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'Present Laughter' Auditions - Monday & Tuesday, December 4 & 5, 2023
General open auditions for the Beverly Theatre Guild's production of Noel Coward's 'Present Laughter'
Baer Theater at Morgan Park Academy: 2153 W. 111th Street, Chicago.
Please arrive to sign in 15 minutes prior to your audition time slot. Please bring headshot and resume, if available. Note: sign-in slots for 7 - 8 PM are already filled. Please choose a later time slot.
Auditions will consist of readings from the script.
AUDITION SIDES ARE POSTED on the Beverly Theatre Guild website (www.beverlytheatreguild.org/auditions - click on "Download").
Up to 3-minute prepared comic monologues also welcomed.
Roles to be Cast:
Garry Essendine (Lead)
Male. 40-60
A cigarette-holder-wielding matinee idol slipping reluctantly into middle age; self-dramatizing, self-important, and hopelessly self-infatuated.
Liz Essendine (Lead)
Female. 30-50
Garry's (separated) wife; stylish and able to hold her own at a party, alongside (or even in spite of) London's most celebrated, romantic leading man; not easily shaken, gracious, witty, but when she lets her guard down, full hearted; self-possessed and dignified.
Monica Reed
Female. 30-69
Garry's secretary, pal, and confidant; hard working and indispensable to Garry, she tries to be a taskmaster, but must instead be a bastion of patience, albeit with varying degrees of success; she's quite competent and great at managing people, but her stress and the lack of time in a day emerge in a sardonic sense of humor.
Roland Maule
Male. 20-39
An aspiring, experimental playwright who still lives with his parents in Uckfield; his unfulfilled ambition has left him loudly obsessive, quietly jealous, and secretly resentful; human psychology eludes him somewhat, so he's taken to writing dystopian fantasies; lofty and grandiose, he would love to transform the theater to a world of ideas. Seems gamely unaware of social cues or rules regarding personal hygiene. Develops an annoying hero-worship of Garry.
Joanna Lyppiatt
Female. 30-49
Henry's wife; a femme fatale whose appetite for social status is matched only by her other appetites; savvy, coy, yet witty; extremely stylish, she's aware of her sexual prowess and enjoys leaving others feeling destabilized.
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Daphne Stillington
Female. 20-29
Garry's recent dalliance; a pretty, gently-bred debutante who grew up absolutely idolizing Garry Essendine; quirky and shrewd; she truly believes she's meant to be Garry's muse; a budding social climber, she does not realize that her attempts to be more sophisticated than she is are highly transparent; any touch of innocence about her is balanced by her ambition.
Henry Lyppiatt
Male. 40-69
Garry's producer; shrewd and business savvy; hospitable yet proud; after many years of working with Garry, he appreciates him, but would prefer Garry's petulance be managed by someone else; he feels he deserves a wife befitting his success, but doesn't mind indulging a few mistresses on the side.
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Morris Dixon
Male. 30-69
Garry's manager; smart but with a romantic streak; deferential to a point, but not without taste and a sense of the theater's tradition; enjoys being Garry's artistic sounding board; he's fallen deeply and obsessively in love with Joanna and is carrying on with her behind Henry's back.
Miss Erikson
Female. Any adult age
The chain -smoking Scandinavian housekeeper; unfazed and slow-moving; tackling those chores she sits fit, and in her own time; superstitious and eccentric, she enjoys a seance to commune with the dead in her spare time; the living find her strange, and her conversational skills don't alleviate this.
Fred
Male. 20-45
Garry's valet; cockney and cocksure; he's well-meaning and has found his own rhythm to work, regardless of how others might like to have him do things; his active love life, which he loves to boast about, has him spirited and jaunty.
Lady Saltburn
Female. 50-79
Daphne's aristocratic aunt; a model of English propriety; she has helped raise Daphne with the proper values befitting a young woman, but as a patron of the arts, she has indulged Daphne's hope of being an actress.
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