THE COMMUNITY PLAYERS OF CONCORD, NH
ANNOUNCE AUDITIONS FOR
“THE GODS OF COMEDY”
Directed by: Betty Lent
AUDITION INFORMATION
WHEN: Sunday, December 8 and Monday, December 9, 2024 — 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: The Community Players Studio, 435 Josiah Bartlett Road, Concord, NH (For directions to the Studio, please CLICK HERE)
WHAT: These auditions are for a February 2025 production of The Gods of Comedy at the Concord City Auditorium. Performances will be February 14 (Valentine’s Day!), 15, and 16, 2025.
Show Synopsis: What do you do when you’re a Classics professor at one of the greatest universities in America and find a long lost manuscript by Euripides that will make you famous throughout the world? You lose it, of course. And then you call on the Ancient Greek Gods of Comedy to get you out of the mess. For young professor Daphne Rain, the first surprise is that the gods show up. And the second surprise is that any two people – even if they are gods – can wreak so much havoc on one university. The Ivy League will never be the same as a pair of screwball deities encounters the carnal complexity of college coeds, campus capers, and conspicuous consumption.
Audition Details
- Please be familiar with both of the monologues below. Not necessary to memorize, but you will be asked to present them at your audition, as well as to cold read scenes from the script, which will be provided. There is also a list of character descriptions below which might be helpful as you consider auditioning.
- At auditions, folks will be called in the order that they sign in.
- Rehearsals – There will be read throughs December 16 and 17 with rehearsals three to four nights per week beginning in January 2025. Be aware that this is the winter show, so inclement weather may disrupt the rehearsal schedule. Flexibility is a must!
- Rehearsals generally will last from 6:30 to 9 pm except during tech week.
- Please bring your calendar to inform us of any conflicts you might have.
- These are open auditions – racial, ethnic and non-traditional casting will be considered.
- Questions or for further information email Director Betty Lent at bettylent54@gmail.com
COVID-19 Info
To help protect the health and safety of all participants and to minimize potential disruptions to our productions due to illness, cast and production team members are expected to adhere to Covid-19 and influenza protocols set by the Players board of directors from time to time. These protocols may change during the course of a show’s production cycle, including on short notice. For example, the wearing of masks may be required in the event of illness within the company or as a protective measure during the week(s) immediately prior to show week.
Masking is currently optional. For our detailed COVID-19 protocol, please CLICK HERE
Character Descriptions
ARISTIDE (doubled with Aleksi and Ares) – A local Greek salesman of colorfully embellished trinkets on the island of Naxos where he lives with his family. He knows everyone and everything that happens on his island, and serves as an omniscient introductory narrator to the story.
ZOE (Doubled with Brooklyn) – His Wife
DAPHNE RAIN – A young and esteemed American Classics professor from a liberal arts university. She is a passionate Hellenic scholar, currently working to mount a production of Euripides’ Medea as part of her Tenure Folio. Hiding behind her bookishness, hesitation, and self-imposed isolation, Daphne has a fiercely independent spirit and is on the verge of the adventure of her lifetime.
DEAN TRICKETT – The Dean of the Classics Department at the university where Daphne teaches is a lusty 55-year-old “force of nature.” Hailing from England, her hearty gusto and “full throated laugh” simply can’t be tamed. She is staunchly passionate about her work and will do whatever it takes to see that the study of Classics is preserved and appreciated by the next generation.
RALPH SARGENT – Thirty-five year-old Hellenistic studies rising-star who has just been hired as the new head of the Classics Department with Daphne and the Dean. He is work-obsessed, bursting with energy, and on the hunt for a ‘lost’ Euripides play, a find which could make his career and change the course of theater history.
ALEKSI (doubled with Aristede and Ares) – Loveable university custodian with a deep appreciation for ancient culture and art. He is a jovial Russian émigré with Homeric dreams of learning Greek himself and one day being a Classics professor.
DIONYSUS – Celebrated Greek god of wine, fertility, revelry, and misrule incarnated here as a God of Comedy on a mission from his father Zeus. Lover of all things boisterous, anarchic and ecstatic, Dionysus is particularly thrilled to discover all the indulgences a twenty-first century college campus has to offer him.
THALIA – Ancient Greek muse of comedy and idyllic poetry, now Dionysus’s partner in comedic crime from Mt. Olympus. Thalia is a positivist who doesn’t get caught up in the details. Although she is not exactly “the sharpest sword in the armory” she makes up for it with self-confidence. She has a happy-go-lucky spirit and an “Achilles heel” of crushing hard and fast on attractive male mortals.
ARES (doubled with Aleksi and Aristede) – The Greek God of War who is loud, intimidating, quick to be aggressive, and physically more than a match for opposing mortals. Brutish and demanding, he does not play around when it comes to satiating himself with whatever his momentary desire might be.
BROOKLYN DE WOLFE (Doubled with Zoe) – Former Grade-A student scholar turned world-class movie star; she is a big deal at her alma mater. Charming and alluring with a smile that “makes you believe in God,” she knows how to smooth-talk herself into the next big movie without missing a beat.
Audition Monologues
Monologue 1 – Comic
“And now we follow the aeroplane of this fine young woman as she flies from here in Naxos, first to Athens, then to Malta, then out across the Mediterranean Sea, high above Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and then, whoop!, she heads northward, over Southern Spain, – and I ask you, who in this room does not like Granada? – and then whoosh!, she is soaring high above the Atlantic Ocean like a goddess herself, vroom, the engines are purring like a thousand kittens, mmmmmmm, but then, oh no, the turbulence hits them and the plane flies high then low then south then north to avoid the thunderstorm which could be Zeus who is angry at these mortals flying by like gods! – but then, at last, ahoy, America beckons. But as she approaches her destination, she has a layover first in Baltimore because she purchased the cheapest ticket available and the poor girl’s legroom is nonexistent. But then the plane lifts off again, and soon our heroine is cruising into her final stop, Newark Airport, where her plane is setting down like the gentle winds themselves, returning to their mother earth, and so her journey ends in safety and peace. Thank you for listening.”
Monologue 2 – Serious
“Death! Death! Death is my desire for myself and my children
O how I wish that I might see Jason and his accursed bride
In utter ruin for all the wrongs that they have done me!
O Vengeance!
Oh I know you think me a timid creature in the main,
A coward who will never stand her ground and fight.
But shine on me the light of justice, and of hope,
And by the gods I swear I will not fail!”
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