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RUINED
By Lynn Nottage
Director: Tazewell Thompson
First Rehearsal: 1 / 5 / 2015
Opening: 2 / 6 / 2015
Closing: 3 / 8 / 2015
A haunting, probing work about the resilience of the human spirit during times of war. Set in a small mining town in Democratic Republic of Congo, this powerful play follows Mama Nadi, a shrewd businesswoman in a land torn apart by civil war. But is she protecting or profiting by the women she shelters? How far will she go to survive? Can a price be placed on a human life?
Character Description: 8 M, 4 F
• Salima (Female actor – African-American 18-25): A young woman that Christian brings to Mama, she is form the Hema tribe and has a husband from whom she’s been taken and a baby daughter.
• Josephine (Female actor – African-American 18-25): A woman working for Mama, she takes care of the new girls although she is resentful of them and makes little attempt to befriend them.
• Sophie (Female actor – African-American 18-25): A beautiful and defiant girl, she was sexually abused repeatedly by soldiers and is considered to be physically damaged. She is educated and sings in Mama’s place.
• Jerome Kisembe (Male actor – African-American 25-40): A very powerful figure, he is a leader in the rebel militia. He represents the confused situation in the Congo—amidst the fighting against the government.
• Fortune (Male actor – African-American 25-40): Salima’s estranged husband, he left her in the field to buy a pot for her and rebel soldiers took her away as their concubine. He fights as a soldier in the government’s army.
• Simon (Male actor – African-American 25-35): Fortune’s cousin and a soldier beside Fortune in the government’s army, He has known Salima since they were children.
• Christian (Male actor – African-American 35-45): A traveling salesman, he tries to woo Mama with his poetry. He is perpetually cheerful and is described as having good looks that are worn down by a life living on the road.
• Commander Osembenga (Male actor – African-American 35-45): A military leader in the current government, he and his soldiers are fighting the rebels. He is searching for Kisembe.
• Laurent (Male actor – African-American 20-30): Young government soldier working closely with Commander Osembenga, he is quick to carry out his boss’ orders and execute violence where directed.
The following roles are CAST with Resident Acting Company. Performers will be
considered as possible replacements should any become necessary:
• Mama Nadi Female actor – African-American 40-50): A madam and a businesswoman, she projects a majestic quality and elegance. She operates a bar and brothel in the town.
• Mr. Harari (Male actor – 40-55): A Lebanese diamond merchant, he has been coming to Mama Nadi’s for some time and has developed a relationship with Josephine.
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GHOSTS
By Henrik Ibsen
Director: Donald Hicken
First Rehearsal: 3 / 2 / 2015
Opening: 4 / 3 / 2015
Closing: 5 / 3 / 2015
Osvald Alving returns for the dedication of the orphanage to his father's memory and has a flirtation with the maid who, it turns out, is his father's illegitimate daughter. The orphanage burns down, the maid runs off in disgust when she learns the truth about her parentage, and Mrs. Alving is left alone to care for her hopelessly insane son who has fallen prey to the social disease that killed his father.
Character Description: 3 M, 2 F
• Regina (Female actor – 18-25): A servant, ostensibly the daughter of Engstrand, a carpenter. Regina feels that she is above Engstrand, who wants her to return to him and help him run a home for homeless sailors. Regina, ambitious to marry Oswald and improve her station even before the idea has occurred to Oswald, detests Engstrand.
• Pastor Manders (Male actor – 50-60): The pastor of the parish, he reproves Mrs. Alving for deserting her husband and for sending her young son away to become a freethinking artist.
The following roles are CAST with Resident Acting Company. Performers will be considered as possible replacements should any become necessary:
• Mrs. Alving (Female actor – 50-60): An outwardly severe woman whose life has been governed by duty, she is a widow and the mother of an ailing only son. She reads liberal books and has extraordinarily liberal views concerning the possible marriage of her son and his illegitimate half sister, whose identity is known only to Mrs. Alving.
• Osvald (Male actor –20-30) An art student afflicted with a disease, apparently syphilis, contracted or inherited from his father, he reveals to his mother that his mind is being blotted out by the disease. He has inherited his father’s joy of life, now left behind with his art and his freeliving companions abroad. Faced with mental oblivion, he comes home but finds no solace except in the contemplation of a possible marriage and departure with Regina, a young servant.
• Engstrand (Male actor – 45-60): A carpenter paid to marry Regina’s mother, he is a drinking man of no consequence, a rascal.
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BLITHE SPIRIT
By Noel Coward
Director: Vincent M. Lancisi
First Rehearsal: 4 / 27 / 2015
Opening: 5 / 29 / 2015
Closing: 6 / 28 / 2015
This much-revived classic offers up fussy, cantakerous novelist Charles Condomine, re-married but haunted (literally) by the ghost of his late first wife, the clever and insistent Elvira who is called up by a visiting medium, one Madame Arcati. As the worldly and un-worldly personalities clash, Charles' current wife Ruth is accidentally killed, passes over, joins Elvira and the two blithe spirits haunt the hapless Charles into perpetuity.
Character Description: 2 M, 5 F
• Edith (Female actor – 30-50): The maid, she plays a tiny part in the bulk of the play but turns but to be a central character. She, not Charles, has the extrasensory powers that called Elvira back from the dead, and only Edith can make Elvira return.
• Madame Arcati (Female actor – 45-65): The local spiritualist and medium, she is elderly but spry. She bicycles into the play wearing slightly outlandish clothes and talking to an eight-yearold contact on the other side.
• Mrs. Bradman (Female actor – 50-65): Wife of Dr. Bradman, and friend of Charles and Elvira.
The following roles are CAST with Resident Acting Company. Performers will be considered as possible replacements should any become necessary:
• Ruth (Female actor – 25-40): Charles’s second wife, she is witty and sophisticated, and she is quite the society matron. A bit stuffy and a little predictable, she is convinced that Charles has lost his mind when Elvira appears, because at first she can neither see nor hear Elvira.
• Elvira (Female actor – 25-40): The ghost of Charles’s first wife, she is gray from head to toe,
and only Charles can see or hear her. In life, she was spirited, outgoing, wild, and carefree, and In death, she is no different.
• Charles (Male actor – 30-40): A novelist, he is bright, sophisticated, articulate, and debonair but somewhat at the mercy of his wives, past and present.
• Dr. Bradman (Male actor – 50-65): Local doctor and friend of Charles and Elvira.
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