Audition notice - NATIVE SON and HIR - Stray Cat Theatre - January 15

STRAY CAT ANNOUNCES AUDITIONS FOR
NATIVE SON and HIR
the final 2 shows in our 2016-2017 Season

WHEN
Sunday, January 15th, 12pm-6pm
Callbacks will be on January 16th at 6pm for NATIVE SON and Tuesday, January 17th at 6pm for HIR

WHERE
Childsplay Campus of Imagination and Wonder
900 S. Mitchell Dr. Tempe, Arizona 85281

ROLES AVAILABLE:

For NATIVE SON
5 M, 4 F
The role of Mr. Dalton has already been cast

BIGGER - African-American male of 20
THE BLACK RAT - African-American male 20s, the voice inside Bigger’s head
MARY - Caucasian female, early 20s, edgy and simultaneously precious
JAN - Caucasian male, 30s, well-intentioned with an edge; plays a variety of roles
HANNAH - African-American female, early 40s, tough, broken, the edge of anger; plays a variety of roles
BUDDY - African-American male to play teens, soft, a follower; plays a variety of roles
BESSIE - African-American female to play teens to mid 20s, alcoholic; also plays VER and a variety of roles
MRS. DALTON - Caucasian female, late 40s to early 50s, blind and well-intentioned; plays a variety of roles
BRITTEN - Caucasian male, 40s-50s, main investigator, thrives on mischief; plays a variety of roles

For HIR
2 M, 1 F, 1 Trans F to M
Max Connor – any ethnicity, to play 17, transgender masculine child of Paige and Arnold; sibling to Isaac. Max is now homeschooled by Paige and is extremely isolated in this suburban town. Max wants to escape hir hometown and forge a life in a more progressive environment. Max attempts to stand up to Arnold, a formerly abusive father who sent Max to the emergency room three times. Max does this through intellectual means and (for the most part) following Paige’s anti-orthodox rules. *****The actor playing Max should be someone who was born a biological female and now identifies as transgender or gender-queer.*****

Isaac Connor – any ethnicity, to play 22, cisgender (identifying as your biological gender) son of Paige and Arnold; Max's brother. Neither popular nor a complete outcast in high school, Isaac could not find a job or afford to go to college after graduating. Isaac has just returned from two years in the Afghan war, where he worked in Mortuary Affairs caring for the body parts of marines killed in combat. He was dishonorably discharged after getting caught using a methamphetamine. Isaac seeks to reassert his father’s values of order and cleanliness, despite Paige’s wishes. He’s overwhelmed by Max’s transition, but does his best to understand. He was looking forward to coming home to his family, but home is not at all as he left it.

Paige Connor – any ethnicity, to play 55, cisgender (identifying as your biological gender) female; Max and Isaac's mother and Arnold's wife. After years of suffering abuse from her husband Arnold, Paige revels in the liberation from her oppressive marriage and housekeeping obligations after Arnold’s stroke. She sees freedom in losing the label of “wife”, and enforces house rules that are the direct opposite of Arnold’s (he demanded order, she thrives on mess). She dresses Arnold in old nightgowns and puts heavy make up on him every day to fully assert her dominance. She perceives herself as hip (she’s not), and truly attempts to understand and also to co-opt Max’s transition to forge her own ideals for the future. *****(PLEASE NOTE WE WILL BE SEEING EQUITY ACTRESSES FOR THIS ROLE. THERE IS A POTENTIAL GUEST APPEARANCE CONTRACT AVAILABLE.)*****

Arnold Connor – any ethnicity, to play 58, cisgender (identifying as your biological gender) male; Isaac and Max's father and Paige's husband. Arnold was an angry and violent man, but has had a stroke, which has affected his ability to communicate verbally and care for himself. His home used to run entirely by his iron fist, but now he is dependent on Paige and Max to care for him and they don’t. He often tries to escape from the house, but never succeeds. When he feels something, he feels it with no censor. Like a young child, he easily switches from complete joy to complete sorrow and back again within the course of a brief moment.

PLEASE PREPARE
Auditions will consist of cold readings from the scripts.
Sides will be sent when your audition appointment is scheduled.
Be sure to provide ALL of the information requested.

TO SCHEDULE AN AUDITION
DO NOT CALL!
SEND AN EMAIL WITH THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION.
IF YOU ARE MISSING ANY OF THE INFORMATION REQUESTED YOUR APPOINTMENT WILL NOT BE SCHEDULED:
1. NAME
2. SHOW(S)/ROLE(S) YOU ARE INTERESTED IN AUDITIONING FOR
3. GENERAL TIME YOU WOULD LIKE TO SCHEDULE YOUR AUDITION. (We will do our best to accommodate these requests.)
4. A PHONE NUMBER TO REACH YOU
REMEMBER THIS EMAIL MUST HAVE ALL OF THIS INFORMATION OR YOUR APPOINTMENT WILL NOT BE SCHEDULED. YOU WILL RECEIVE CONFIRMATION WITHIN 24 HOURS OR BY MONDAY MORNING IF YOU SEND FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY.

EMAIL: rmay@straycattheatre.org

PAY
There is a small stipend for all actors cast.

ABOUT THE SHOWS:
NATIVE SON
By Nambi E. Kelley
adapted from the novel by Richard Wright
March 10 - 25, 2017
at The Helen K Mason Performing Arts Center
Directed by Ron May

Some things just haven’t changed.
Stray Cat is purring like crazy to bring this powerhouse new work to the Valley. Suffocating in rat-infested poverty on the South Side of Chicago in the 1930s, 20-year-old Bigger Thomas struggles to find a place for himself in a world whose prejudice has shut him out. After taking a job in a wealthy white man's house, Bigger unwittingly unleashes a series of events that violently and irrevocably seal his fate. Adapted with theatrical ingenuity by Chicago's Nambi E. Kelley, Richard Wright's iconic novel about oppression, freedom, and justice bursts to life on stage in this ground-breaking and shattering new adaptation The Chicago Tribune hailed as “…gutsy, powerful, relentless, profoundly disturbing.”

HIR
by Taylor Mac
April 28 – May 13, 2017
at the Tempe Center for the Arts
Directed by Ron May

Top 10 Best Theatre of 2015 – New York Times
Top 10 Best Theatre of 2015 – Time Out New York
Top 10 Best Theatre of 2015 – New York Magazine
Change can be very, very, very messy.
Somewhere in the suburbs, Isaac has returned from the war to help take care of his ailing father, only to discover a household in revolt. The insurgent: his mom. Liberated from an oppressive marriage, with Isaac’s newly out transgender sibling as her ally, she’s on a crusade to dismantle the patriarchy. But in Taylor Mac’s sly, subversive comedy, annihilating the past doesn’t always free you from it. You won’t want to miss out on this subversive, hilarious implosion of the nuclear family. “Perhaps no play this year inspired a greater sense of awe....” – The New York Times