FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Sept. 13, 2017
Contact: Lisa Joyce, 503-485-4300, [email protected]
Pentacle Theatre to hold open auditions for Dancing at Lughnasa
What: Open auditions for Dancing at Lughnasa, by Brian Friel.
When: 1 p.m., Oct. 28.
Where: Pentacle Theatre
324 52nd Ave. NW, off Highway 22
About 6 miles west of downtown Salem, Oregon
Casting: Five women and three men able to play ages 20s-60s.
For a full list of parts, genders and ages, please visit the Pentacle Theatre website at pentacletheatre.org. Click on “Auditions” at the top of the page.
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 ext. 22 to arrange for pickup.
Those auditioning should bring a list of calendar conflicts through Feb. 10. If you have a conflict on the audition date, please contact the director, below.
Callbacks (if needed): To be announced.
Rehearsals: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., Sundays through Wednesdays at Pentacle Theatre’s rehearsal studio in downtown Salem. The director will set weekend rehearsals and work sessions as needed.
Show dates: Friday, Jan. 19, through Saturday, Feb. 10.
About the show: Dancing at Lughnasa is a powerful memory play set in the summer of 1936, the last time the five Irish Mundy sisters were together. It is a summer of changes: Uncle Jack returns from a long mission in Abyssinia, their first radio brings music into the home and a young man with a lust for adventure returns for a visit. Dancing at Lughnasa is a story told by youngest sister’s son, whose memories of this fateful summer transports the audience back in time to meet these strong women and their family. He says at the end, “What fascinates me about that memory is that it owes nothing to fact. In that memory atmosphere is more real than incident and everything is simultaneously actual and illusory…Dancing as if language no longer exists because words were no longer necessary.” We invite you to join us on this magical journey of memory, illusion and dancing.
Cast of Characters:
The director will cast five women and three men able to play able to play the following roles:
- Michael: 30’s – 40’s. The narrator through whom we see the events of this summer of 1936. Michael is strong, yet wistful. We see the Mundy family through his eyes. Michael has several multi-page monologues and answers as his younger self.
- Kate: upper 40’s. Kate is the eldest sister, tight and prim. She is a schoolteacher and contributes the most to the family income. Respected by her sisters, she is clearly the head of the family.
- Maggie: late 30’s – 40’s. Second eldest and chief homemaker. While Kate works outside the home, Maggie takes care of everything inside the home. Fun-loving, with a serious side, Maggie carries the defusing jokes when things become tense.
- Agnes: 30’s. Third sister, the quiet one. Agnes is the main sister who looks after Rose. She and Rose take in knitting to help the family supplement their income. Agnes is patient and kind to Rose and is particularly suspicious of Chris’ beau, Gerry.
- Rose: early 30’s. The fourth sister, Rose has a developmental disability as described in the script. Her main caretaker is Agnes with whom she is particularly close. She helps Agnes with the knitting and is a delightful character.
- Christina (Chris): 20’s. The youngest of the sisters, Chris has a child, Michael, out of wedlock. Her beau has a lust for adventure, quick money and travel and she is easily swept off her feet by his attentions. She is a good mother to young Michael, but her sisters often chide her carefree outlook.
- Gerry: 20’s-30’s. Gerry is the wanderlust who breezes into the Mundy household between adventures. We see him several times during this summer of 1936 and each time he brings tales of his success, his plans for the future and the promise of a bike for young Michael.
- Uncle Jack: 50’s. Uncle Jack, a priest, has spent most of his adult time at a mission in Abyssinia in Africa. Sent home because he could no longer distinguish Catholic ritual from native, he spends the last summer of his life with his five sisters re-learning English and presenting a reason why the local priest no longer visits the family.
For more information: If you have questions or you have a conflict on the audition date, please contact director Loriann Schmidt or call 503-881-4154.
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