choices and lucrative work. Glacier Designs intern, Ronnie Watts, keeps the firm running during the crises and becomes close with Liz. While Ronnie and Liz learn that they have many commonalities, the emotional distance between Whitefish and the neighboring Blackfeet Reservation, where Ronnie resides, is a vast gulf.
  • LIZ LEAF (Female, Mixed Race, 30s): A visual artist, Liz has carved out a path for herself in New York City. However, when she returns home to Whitefish, Montana for her birthday, she is forced to face discoveries that not only rock her world, but the entire bedrock from which she has always derived her sense of self.
  • VELMA LEAF (Female, Mixed Race, passing as white, 50s): Liz’s mother and co-owner of Glacier Designs with her life partner, Sunshine King. Velma is a passionate matriarch, and, as we soon learn, full of secrets - secrets that include, not only where her family comes from, but when she might leave this Earth.
  • SUNSHINE KING (Female, Caucasian, 50s): Velma’s life partner and co-owner of Glacier Design. She is loving, supportive, and brave to her core. After many years, she and Velma make the decision to “come out” in Whitefish, Montana - a decision that is sure to bring with it fierce backlash from the community.
  • RONNIE WATTS (Female, Native, 20s): An intern at Glacier Designs. She lives on the Blackfeet reservation and is finishing her Associate’s Degree from Blackfeet Community College. Quick-witted, funny, and good-hearted-if-a-little-stern, she becomes close with Liz during Liz’s time back home. However, the divide between the reservation and Liz’s limited experience outside of her mainstream community might be a barrier too difficult to overcome.
  • GIL BENSON (Male, Native, late 30s): “Tall, dark, Indian.” A handsome man, and an erolled member with an eye on the tribe's KwaTaqNuk Casino, Gil was adopted from a Bitterroot Salish family and reared by a white family. Now, at 38, he is determined to rediscover his Native heritage. He enters Liz’s world as a potential new business partner, but after a little time together there might be potential for more…

Native Pride (and Prejudice) by Vera Starbard 
Indigenous blood quantum, rural vs. urban Native divides, and the issue of education vs. knowledge are at the heart of Vera Starbard’s Native Pride (and Prejudice). In this Jane Austen adaptation, Raven is our guide as the play traverses the social pressures of blood quantum for the Bennet sisters. Set in modern day Alaska, Eliza becomes an advocate not only for women’s rights, but for Native communities as well, all while learning that things aren’t always black-and-white. And like William Darcy, there might be more than meets-the-eye.

