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.
