Wheelock Family Theatre 2019-20 Season - Boston, MA EPA
Wheelock Family Theatre
AUDITION DATES
Mon, May 13, 2019
2:00 pm - 10:00 pm (EDT)
Lunch break tbd
Sat, May 18, 2019
10:00 am - 6:00 pm (EDT)
Lunch break tbd
APPOINTMENTS
3-minute appointments To schedule an appointment please email Nick Vargas at Navargas@bu.edu with your preferred date and time. No calls please. Equity members without appointments will be seen throughout the audition day, as time permits.
CONTRACT
LOA $450/week, EMC approved
SEEKING
Wheelock Family Theatre is seeking Equity Actors, for principal roles for our 2019/2020 Season. Strong actors, singers, and dancers are encouraged to audition.
Contemporary casting has been a WFT policy for 38 years. Actors of all ethnicities and abilities are encouraged to audition.
Local Boston area actors are strongly encouraged to audition.
All Stage Management and Assistant Stage Management positions are currently still open (see separate notice on Casting Call for info)
PREPARATION
PLEASE PREPARE
Two 16 bar cuts and a one-minute monologue OR two monologues, no longer than a minute each.
Bring picture and resume.
LOCATION
Wheelock Family Theatre
180 Riverway
Boston, MA 02215-4109
Limited street parking but is accessible by the T, Green Line.
PERSONNEL
In attendance (both have authority to hire SMs)
Emily Ranii, Artistic Director
Nick Vargas, Associate Artistic Director
OTHER
An Equity Monitor will not be provided. The producer will run all aspects of audition.
Equity’s contracts prohibit discrimination. Equity is committed to diversity and encourages all its employers to engage in a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of inclusion. As such, Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to attend every audition.
Always bring your Equity Membership card to auditions.
BREAKDOWN
Wheelock Family Theatre 2019-20 Season
Performance schedule includes weekends as well as weekday school matinees.
Roald Dahl’s WILLY WONKA
Music and Lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley
Adapted for the Stage by Leslie Bricusse and Timothy Allen McDonald
Based on the Book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” by Roald Dahl
Directed by Emily Ranii
Musical Direction by TBA
First Rehearsal: 10/1/2019
Previews: 10/25 - 10/26
Opening: 10/27 @ 2pm
Closing: 11/24 @ 2pm
ADULT ROLES
Willy Wonka – Male 20’s+, The mysterious title character. He is charming, enigmatic, charismatic, and slightly sinister. A chocolatier who guides children and their parents on a tour of his factory. He is looking for someone new to take over his candy empire. Also plays The Candy Man and others.
Grandpa Joe – Male, 40s+, A caring, patient, and kindhearted man. Loving Grandfather to Charlie Bucket. He accompanies Charlie to Willy Wonka's factory which gives him a new burst of youthful vigor.
Mr. Bucket – Male, 30’s+, Charlie Bucket's nurturing, overworked father. He is always trying to maintain an energetic positivity. Also plays either Phineous Trout or Grandpa George.
Ms. Teavee – Female, 30’s+, Mike Teavee’s permissive mother. She is a polished housewife and perfectly put together. Also plays Mrs. Bucket, Grandma Georgina, or Grandma Josephine.
Mrs. Gloop – Female, 30’s+, A plump, jolly German woman with a bustling personality. Augustus Gloop’s overindulgent mother. Also plays Grandma Georgina, Mrs. Bucket, or Grandma Josephine.
Mr. Salt – Female, 30’s+, A wealthy British salesman who regularly flaunts his privilege. Father to Veruca Salt who shamelessly spoils his daughter. Also plays either Grandpa George, or Phineous Trout.
Mrs. Beauregarde – Female, 30’s+, Violet's enthusiastic mother who focuses all her attention on her daughter. She indulges Violet's worst impulses. Also plays Grandma Josephine, Mrs. Bucket, or Grandma Georgina.
YOUTH ROLES*
Charlie Bucket – Male, 9 – 12, Our story's earnest protagonist. From a modest home life, he is humble and noncompetitive while maintaining a sense of wonder about the world. One of the Golden Ticket winners whose honesty and general good nature wins Wonka over.
Augustus Gloop – Male, 9 – 15, A gluttonous German boy. Cheerful and jolly, he defines himself by his ability to eat mass quantities of food.
Mike Teavee – Male, 9 – 15, An obnoxious, hyperactive child addicted to television.
Veruca Salt – Female, 9 – 15, A wealthy, spoiled British girl. She is accustomed to having her father indulge her every whim and desire.
Violet Beauregard – Female, 9 – 15, A show-off with a competitive streak. Violet seizes every opportunity to take risks and be center stage.
Youth Ensemble – Any Gender, 8-18, Townspeople, squirrels, and Oompa-Loompas
*Ages listed reflect the ages of the character and not necessarily the ages of the actors
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LITTLE WOMEN The Broadway Musical
Book by Allan Knee
Music by Jason Howland
Lyrics by Mindi Dickstein
Based on the novel by Louisa May Alcott
Directed by Nick Vargas
Musical Direction by Jon Goldberg
First Rehearsal: 1/7/20
Previews: 1/31 - 2/1/20
Opening: 2/2/20 @ 2pm
Closing: 2/23/20 @ 2pm
Jo March – Female, 18 – 30, the second-oldest March sister. Jo is a passionate young woman, who wants to be a writer. Although she works hard to control both, she has a temper and a quick tongue. A tomboy, Jo reacts with impatience to the many limitations placed on women and girls. She hates romance in her real life and wants nothing more than to hold her family together.
