What:  Open auditions for Fools, a comedy written by Neil Simon. Directed by Dani Potter.

When: 1 p.m., Saturday, March 16.

Where: Pentacle Theatre
324 52nd Ave. NW, off Highway 22
About 6 miles west of downtown Salem, Oregon

Casting:  Seven males, three females. For a full list of parts, genders and ages, see the end of this post.

Auditions:  Actors will read from the script, copies of which are available on loan at the Pentacle Theatre Business Office, 145 Liberty St. NE in downtown Salem for a $10 refundable deposit. Call 503-485-4300 to arrange for pickup.

  • Lobby doors open at 12:30 p.m. Open auditions for all roles begin promptly at 1 p.m. and may run as late as 5 p.m.
  • Plan to arrive early to fill out an audition form. We encourage you to download a copy at pentacletheatre.org/auditions and complete it in advance. Please write clearly, especially your contact information. Headshots and resumes are not required, but always appreciated.
  • Please bring a list of calendar conflicts through June 15. If you have a conflict on the audition date, please contact the director, below.

Callbacks: TBA if needed.

Rehearsals: Generally, 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays beginning Oct. 22 at Pentacle Theatre’s rehearsal studio in downtown Salem. The director will set weekend rehearsals and work sessions as needed.
Rehearsals will be scheduled to make the best use of everyone’s time, especially for actors in school. Only actors needed for scheduled scenes will be required at rehearsals, and we’ll release actors as early as possible. As we get farther into rehearsals, we’ll need everybody there so we can run the whole show. If you have questions or concerns about rehearsals, please contact director Dani Potter. Cast members may be required to make special appearances for marketing purposes in the weeks before the show opens.

Show dates:  Friday, May 24-Saturday, June 15, 2019.

About the show: Leon Tolchinsky is ecstatic. He’s landed a terrific teaching job in the idyllic Ukrainian hamlet of Kulyenchikov. When he arrives, he finds people sweeping dust from the stoops back into their houses, and milking cows upside down to get more cream. The town has been cursed with Chronic Stupidity for 200 years and Leon’s job is to break the curse. No one tells him that if he stays in the village for more than 24 hours and fails to break the curse, he too becomes stupid. Problem is, he has fallen in love with his student, Sophia, a girl so stupid that she has only recently learned how to sit down. Source: Samuel French

Pentacle Theatre’s production of Fools is generously sponsored by Rich Ford

Suitability: This Neil Simon comic fable is suitable for general audiences.

Cast of Characters:      Ten actors able to play the following roles:

  • Leon Tolchinsky — An ambitious young schoolteacher, newly arrived in the village of Kulyenchikov. He’s been hired to educate the village doctor’s daughter, Sophia.
  • Snetsky — An unintelligent shepherd.
  • Magistrate —The unwise village judge.
  • Slovitch — An idiotic butcher.
  • Mishkin — A foolish postman.
  • Yenchna — A ridiculous
  • Zubritsky — The dimwitted village doctor.
  • Lenya Zubritsky — The doctor’s equally dimwitted wife.
  • Sophia Zubritsky — The doctor’s beautiful young daughter, who is so stupid she just recently learned to sit down.
  • Count Gregor Yousekevitch — Ancestor of the man who cast the curse of stupidity on the village of Kulyenchikov. Last in the line of Yousekevitches.

Information:  If you have questions or a conflict on the audition date, please contact director Dani Potter at foolspentacletheatre@gmail.com.