Opens March 17th
The British Players
AS YOU LIKE IT
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
DIRECTED BY FRED ZIRM
MUSIC DIRECTION BY ARIELLE BAYER
PRODUCED BY LAUREN PACUIT AND MICHELLE HESSEL
One of Shakespeare’s most beloved romantic comedies is transported to the Woodstock era as Rosalind decides to flee from her tyrannically uptight uncle
to the Forest of Arden, where her free-spirited father has been banished, along with his band of hippie followers. Colorful country folk, comic and romantic complications,
the cynical observations of Jaques (“All the world’s a stage.”) and Shakespeare’s poetry make for a richer mixture than your typical romcom.
Folk and rock music popular in the 60s and 70s will be performed in place of songs from Shakespeare’s time.
Performance Dates and Times:
EVENING PERFORMANCES
Thursday, Mar. 30 at 8 pm
Friday, Mar. 17, 24, & 31 at 8 pm
Saturday, Mar. 18, 25, & Apr. 1 at 8 pm
MATINEE PERFORMANCES
Saturday, Mar. 25 at 2 pm
Sunday, Mar. 19 & 26 at 2 pm
Performances held at Kensington Town Hall
3710 Mitchell Street, Kensington, MD 20895
Masks, although optional, are encouraged to ensure everybody's health and wellness.
Adult (12+) - $28.00/ticket, $5 discount per ticket for groups of 8+ adults, Child (under 12) - $15/ticket
BUY TICKETS: https://app.arts-people.com/index.php?show=138920 |
Auditions
The British Players
BLOOD BROTHERS
By Willy Russell
Directed by Noah Morowitz
Produced by John Allnutt
Monday and Tuesday March 20 and 21 at 7 pm
Kensington Town Hall (The Armory),
3710 Mitchell Street, Kensington, MD 20895.
Please bring a head shot and credit list if available.
All callbacks will be in person by invitation only at 7pm on Thursday, March 23.
For all roles, please prepare a one-minute monologue AND a one-minute song excerpt.
A piano accompanist will be provided if you bring sheet music.
Virtual auditions can be submitted to noahdmorowitz@gmail.com by Tuesday, March 21.
Character List:
Mrs. Johnstone, 25-45, is Mickey, Edward and Sammy’s mother. Forever scrambling to get by, she is big-hearted and has a strong sense of right and wrong.
She dreams of a better life for her family but is not surprised when destiny bring her grief. A loving and caring figure, she is the emotional core of the show.
OPTIONAL PREP SONG FOR AUDITION: “Tell Me It’s Not True.”
The Narrator, any adult age, man or woman. Charismatic, all-knowing and slightly menacing, he comments on the action and reminds us of
the terrible choice that set the story in motion…and that no one can escape fate. Appears out of nowhere; often unnervingly still and watchful.
OPTIONAL PREP FOR AUDITION: Opening Monologue:
“So did y’ hear the story of the Johnstone twins?
As like each other as two new pins.
Of one womb born, on the self same day,
How one was kept and one given away?
An’ did you never hear how the Johnstones died, Never knowing that they shared one name,
Till the day they died, when a mother cried My own dear sons lie slain.
An’ did y’ never hear of the mother, so cruel, There’s a stone in place of her heart?
Then bring her on and come judge for yourselves How she came to play this part.
Mickey Johnstone, one actor plays ages 7, 15-18, early 20s. Mickey has a rough and tumble childhood but at his core he is honest and sincere.
He descends from being an open and honest boy to an embittered young man, beaten down by losing his job, spending time in prison and drug addiction.
OPTIONAL PREP FOR AUDITION: Mickey playing alone as a wild 7-year-old with big emotions:
I sometimes hate our Sammy
He robbed me toy car y’ know.
Now the wheels are missin’ an’ the top’s broke off, An’ the bleeding thing won’t go.
An’ he said when he took it, it was just like that, But it wasn’t, it went dead straight.
But y’ can’t say nott’n when they think y’seven An’ y not, y’ nearly eight.
Y’ know our Sammy
Y’ know what he sometimes does?
He wees straight through the letter box
Of the house next door to us.
I tried to do it one night,
But I had to strand on a crate,
“Cos I couldn’t reach the letter box
But I will by the time I’m eight.
Edward Lyons, one actor plays ages 7, 15-18, early 20s. Like his twin Mickey, Edward is an honest and good-natured boy.
His sheltered upbringing has made him more innocent and trusting than his lower-class brother. He gets every opportunity that money can buy,
attending the best schools in the country. Eventually he begins an affair with Mickey’s wife, Linda, who Edward has loved for years.
OPTIONAL PREP SONG FOR AUDITION: “I’m Not Saying a Word.”
Mrs. Lyons, 25-45. Desperate to have her own child. She manipulates Mrs. Johnstone into giving up Edward and raises him as an upper-class boy.
Her guilt turns into suspicion, paranoia and madness, and she eventually becomes so convinced she will lose her son that she tries to kill Mrs. Johnstone.
