audition notice - THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST - Hale Centre Theatre - January 6

Hale Centre Theatre will hold auditions for The Importance of Being Earnest, playing April 5, 2018 – May 12, 2018. The show is produced by David and Corrin Dietlein, directed by Cambrian James and casting directors David and Corrin Dietlein. Performances are Wednesday through Saturday nights, with 3:00 PM Friday and Saturday matinees. All ethnicities are encouraged to audition.

SYNOPSIS

It’s the story of two bachelors, John ‘Jack’ Worthing and Algernon ‘Algy’ Moncrieff, who create alter egos named Ernest to escape their tiresome lives. They attempt to win the hearts of two women who, conveniently, claim to only love men called Ernest. The pair struggle to keep up with their own stories and become tangled in a tale of deception, disguise and misadventure. With a few new twists, this funny, and at times absolutely hilarious comedy, will delight one and all!

Audition Information: Saturday, January 6th

●       The audition will consist of side readings. Sides will be provided. Please prepare 1 side to read.

●       Please be familiar with the play.

●       Read the breakdowns and bring your best characters to the audition.

●       Dance or singing will not be required at the audition.

●       The casting directors use Casting Manager during the casting process. Please post your head shot and resume to your Casting Manager profile.

Call Backs

Call backs for The Importance of Being Earnest will be held Saturday, January 13th at 10:00 AM with the first read through scheduled for Monday, February 19th at 7:00 PM.

Audition Location

Auditions will be held at the theater located at 50 West Page Avenue in Gilbert.

How to make an appointment

CLICK HERE to sign up for an appointment

Payment

Each adult actor 16 years of age and older will receive a payment of $25.00 per performance.

Other Notes

Runtime: Approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes. Auditions are by appointment only. Any questions may be emailed to auditions@haletheatrearizona.com.

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN

JOHN WORTHING, J.P.: (25-35) The play’s protagonist. Jack Worthing is a seemingly responsible and respectable young man who leads a double life. In Hertfordshire, where he has a country estate, Jack is known as Jack. In London he is known as Ernest. As a baby, Jack was discovered in a handbag in the cloakroom of Victoria Station by an old man who adopted him and subsequently made Jack guardian to his granddaughter, Cecily Cardew. Jack is in love with his friend Algernon’s cousin, Gwendolen Fairfax. The initials after his name indicate that he is a Justice of the Peace.

ALGERNON MONCRIEFF: (25-35) The play’s secondary hero. Algernon is a charming, idle, decorative bachelor, nephew of Lady Bracknell, cousin of Gwendolen Fairfax, and best friend of Jack Worthing, whom he has known for years as Ernest. Algernon is brilliant, witty, selfish, amoral, and given to making delightful paradoxical and epigrammatic pronouncements. He has invented a fictional friend, “Bunbury,” an invalid whose frequent sudden relapses allow Algernon to wriggle out of unpleasant or dull social obligations.

REVEREND CANON CHASUBLE, D.D.: (30-45) The rector on Jack’s estate. Both Jack and Algernon approach Dr. Chasuble to request that they be christened “Ernest.” Dr. Chasuble entertains secret romantic feelings for Miss Prism. The initials after his name stand for “Doctor of Divinity.”

MERRIMAN (Butler): (25-40) The butler at the Manor House, Jack’s estate in the country. Merriman appears only in Acts II and III.

LANE (Manservant): (25-40) Algernon’s manservant. When the play opens, Lane is the only person who knows about Algernon’s practice of “Bunburying.” Lane appears only in Act I.

LADY BRACKWELL: (45-60) Algernon’s snobbish, mercenary, and domineering aunt and Gwendolen’s mother. Lady Bracknell married well, and her primary goal in life is to see her daughter do the same. She has a list of “eligible young men” and a prepared interview she gives to potential suitors. Like her nephew, Lady Bracknell is given to making hilarious pronouncements, but where Algernon means to be witty, the humor in Lady Bracknell’s speeches is unintentional. Through the figure of Lady Bracknell, Wilde manages to satirize the hypocrisy and stupidity of the British aristocracy. Lady Bracknell values ignorance, which she sees as “a delicate exotic fruit.” When she gives a dinner party, she prefers her husband to eat downstairs with the servants. She is cunning, narrow-minded, authoritarian, and possibly the most quotable character in the play.

HONORABLE GWENDOLEN FAIRFAX: (20-30) Algernon’s cousin and Lady Bracknell’s daughter. Gwendolen is in love with Jack, whom she knows as Ernest. A model and arbiter of high fashion and society, Gwendolen speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste and morality. She is sophisticated, intellectual, cosmopolitan, and utterly pretentious. Gwendolen is fixated on the name Ernest and says she will not marry a man without that name.

CECILY CARDEW: (20-30) Jack’s ward, the granddaughter of the old gentlemen who found and adopted Jack when Jack was a baby. Cecily is probably the most realistically drawn character in the play. Like Gwendolen, she is obsessed with the name Ernest, but she is even more intrigued by the idea of wickedness. This idea, rather than the virtuous-sounding name, has prompted her to fall in love with Jack’s brother Ernest in her imagination and to invent an elaborate romance and courtship between them.

MISS PRISM (Governess): (45-55) Cecily’s governess. Miss Prism is an endless source of pedantic bromides and clichés. She highly approves of Jack’s presumed respectability and harshly criticizes his “unfortunate” brother. Puritan though she is, Miss Prism’s severe pronouncements have a way of going so far over the top that they inspire laughter. Despite her rigidity, Miss Prism seems to have a softer side. She speaks of having once written a novel whose manuscript was “lost” or “abandoned.” Also, she entertains romantic feelings for Dr. Chasuble.

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DIRECTOR BIO

Cambrian James is well-known for his versatile staging throughout the Valley and nationally. He is a multi-award winning director and choreographer for Tarzan, The Wizard of Oz, Footloose, Damn Yankees and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Cambrian has enjoyed a long career as an actor and dancer in Annie (Daddy Warbucks), Crazy For You (Bobby Child), The King and I (the King) and Hairspray (Edna Turnblad).