Great River Educational Arts Theatre (G.R.E.A.T. Theatre)
AUDITION INFORMATION
GREAT Theatre is seeking community performers ages ten through sixteen to audition for our May 2012 production of William Shakespeare’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. Auditions are open to everyone (of all ethnicities) and will be conducted at GREAT Studios, downtown St. Cloud. This production is a non-musical recommended for youth actors who really want to challenge themselves with a hilarious and creative staging of Shakespeare’s beautiful language.
SHOW: A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
AUDITION DATES: Mon. March 26th 6:00pm and Tues. March 27th at 6:00pm. Please arrive 10 minutes prior to the audition time, with a monologue which will be online by Feb. 26th)
Call-Backs (If Needed): Wed. March 28th at 6:00pm.
*A Call-back invites some people who auditioned to be come back and audition again. Please check greattheatre.org on Wed. March 28th at Noon at to see if your name is on the call-back list. A call-back does not mean you DID or DID NOT get a role, it is just a chance for the directors to see you audition for a specific role.
WHAT TO PREPARE:
Everyone will need to prepare a Shakespeare monologue, which will be online here on February 26th.
DIRECTOR: Chris Brown
STAGE MANAGER: Michelle Carlson
DESCRIPTION: One of William Shakespeare's most hilarious and enchanting works comes to the stage in a production created especially for students. Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night's Dream is a whimsical story of love, mischief, matchmaking and magic as four young lovers enter the woods on a midsummer's night and get caught up in a lover's quarrel between the king and queen of faeries. Expect the unexpected with our fanciful, glimmering vision of laughter and mayhem in this classic turned modern comedic fantasy.
Characters (in order of appearance):
The Fairies
Puck- Also known as Robin Goodfellow, Puck is Oberon’s jester, a mischievous fairy who delights in playing pranks on mortals. His antics are responsible for many of the complications in the play.
Oberon-The king of the fairies. Oberon’s desire for revenge on Titania leads him to send Puck to obtain the love-potion flower that creates so much of the play’s confusion and farce.
Titania-The beautiful queen of thefairies. Titania’s falls in love with Nick Bottom, whose head Puck has transformed into that of a donkey.
Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Mote, and Mustardseed and other fairies – fairies who attend to Titania.
The Lovers
Lysander-A young man of Athens, in love with Hermia. He cannot mary her because her father wishes her to wed Demetrius. When Lysander and Hermia run away into the forest, Lysander becomes the victim of misapplied magic and wakes up in love with Helena.
Demetrius-A young man of Athens, initially in love with Hermia but then discovers he is actually in love with Helena
Hermia-Egeus’s daughter, a young woman of Athens. Hermia is in love with Lysander and is a childhood friend of Helena. As a result of the fairies’ mischief with Oberon’s love potion, both Lysander and Demetrius suddenly fall in love with Helena.
Helena-A young woman of Athens, inlove with Demetrius. Demetrius and Helena were once betrothed, but when Demetrius met Helena’s friend Hermia, he fell in love with her and abandoned Helena. Lacking confidence in her looks, Helena thinks that Demetrius and Lysander are mocking her when the fairies’ mischief causes them to fall in love with her.
The Royals
Egeus- Hermia’s father, who brings a complaint against his daughter to Theseus: Egeus has given Demetrius permission to marry Hermia, but Hermia, in love with Lysander, refuses to marry Demetrius.
Theseus-The heroic duke of Athens,engaged to Hippolyta. Theseus represents power and order throughout the play. He appears only at the beginning and end of the story, removed from the dreamlike events of the forest.
Hippolyta-The legendary queen of the Amazons, engaged to Theseus.
Philostrate-Theseus’s Master of the Revels, responsible for organizing the entertainment for the duke’s marriage celebration.
The Mechanicals or Craftsmen
Nick Bottom-The overconfident weaver chosen to play Pyramus in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. Bottom is full of advice and self-confidence but frequently makes silly mistakes and misuses language.
Peter Quince-A carpenter and the leader of the craftsmen’s attempt to put on a play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. Quince is often shoved aside by the abundantly confident Bottom. During thecraftsmen’s play, Quince plays the Prologue.
Francis Flute-The bellows-mender chosen to play Thisbe in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. Forced to play a young girl in love, the bearded craftsman determines to speak hislines in a high, squeaky voice.
Robin Starveling-The tailor chosen to play Thisbe’s mother in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. He ends up playing the part of Moonshine.
Tom Snout-The tinker chosen to play Pyramus’s father in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. He ends up playing the part of Wall, dividing the two lovers.
Snug-The joiner chosen to play the lion in the craftsmen’s play for Theseus’s marriage celebration. Snug worries that his roaring will frighten the ladies in the audience.
REHEARSAL SCHEDULE: ALL rehearsals will take place downtown St. Cloud at GREAT Studios. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays from 6-8:30pm and Saturdays 10am-3pm. Actors will need to go to the Stephen B. Humphrey Theatre for technical rehearsals and performances beginning May 14th for one week. Not every actor will be called for every rehearsal, please note conflicts on your audition form. We will work around as many conflicts as we can.
PUBLIC PERFORMANCES: This production is a small time-commitment with only THREE public performances Fri. May 18th 7:00pm, Sat. May 19th 2:00pm and Sun. May 20th 2:00pm.
DAYTIME PERFORMANCES: There is ONE day of School Matinee performances on Fri. May 18th 9:30am & Noon.