Auditions for BRIGHTON BEACH MEMOIRS at Fountain Hills Theater announced for June 29 & 30

AUDITION DATES:

Saturday, June 29 at 12pm and Sunday, June 30 at 6pm

Callbacks (if required) Monday, July 2 at 7pm

Rehearsals Begin July 20 at 2pm

PRODUCTION DATES:

August 16 – September 1, 2024

Performances Thursday, Friday, Saturday at 7:30pm and Sunday at 2pm

A Play in the Mainstage Too! Theater

Sign Up HERE Via Our Digital Audition Form

Part One of Neil Simon’s autobiographical trilogy. Eugene Jerome, living with his family in Brooklyn dreams of baseball and girls. He must cope with his formidable mother, overworked father, and his worldly older brother. Throw in his widowed Aunt Blanche, her two daughters and you have a recipe for hilarity, served up Simon-style.

To audition:

Auditioners are asked to prepare a short (Less than 1 minute) monologue and be prepared to read cold from the script.

Auditioners should:

– Completed digital audition form (at this link), or the link above)

– Headshot, and resume if available and not already submitted via link above

Video Auditions:

Must be submitted prior to June 29, and may substitute for appearing at the Saturday and Sunday auditions. Auditioners must be available to attend in-person callbacks July 2 if required. Video should include a short monologue, and be uploaded with a headshot, and a resume (if available) when filling out the digital audition form linked above.

FHT seeks to include persons of every race, color, culture, age, gender, creed, physical disability, and sexual orientation. Character ages are not set in stone and all roles are open to all ethnicities unless otherwise stated. Actors should consider roles if they feel they can represent the characters and age range listed.

CASTING FOR:

Note: The role of Eugene Jerome has been pre-cast. Elias Matthews, the star of FHT’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, will be playing Eugene through the trilogy.

We will also be presenting the third of the Neil Simon trilogy, Broadway Bound. (Feb. 28 – Mar. 16, 2025). Broadway Bound features many of the same characters in Brighton Beach Memoirs and we would like to carry over as much of the cast as possible.

Kate Jerome — 40

Kate is an archetypal Jewish mother. She is around forty years old, vibrant, capable and the wearer of the pants in the Jerome household. Kate keeps the family together and also makes sure that everyone is pulling their weight in the home, aside from Laurie whom she never asks anything of because of her heart palpitations. Kate knows what she thinks is right and will not deviate from her beliefs or opinions. One of these opinions is that her sister should not date their neighbor because he has an alcohol problem of which she disapproves.

Jack Jerome — 40

Jack is finding the influx of relatives into his home extremely stressful and it is also detrimental to his health, not because he finds it hard to get along with the family – generally he seems to like them and get along well with them at home – but because their moving in has created a financial issue within the household, and has to take on a second, stressful job in order to bring enough money home to support everyone. His primary job is also very stressful and consequently his health is being negatively affected by the familial changes he is experiencing. Although he is the “man of the house” he is largely managed by his wife. Jack is an honorable, hard-working man who feels a huge responsibility to take care of his family.

Stanley Jerome — 18

Stanley has just turned eighteen as is already finding that the workplace is not always a fun place, at least, not when you are the youngest employee and your boss is a tyrant. He has recently stood up to his boss and this has not gone down well at his job. He is experiencing some difficulties and worries that he might lost his job, which is worrying since the wage he brings in is something that his family have come to rely upon. He and Eugene have a traditional sibling relationship, in that they bicker and are rivals but also feel a strong bond and loyalty to each other.

Laurie Morton – 13

Laurie is the younger of the Morton sisters. She is Eugene’s cousin and has recently moved into his home because of her father’s death. Laurie has heart palpitations and although she is probably perfectly capable of helping around the house, uses her medical issues as a reason for sitting out chores. She is a source of continual annoyance to Eugene and the two do not have an easy relationship.

Nora Morton — 16

Norah is beautiful, charismatic and has stars in her eyes. Her dream is to be a dancer on Broadway, but it is unlikely that she will be able to pursue this goal because her family will need her to get a solid, reliable job and contribute to the household. She is aware that Eugene has a crush on her and sometimes exploits this to her own advantage.

Aunt Blanche Morton — 38

Aunt Blanche is recently widowed. She is also a little deaf, which makes communicating with her a bit of a hit and miss affair. She has decided that the best way to get over losing her husband is to begin dating again and the object of her desires is the family’s next-door neighbor, of whom Kate is extremely disapproving because of his issues with drinking. This does not seem to put Aunt Blanche off dating him and this determination causes more than a little friction in the family..