*characters are doubled 
  • RAVEN (Female/Gender Fluid, Alaska Native, any age): The Trickster and greatest Alaska Native legend of all time. In this story, Raven is the guide, the leader, the voice of reason, puppet master, and the Original Fashionista. Raven runs this place.
  • ELIZA BENNET (Female, Alaska Native, 20s): The second eldest of the Bennet sisters, 23, and the IT systems architect. She is sharp, well read, and quick-witted. Her initial prejudice at William Darcy’s perceived pride is ultimately pushed aside by her realization of his essential good. 
  • JANE BENNET (Female, Alaska Native, 20s): The eldest of the Bennet sisters, 25, and Head Start teacher. A champion of goodness, she is kind, smart, introverted, and more at peace with the ways of the world and of men’s courtship than her sister, Eliza.
    • AMBER (Female, Alaska Native, 20s): An employee of the Pemberley Foundation, 28. She’s straightforward but with the impeccable manners her place of work demands.
  • WILLIAM DARCY (Male, Alaska Alaska Native, 20s): Born and raised in Anchorage, 27. He is an elite, Ivy League graduate, whose shy and quiet manner are mistaken by Eliza to be haughty indifference to her and her family. He is the President of the Pemberley Foundation and an advocate for his community. However, if you were to ask Eliza, she might rather he not advocate for anyone at all (if he can’t represent himself in a positive manner).
    • JAMES (Male, Alaska Alaska Native, 20s): Also a lieutenant in the National Guard, 21. He has a good heart and a fun spirit, but is not the sharpest bayonet in the bunch. 
    • DICKIE COLLINS (Male, Alaska Alaska Native, 20s): Socially clueless, worships Catherine, 25.
  • CHARLES BINGLEY (Male, Alaska Native, 20s): Well-liked, optimistic, and carefree, 25. He is William Darcy’s best friend. He, like Darcy, is no stranger to wealth and, as he will readily tell you: “works in finance.”
    • DENNY (Male, Alaska Native, 20s): A cheerful, girl-crazy, National Guard Lieutenant, 24, who will be James’ wingman until the end.
  • EDDIE BENNET (Male, Alaska Native, middle aged): Father of the Bennet women, 45, and owner of the local village hardware store. He is a simple man who avoids conflict as much as possible, often deferring to his wife’s judgment. He has a dry wit, not unlike his daughter, Eliza. 
    • FITZ (Male, Alaska Native, middle aged): William Darcy’s uncle, 70. Fun and wise, he is an expert in grant writing, business, and is decidedly higher class than the Bennet family, although he is nothing but kind in his behavior.
  • FRANCES BENNET (Female, Alaska Native, middle aged): Mother of the Bennet girls, 45. She is a silly, stay-at-home-mother with a passion for drama and gossip. 
    • CATHERINE DE BOURGH (Female, Alaska Native, middle aged): William and Georgianna’s aunt, 55, and CEO of their company. She is stoic with little time for frivolity. 
  • MARY BENNET (Female, Alaska Native, 20s): The middle of the Bennet sisters, 21, and works at tribal headquarters. She is bookish and dull, has no time for games, and is highly interested in traditions.
    • CHARLOTTE LUCAS (Female, Alaska Native, 30s): Eliza’s close friend, 30. She is pragmatic, successful, and does not believe love is a vital component to marriage.
    • GEORGE WICKHAM (Male, 20s): An undetermined ethnicity (although he claims to be part Alaska Native). He is handsome, charismatic, and a National Guard captain, 26. Ultimately duplicitous with only his own desires at heart. 
  • KITTY BENNET (Female, Alaska Native, 18tly): The fourth oldest Bennet sister, 19, an inattentive student who works at her father's hardware store. Like Lydia, she is girlish and rapt with soldiers. She is easily swayed and follows the guidance of whoever is physically close in any given moment. 
    • CAROLINE BINGLEY (Female, Alaska Native, 30s): Charles’ sister, 30, and the VP of their corporation. She is fierce with a jealous streak and doesn’t take kindly to Eliza. 
  • LYDIA BENNET (Female, Alaska Native, 18tly): The youngest Bennet sister, 17. She is a gossip, immature, and loves to be involved in the household antics. 
    • LOUISA BINGLEY (Female, Alaska Native, 30s): Charles’ sister, 32, and a marketing executive. She is uninterested in the less wealthy, less classy Bennet girls’ drama.
    • GEORGIANNA DARCY (Female, Alaska Native, 18tly): William’s younger sister, 18. A bright, wealthy high school student and musician, she ultimately bounces back from George’s deception. 

Antíkoni by Beth Piatote
An adaptation of the Greek classic, Antigone, Antíkoni employs the same questions as Sophocles’ original text: What do the living owe the dead? What are human laws in relation to eternal laws? What are the limits of State power? And what is the price of sacrifice? In Beth Piatote’s play, she shifts these questions to focus on ancestral remains held in museums. All members of a Nez Perce/Cayuse family, Kreon (director of the museum), and Antíkoni (his soon-to-be-daughter-in-law) all agree on the repatriation of ancestral remains, but they disagree on the tactics, to the point that they risk violating their values – including culturally determined kinship responsibilities – to do so. As the drama unfolds, as in the Greek classic, we are forced to ask, ‘What makes us who we are?’ and, ‘How far is too far when we believe we know what is right?’
  • ANTÍKONI (Female, Native, 30s): A Nez Perce-Cayuse woman, serious and more withdrawn than her sister, Ismene. A fierce advocate for justice, her beliefs take precedence over what others may say are, “the rules.”
  • ISMENE (Female, Native, 20s): Antíkoni’s younger sister and the golden child of the family. She is reasonable and understands her place.
  • HAIMON (Male, Native 30s): Antíkoni’s fiancé and Kreon’s adopted son. He loves Antíkoni and would give his life and standing for her.
  • KREON (Male, Native middle aged): Antíkoni’s uncle. Pragmatic and powerful, but feels the weight, struggles, and challenges of being the director of this museum. He is bound to the ideas of order and sound logic in his rule.
  • TAIRASIAS (Male, Native, any age): A blind, medicine man and singer. Wise and burdened with sight, he sees what the future holds. 
  • GUARD / MESSENGER (Male, Caucasian, any age): Kreon’s guard and a loyal subject to Kreon’s will.
  • CHORUS (Female, Native, any age): A chorus of aunties who counsel Kreon. One auntie needs to be able to drum.