Meg March –Female, 18 – 35, the oldest March sister. Responsible and kind, Meg yearns for a great life and mothers her younger sisters. She has a small weakness for luxury and leisure, but the greater part of her is gentle, loving, and morally vigorous. She marries John Brooke. Also plays Clarissa in the Operatic Tragedy.
Beth March – Female, 14 – 18, the second youngest sister. Beth is a peacemaker, who always sees the good in everyone. Very quiet and very virtuous, she does nothing but try to please others. She adores music and plays the piano very well. Also plays Rodrigo in the Operatic Tragedy.
Amy March – Female, 14 – 18, the youngest sister. Although she does attempt to improve herself as she grows up, Amy is given to pouting, fits of temper, and vanity. She is an artist who adores visual beauty and has a weakness for pretty possessions. She marries Laurie. Also plays The Troll in the Operatic Tragedy.
Laurie (Theodore Laurence III) – Male, 16 – 18, the boy-next-door, who is the same age as Jo. Laurie becomes like a son and brother to the Marches. Charming, clever, and good-hearted, he befriends Jo, but is ultimately rejected when he proposes. He later bonds with Amy. Also plays Rodrigo in the Operatic Tragedy.
Marmee - Female, 40’s +, the strong mother and moral role model for her girls. Marmee councils her daughters through all of their problems and works hard but happily while her husband is at war. She is the backbone of the March family. Also plays The Hag in the Operatic Tragedy
Aunt March – Female, 40’s +, a formidable, overbearing matron and the great-aunt of the March sisters. Aunt March is very rich and cares greatly about society. Although crotchety and difficult, Aunt March loves her nieces and wants the best for them. Also plays Mrs. Kirk, the matron of a boarding house in New York City.
Mr. Laurence – Male, 50’s+, Laurie’s grandfather and the Marches’ next-door neighbor. Mr. Laurence is a stiff and stern elderly man, but he eventually shows his softer side. Also plays The Knight in the Operatic Tragedy.
Professor Bhaer – Male, Mid 20’s – 30’s, a German professor who is quite proper. Professor Bhaer is a boarder in Mrs. Kirk’s boarding house, who ultimately falls in love with Jo.
John Brooke – Male, Mid 20’s – 30’s, Laurie’s tutor. John is a rather stiff man, but capable of showing emotion. Poor but virtuous, he marries Meg. Also plays Braxton in the Operatic Tragedy.
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THE LITTLE PRINCE (In rep with Bud, Not Buddy)
By Rick Cummins and John Scoullar
Adapted from the book by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Directed by Emily Ranii
First Rehearsal: 3/17/20
Previews: 4/8 & 4/9 @ 10:30am
Opening: 4/19/20 @ 2pm
Closing: 5/24/20 @ 2pm
Aviator – Male, 30’s +, an explorer and the narrator of the story. He is a human being disillusioned by the adult world, who, after crashing in the desert, finds himself on a spiritual quest. With the help of the Little Prince, he discovers that he yearns to go back to the childhood pleasures that he gave up to do more “important” grown-up things.
Little Prince – Any Gender, 10-18, will be played as a boy. Imaginative, curious, playful, and sincere, androgynous. Seeking to find answers to the many questions he has, he decides to travel around the galaxy – and encounters different and strange characters all along the way. He misses the Rose that he left behind on a planet far away and longs to return home. Must embody childhood innocence.
Rose/Snake/Ensemble - Female, 18+, Rose is a coy and flirtatious flower who has trouble expressing her love to the Little Prince and resorts to telling dramatic lies to get his attention; off-beat and naive, with flexibility and charm. The snake is very seductive and self-aware of her great power; a constant enigma evoking the serpent from the Bible, she is a personification of death and ultimately sends the prince back to the heavens by biting him. Also plays a diverse range of other playful characters within the Aviator’s and the Little Prince’s imaginations.
Fox/Men on Planets/Ensemble – Male, 18+, Fox is skittish about human hunters, yet wise to the fact that they raise chickens. The paradoxes of the universe bewilder and fascinate him, as he is stuck in the perpetual cycle of: search (for a chicken), run, hide. He is the voice of reason for the Little Prince. From him, he learns that “the essential is invisible to the eyes”. Also plays a range of other playful characters within the Aviator’s and The Little Prince’s imaginations.
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BUD, NOT BUDDY (In rep with The Little Prince)
Adapted by Reginald André Jackson
From the novel by Christopher Paul Curtis
Directed by Dawn M. Simmons
First Rehearsal: 4/8/20
Previews: 428-5/1/20 @ 10:30am
Opening: 5/2/20 @ 2pm
Closing: 5/23/20 @ 2pm
Bud (not Buddy) - Male, 10, An African American boy from Michigan growing up in the foster system during the Great Depression era. Bud misses his mother and desperately wants to find his father. He is smart, resourceful and driven by a quest for a better life.
Herman E. Calloway – Male, 40’s+, A famous African American musician known throughout Grand Rapids Michigan; the man Bud believes to be his father but is actually his grandfather. He embodies the concept of tough love as a means to survive.
Adult Ensemble – Any Gender, 18+, African American & Caucasian actors to play a variety of character’s in Bud’s life.
Youth Ensemble – Any Gender, 10 – 16, African American young actors to play a variety of characters in Bud’s life.
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Equity’s contracts prohibit discrimination. Equity is committed to diversity and encourages all its employers to engage in a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of inclusion. As such, Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to audition.
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