Sunday, July 30, 2017

Auditions for Fall 2017 City College shows

Following is information regarding the auditions for the Fall 2017 shows at San Diego City College. We will be producing Luis Alfaro's Electricidad, a Chicano take on the Electra myth, and William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream

Auditions are Thursday, August 24 from 6:00 - 10:00 in the Saville Theatre.

For auditions, prepare a 1-2 minute monologue. If you would like to be considered for Midsummer, and you have a Shakespeare monologue prepared, please do that as well. If you don’t have a Shakespearean monologue prepared, you may be given lines from a Shakespeare script to read.


Callbacks will be Friday, August 25, times TBD.
Rehearsals for Electricidad will be held M - Th, 4 - 7 and some weekends. Rehearsals for Midsummer will most likely be evenings and some weekends.


Electricidad
By Luis Alfaro
Directed by Katie Rodda

“I will free you, Papa, from your death.
I don’t know how yet, but I will do it.”
Electricidad, a Chicana/o take on the tragic myth of Electra, radically updates this ancient story to contemporary Southern California. Following the unexpected murder of her father Agamemnón, Electricidad keeps vigilant watch over his body, waiting to exact revenge on the person responsible for his death … her mother Clemencia. Invoking “cholo culture” and voiced in a combination of English and Spanish, Electricidad is an unforgettable story of loyalty, passion, and familia.

Black Box Theatre, September 29 – October 8

A Midsummer Night’s Dream
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Matthew Salazar Thompson

"Lord, what fools these mortals be!"
Set in the mid 1950’s, this reimagined Shakespearean comedy finds the beatnik poets and musicians having taken over the back allies of the “fairyland” while the conservative world of Theseus’ Athens Incorporated finds love all the wrong places.

This is a very physical show, so the more movement experience you have the better. The ability to play an instrument may be helpful. 


Saville Theatre, October 20 - 29

For questions about these shows, contact Katie Rodda at krodda@sdccd.edu or Matt Thompson at mthompso@sdccd.edu

Here are the casting breakdowns:

Electricidad:

Electricidad (23), the oldest daughter, an old-school chola, in grief, cannot break the cycle. When the play begins, she has been sitting in the front yard, watching over her dead father’s body for five days. This homegirl is a young chola with old-school ways. Always has, always been.

Clemencia (40), the mother, total veteran, goes way back, has issues. She moves nervously, como una bird in a cage. She is smoking—pero always. She wears chola evening wear. Y with some heel, of course. Sometimes she puts on a hat. When she wants to look good. Tu sabes.

Ifigenia (20), the other daughter, formerly muy peligrosa, possibly born-again, looks good in black. She dresses like a sister in a religious order—only problem is her gang tattoos betray her as they sneak out from her neck.

Abuela (50), the grandmother, a veteran, old-school chola, muy sexy this vieja. Raised on menthols-in-the-box. Too young to be old, too old to be young.

Orestes (17), the brother, a peewee, heir to the trono, exiled to Las Vegas. Too young and mocoso to be taken seriously as the new leader of the East Side Locos.

Nino (52), the godfather, el atendido, the most veteran, exiled to Las Vegas. Bad ass, has seen everything, loyal to the end.

Las Vecinas, a chorus of three mujeres from the hood, have seen it all, the voz of the city. A Griego chorus in housedresses and aprons, these women know all the chisme in the neighborhood and do their best to help spread it:
La Carmen
La Connie
La Cuca

And … onstage, the dead body of Agemenón “El Auggie” (R.I.P.), el rey, el hombre formerly known as Father, a veterano from way back, head of the East Side Locos. Eyes plucked, tongue missing. He is wrapped in a shroud and his body is eventually set on fire.


Midsummer:

Puck (M or F) -  Also known as Robin Goodfellow, Puck is Oberon’s jester, a mischievous fairy who delights in playing pranks on mortals. Though A Midsummer Night’s Dream divides its action between several groups of characters, Puck is one of the beatniks. His enchanting, mischievous spirit pervades the atmosphere, and his antics are responsible for many of the complications that propel the other main plots: he mistakes the young Athenians, applying the love potion to Lysander instead of Demetrius, thereby causing chaos within the group of young lovers; he also transforms Bottom’s head into that of an ass. Funny and outrageous.

