Fall UST auditions for A CATERED AFFAIR, STILL LIFE WITH IRIS, and CANDIDA will be held Friday, September 6, 2013 at 5:00 pm in the Morgan Theatre. Callbacks are scheduled for Saturday, September 7^th at 10:00 am – location TBA.

Audition Requirements

Audition Sign-Up: Audition sign-up sheets for the General Auditions will be posted outside of the Department of Theatre Arts Office after August 26. Please sign up for a reserved slot before September 5. DO NOT call the department office and ask to have an assistant reserve a spot for you. Plan to arrive at least 15 minutes prior to your scheduled audition time.

Audition Forms are available online or can be filled out prior to your audition time.

Audition Format: Prepared auditions are fully memorized and timed. The total time limit for your audition, including your introduction, is 2 to 2 ½ minutes depending upon the option you choose. Students may choose from the following options (BFA acting students may only choose the first or third option):

• Acting Only: two contrasting monologues; 2 minute maximum time limit
• Singing Only: one song (medium tempo or ballad); 2 minute maximum time limit
  An Accompanist will be provided.
• Combined: one monologue and one song (medium tempo or ballad); 2½ minute maximum time limit.

BFA Requirement: All BFA acting majors are expected to have a fully prepared audition with proper slating. BFA actors are required to audition for all UST productions and accept roles as cast.

Casting: Casting is open to all USU students. Community and faculty actors will be considered only under special circumstances with the approval of the performance faculty and the department head.

Students currently cast in THE LEARNED LADIES cannot be considered for A CATERED AFFAIR, but can be considered for STILL LIFE WITH IRIS and CANDIDA.

Monologues: Avoid monologues with profane language and those with strong sexual content. Choose material that you have a close personal connection to and that reveals your ability to tap into truthful emotion. Comedy should also grow out of an honest response to life—not from contrived humor or jokes. Period (pre-1900) monologues are not appropriate for this audition, nor are original monologues or material taken from film and television. Also, avoid using monologues from monologue collections and/or any pieces you have previously worked for forensics or theatre competitions.

Vocal Audition Information: A CATERED AFFAIR is typical of work being done by a new breed of composers who focus on subtlety and a delicate connection between natural speech and singing. The score is evocative, carrying the listener on an emotional journey that explores through the complexities of family relationships that speak loudly through silence. This is not musical comedy, so you should be looking for songs that are more about revealing subtle emotional shifts than playing out big moments. Ballads and medium tempo songs are better suited to this show than up-tempo numbers.

Additional Information for musical auditions

• DO show off your voice in the best possible light; choose songs that showcase what you already do well.
• DON'T choose material that is out of your comfortable range and DON'T over sing (belting is not blasting).
• DO include your best "money note" in your selection.
• DON'T choose material that has a lot of repetitive musical phrases; you only have a short time to make an impression and we need to hear your vocal range and flexibility, as well as your sense of style.
• DO act your song; DON'T just sing the notes.
• DON'T use overdone material: THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, 25^thANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, WICKED.
• DON'T use material from rock musicals: RENT, JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR, AMERICAN IDIOT, etc.
• DO choose selections that your accompanist can play (selections by composers like Sondheim, Guettel, and Bernstein can be too tricky to sight read and, as a result, your audition may suffer).
• DON'T ask to sing without accompaniment. It is crucial for us to hear your ability to match pitch.
• DO bring music complete with markings so that the accompanist can tell how you will be approaching the selection.
• DO use songs written for the musical theatre only.
• DO become very familiar with the music from both musicals in the UST season in case you are called back, but DON'T use songs from either for your general audition.

Show Information and Casting Needs

A CATERED AFFAIR

Book by Harvey Fierstein | Music and Lyrics by John Bucchino

October 29-31 and November 1-2, 2013 ♦ Caine Lyric Theatre

A CATERED AFFAIR tells the story of a Bronx mother's efforts to give her only daughter the elaborate wedding she never had – and the bride never asked for. In this funny, poignant and oh, so very human show of love and disaffection, Harvey Fierstein's book and John Bucchino's score explore both our need for love and the true meaning of family. The Broadway production received 12 Drama Desk Award nominations, the most of any show of the 2007-2008 season, and was chosen as Best Musical by the New York Drama League.

CAST: 4 men, 6 women (with doubling)

Characters:

STILL LIFE WITH IRIS

By Steven Dietz

December 4-7, 2013 ♦ Morgan Theatre

Still Life with Iris centers on a girl's search for the simplest of things: home. Iris lives with her mother in the land of Nocturno—a magical place in which the workers make, by night, all of the things we see in the world by day. The rulers of Nocturno, the Great Goods, are determined to have the "best" of everything on their island—and take Iris away from her home and bring her to Great Island to be their daughter. To ease the pain of this separation, they remove memories of her home and family. Iris pieces together clues with the help of friends she meets on her journey as she attempts to find her past and return to Nocturno. Ensemble cast portrays multiple adult and child characters.

CAST: 4 men, 4 women, 1 extra

Characters:

CANDIDA

By George Bernard Shaw

Pronounced like combining the words: Candid and Duh with the stress on the first syllable.

February 4-8, 2014 ♦ Caine Lyric Theatre

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

George Bernard Shaw

The play takes place in London in 1894, and the action of the play centers around the lives of Reverend James Morell, his wife Candida, and a young poet, Eugene Marchbanks, whom Morell has recently rescued from the streets. Marchbanks is in love with Candida and reveals this to her and her husband. The rest of the play unfolds as Candida chooses between her husband and the poet.

CAST: 4 men, 2 women

Characters:

Resources:

A limited number of copies of the scripts, librettos, and CDs for these shows are available for 3 hour reserve checkout from the Department of Theatre Arts. Check with the department administrative assistants. The CD for A CATERED AFFAIR is available through Amazon.com. Check the webpage of the Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization (http://www.rnh.com/) for a detailed description. CANDIDA can be found in most bookstores and libraries. Scripts for STILL LIFE WITH IRIS are available through Dramatic Publishing Company, Inc.

CONTACT INFORMATION: