Mesa Encore Theatre Black Box Performance Space Audition Notice
Suddenly Last Summer
By Tennessee Williams
Directed by Jean-Paoul C. Clemente
Monday April 29th Selected time slots beginning at 7pm
Audition will be held at the Black Box located at 933 E. Main St Mesa AZ
Callbacks Tuesday April 30th 7pm
Rehearsals begin May 2nd
Production date run June 7th to the 23rd 2019
Please select time slot below - 8 Actors per time slot
7:00pm Time slot
7:30pm Time slot
8:00pm Time slot
8:30pm Time slot
What to Prepare and Expect
Actors can either present (1) One Monologue of their choice in the Style of the play or
Present (1) One of the selected Monologues attached
*monologues do not need to be memorized, but Actors must show they have studied the text and familiar with the piece
Please go to Casting Manager Link to Sign Up for time Slot
http://castingmanager.com/audition/info/yhFdD14fRAiwT6N
Contact jpaoul.toby.clemente@gmail.com with any further questions
Show Synopsis
New Orleans, 1937. Catherine Holly is a young woman institutionalized for a severe emotional disturbance that came about when her cousin, Sebastian Venable, died under questionable circumstances while they were on holiday in Spain a few months earlier. The late Sebastian's wealthy mother, Violet Venable, makes every effort to deny and suppress a potentially sordid truth about her son and his demise. Toward this end, she attempts to coerce Dr. John Cukrowicz, into lobotomizing her niece, thereby removing any chance that the events surrounding her son's death might be revealed. In one of Tennessee Williams' most haunting pieces of writing, how far will a mother go to preserve her son's reputation?
*Selected Monologues from Tennessee Williams plays will also be presented in this production
Character Breakdown
MRS. VIOLET VENABLE - A wealthy Southern matron of the New Orleans Garden District, mother of the late Sebastian Venable. Violet is devastated by Sebastian’s rejection and death and most of all by Catharine’s story of what happened that last summer, a story that is destroying the legend of everything for which Violet has lived. Violet has been accustomed to getting her own way and will use any means at her disposal to get it.
CATHERINE HOLLY - Catharine is the cousin of Sebastian and niece of Mrs. Venable. Last summer she accompanied Sebastian on his fatal trip abroad and tentatively yet knowingly procured street children with whom Sebastian performed sexual acts. At the end of the play the audience are left to ponder whether Catharine is legitimately insane or whether her story was the truth and she is being placed in the facility to stop the truth being revealed.
DR. CUKROWICZ – A Polish-American psychologist who has been summoned to Mrs. Venable’s home to witness Catharine’s apparently insane babblings. Cukrowicz is Polish for ‘sugar’, which is symbolic as his handsome looks and gentle questioning make him ‘sweet.’ Dr. Cukrowicz is not the villain of the play, although he does believe that a lobotomy is a leap forward in medical innovation.
MRS. HOLLY - Catharine’s mother. She also insists that Catharine not tell the story about Sebastian so that her family can receive their inheritance. Throughout the play she tries hard to soothe and settle Catharine into a less irritable state in order to satisfy Mrs. Venable.
GEORGE HOLLY - Catharine’s brother. He has come to Mrs. Venable’s home in an attempt to silence his sister from telling the story. If Catharine changes her story they will both receive $50, 000 from Sebastian’s will.
MISS FOXHILL - Mrs. Venable's maid. SISTER FELICITY - Catherine's caretaker from St. Mary's.
Miss Foxhill is a servant who is bossed around by the sharp-tongued and particular Mrs. Venable. Sister Felicity is the nun who has been assigned to looking after Catharine at St. Mary’s Sanatorium. Their lines in the play are minimal, *however their presence is important as they embody the idea that we are all watching and being watched.
*The Director’s vision for this production is that All Actors are seen throughout the play. Trapped if you will, within the Venable household and the story that unravels within it. The audience will be placed throughout the acting space…watching and being watched.
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