Some believe this character was a comment on Margaret Thatcher.
Linda, one actress plays ages 7, 15-18, early 20s. She begins the story as kind, confident and tomboyish young girl, but morphs into an object of desire
for both of the twin brothers. She only has eyes for Mickey, telling him she loves him long before their first kiss. But after years of poverty and Mickey’s imprisonment
she turns to Edward for comfort and they begin an affair.
Sammy Johnstone, one actor plays ages 9, 18, mid 20s. A juvenile delinquent and notorious trouble-maker, as a teenager he tries to rob a bus.
The adult Sammy turns to a life of crime and persuades the unemployed, down-and-out Mickey to help him. Attempted robbery ends with a murder,
sending Sammy and Mickey to jail.
Mr. Lyons/Managing Director, 35 - 60. A wealthy businessman, he is too oblivious and self- involved to realize that Edward is not his child.
As Mrs. Lyon plunges into madness, he becomes increasingly alarmed, but at heart remains paternalistic and preoccupied.
As the managing director he fires hundreds of employees without any remorse or regret.
ENSEMBLE 6 actors and actresses of assorted ages combine to play various roles.
Tech Week Friday June 2 -Thursday June 8
Performances at Kensington Town Hall
Friday June 9—8pm, Saturday June 10—8pm, Sunday June 11—2pm
Friday June 16—8pm, Saturday June 17--2pm & 8pm, Sunday June 18—2pm
Friday June 23—8pm, Saturday June 24—2pm & 8pm
The action takes place in Liverpool and Skelmersdale, UK in the 1960s and 1970s.
“Tell me it’s not true, say it’s just a story…” so begins one of the most popular British musicals ever, the show that thrilled audiences in the West End for 24 years
– over 10,000 performances. A noirish tale of twin brothers separated at birth, raised on opposite sides of the tracks and doomed to follow their destiny…
a spirited satire of working-class life… a haunting folk opera filled with love and desire… This is Blood Brothers. |
Auditions
Colonial
Players of Annapolis
Ravenscroft
Written by Don Nigro
Directed by Alex Brady
Sunday, March 26, 2:00 p.m.
Monday, March 27, 7:00 p.m.
Callbacks will be by invitation only.
Wednesday, March 29, 7:00 p.m.
Location: The Colonial Players Annex, 2132 Renard Court, Annapolis, MD 21401
Performance Dates: May 19 – June 10, 2023
The show requires 5 women and 1 man, of any ethnicity.
All roles are open. Although the play is set in Edwardian England, the director and production team are excited to work with actors of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
The ages listed from the script are character ages and are not required actor ages.
Substantial physical contact between actors including intimacy and some combat choreography will be used in this production.
All actors remain on stage for each act in its entirety after entering. The play will be performed using accents.
SHOW SYNOPSIS
On a snowy night in December 1905, Inspector Ruffing is called to a remote manor house to investigate the headlong plunge of Patrick Roarke down the main staircase.
In doing so, he becomes involved in the lives of five alluring and dangerous women. They lead him through a bewildering labyrinth of contradictory versions
of Patrick's demise and that of the late Mr. Ravenscroft. There are ghosts on the staircase, skeletons in the closet, and much more than the
Inspector bargained for. His investigation leads into his own tortured soul and the nature of truth itself. You will not guess the ending, but you will be teased,
seduced, bewildered, amused, frightened, and led to a dark encounter with truth or something even stranger.
Please see the website for full details: https://thecolonialplayers.org/index.php/get-involved/auditions |
Opens April 7th
Colonial
Players of Annapolis
Putting It Together
Words and Music by Stephen Sondheim
Devised by Stephen Sondheim & Julia McKenzie
Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick
Directed by Vincent Musgrave
Music Direction by Andrew Gordon
Drawing its title from a song in Sunday in the Park with George, this musical revue celebrates Sondheim's incomparable career in musical theater.
Featuring nearly thirty Sondheim tunes, Putting It Together is set at an all-night, black-tie party in a penthouse. The hosts, an older couple face their disillusions
and marital troubles; a younger, less jaundiced couple struggle with their feelings and desires, and a commentator oversees and influences the action.
The spouses deal with infidelity and divorce but finally reconcile before dawn. With a bit of imagination, the guests transform the apartment into the stage
of an abandoned theater, an estate in Sweden, an island outside of Paris, a street off the Forum, the woods of a fairy tale and a mythical town in the Southwest.
April 7 - May 6, 2023
Thurs-Sat: 8:00pm
Sun: 2:00pm
No matinee performance on 4/9 due to the Easter Sunday.
Note: All single tickets are subject to a $2 service fee per ticket.
Face masks will be required for all patrons at all times at the following performances only:
Sunday, April 30, 2023
Friday, May 5, 2023
Face masks are optional, but strongly encouraged, for all other performances.
In the event that the CDC rating for Anne Arundel County is "High," masks will be required for all audiences |