Oberon (M) -  The king of the fairies, Oberon is initially at odds with his wife, Titania, because she refuses to relinquish control of a young Indian prince whom he wants for a knight. Oberon’s desire for revenge on Titania leads him to send Puck to obtain the love-potion flower that creates so much of the play’s confusion and farce. Jazzy and in control of music, time and space. He’s the hippest of hip cats.

Titania (F) -  The beautiful queen of the fairies, Titania resists the attempts of her husband, Oberon, to make a knight of the young Indian prince that she has been given. Titania’s brief, potion-induced love for Nick Bottom, whose head Puck has transformed into that of an ass, yields the play’s foremost example of the contrast motif.

Lysander (M) -  A young man of Athens, in love with Hermia. Lysander’s relationship with Hermia invokes the theme of love’s difficulty: he cannot marry her openly because Egeus, her father, wishes her to wed Demetrius; when Lysander and Hermia run away into the forest, Lysander becomes the victim of misapplied magic and wakes up in love with Helena. Conservative and strait laced about his emotions.

Demetrius (M) -  A young man of Athens, initially in love with Hermia and ultimately in love with Helena. Demetrius’s obstinate pursuit of Hermia throws love out of balance among the quartet of Athenian youths and precludes a symmetrical two-couple arrangement.  A bit dark.

Hermia (F) -  Egeus’s daughter, a young woman of Athens. Hermia is in love with Lysander and is a childhood friend of Helena. As a result of the fairies’ mischief with Oberon’s love potion, both Lysander and Demetrius suddenly fall in love with Helena. Self-conscious about her short stature, Hermia suspects that Helena has wooed the men with her height. By morning, however, Puck has sorted matters out with the love potion, and Lysander’s love for Hermia is restored. She is the West Coast poster girl for everything that is orderly.

Helena (F) -  A young woman of Athens, in love with Demetrius. Demetrius and Helena were once betrothed, but when Demetrius met Helena’s friend Hermia, he fell in love with her and abandoned Helena. Lacking confidence in her looks, Helena thinks that Demetrius and Lysander are mocking her when the fairies’ mischief causes them to fall in love with her. A bit more of a free spirit.

Egeus (M or F)-  Hermia’s parent, who brings a complaint against his daughter to Theseus: Egeus has given Demetrius permission to marry Hermia, but Hermia, in love with Lysander, refuses to marry Demetrius. Egeus’s severe insistence that Hermia either respect his wishes or be held accountable to Athenian law within the land of Frisco and places him squarely outside the whimsical dream realm of the forest.

Theseus (M) -  CEO of Athens Inc. and engaged to Hippolyta. Theseus represents power and order throughout the conservative business community. (Might double with Oberon.)

Hippolyta (F) -  Vice President of Amazons Inc, she is engaged to Theseus in the ultimate business merger. Like Theseus, she symbolizes order and economic might.  (Might double as Titania)

Nick Bottom (M) -  The overconfident pants maker chosen to play Pyramus in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. Bottom is full of advice and self-confidence but frequently makes silly mistakes and misuses language. His simultaneous nonchalance about the beautiful Titania’s sudden love for him and unawareness of the fact that Puck has transformed his head into that of an ass mark the pinnacle of his foolish arrogance.

Peter/Penolope Quince (M or F) -  A carpenter that has worked for Thesus and the nominal leader of the craftsmen’s attempt to put on a play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. Quince is often shoved aside by the abundantly confident Bottom. During the craftsmen’s play, Quince plays the Prologue.

Francis Flute (M) -  The electrician chosen to play Thisbe in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. Forced to play a young girl in love, the bearded craftsman determines to speak his lines in a high, squeaky voice.

Robin Starveling (M or F) -  The tailor chosen to play Thisbe’s mother in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. He ends up playing the part of Moonshine.

Tom Snout (M or F) -  The handyman chosen to play Pyramus’s father in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. He ends up playing the part of Wall, dividing the two lovers.

Snug (M) -  The plumber chosen to play the lion in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. Snug worries that his roaring will frighten the ladies in the audience.

Philostrate (F) -  Theseus’s secretary, responsible for organizing the entertainment for the duke’s marriage celebration.

Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed -  (M or F) The fairies ordered by Titania to attend to Bottom after she falls in love with him. Must be able to move. Acrobat skills and the ability to play an instrument or a plus.