Hay Fever

• Auditions: Thursday, September 28, 2022
• Callbacks: Friday, September 29, 2022

Fall One Acts: 

• Auditions: Monday, October 2, 2023
• Callbacks: Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Winter (Everybody's Favorite Mothers & The Crucible) 

• Auditions: Monday, November 20, 2022
• Callbacks: Tuesday, November 21, 2022

Indecent:

• Auditions: Monday, March 11, 2023
• Callbacks: Tuesday, March 12, 2023

Spring One Acts: 

• Auditions: Monday, April 1, 2023
• Callbacks: Tuesday, April 2, 2023

 

The scripts for auditions can be found below. You must use your UCSB email account to view them. If you use your personal Gmail account it will say that you need to ask permission which you will not recieve. Please note that the scripts cannot be downloaded nor printed. You must be logged into your ucsb google account to view.  Please do not share these scripts with anyone. 

 

 

 

TO AUDITION YOU MUST:

1) SCROLL DOWN ON THIS PAGE TO READ ALL AUDITION INFORMATION

2) FILL OUT The AUDITION FORM

Everyone's Favorite Mothers and The Crucible (Click Here)

3) Fill in your name on the aUDITION sIGN-uP sHEETS (FILL IN YOUR NAME IN EACH SHOW YOU ARE AUDITIONING FOR):

Everyone's Favorite Mothers (Click Here)

The Crucible

4) READ THE SCRIPTS PROVIDED AT THE TOP OF THIS PAGE

5) show up to your audition 10 minutes early and be prepared to stay until released by the directors. 

 

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PERFORMANCES:          Tuesday, March 5th – March 10th

                                         Performing Arts Theater (PAT)

 

GENERAL AUDITIONS:  Monday, November 27th

                                         6pm-11pm

                                        Performing Arts Theater

 

CALLBACKS:                  Wednesday, November 29th

                                         6*pm-10pm – we will start earlier with those actors who are available.

                                         Performing Arts Theater

 

1ST REHEARSAL:           Monday, January 8th

         

                            

REHEARSALS:

Typically 20-25 hours per week until tech rehearsals begin.  This play will rehearse Monday – Friday between the hours of 6-11 until tech week. There will be some Friday afternoon rehearsals and possibility of rehearsals on Saturdays.  There are additional hours for techs and dress rehearsals leading to performances including Saturdays and Sundays.

 

CREDIT:

3 units of THTR 49 and/or 149 will be given to cast members.

 

SCRIPTS:

The current draft of the script is now available and can be found at the top of this page

 

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

 

INCLUSIVITY STATEMENT:

We invite actors to audition who identify as/with any gender, race, age, sexual orientation, disability, and/or religious or political belief and affiliation. ALL enrolled UCSB students are encouraged to participate!

There will be a link to sign up for auditions at: http://www.theaterdance.ucsb.edu/academics/call-board.

 

AUDITION PREPARATION:

The script is currently available to read and can be found at the top of this page

Please read the script carefully so you can use it to:

Pick a short scene or speech from the play to perform. You do not need to memorize this scene, but it should be prepared well. PLEASE bring a printed copy of your choice to read from. (ie- don’t read from an electronic device.)

 

If you choose a scene, you may choose a partner and prepare together. It is possible to have a partner who is not auditioning for the role that they read in the scene. If you do not bring a partner, a reader will be provided for you.

 

Selections should be no more than 2-3 minutes. Time your scene please.

 

Please specify which role you are reading for on the sign-up sheet.

You may also list other roles you are particularly interested in on the sign-up sheet.

 

NOTE: Both auditions and callbacks will be recorded for our director, who is on the East coast. Annie Torsiglieri will be in person at auditions and callbacks. Our director will be zooming in for callbacks.

 

If you have questions or need more information contact

Annie Torsiglieri @ AnnieT1@mac.com.

 

 

THE PLAY: Arthur Miller examines the witch trials in seventeenth century Salem, Massachusetts to unmask the political hysteria and persecution in Senator Joseph McCarthy's 1950's anti-communist inquisitions. The play, now regarded as a central work in the canon of American Theatre, continues to resonate. How does the erosion of civil liberties in the name of broader, often extremist causes, impact the notion of democracy and the individual freedoms it’s meant to protect? How does a society cope when supposedly righteous inquest becomes hysteria?

 

THE PLAYWRIGHT: Arthur Miller’s plays include The Crucible, Death of a Salesman, The Price, All My Sons, A View from the Bridge, After the Fall, and many others. In 1952 director Elia Kazan appeared before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). He named eight members of The Group Theatre. Miller and Kazan were close friends and collaborators throughout the 1940's and early 1950's, but after Kazan's testimony their friendship ended. After speaking with Kazan about his testimony, Miller traveled to Salem to research the witch trials. The HUAC took an interest in Miller not long after The Crucible opened, denying him a passport to attend the play's London opening, then subpoenaing him to appear before the committee. Because of his refusal to name names, a judge found Miller guilty of contempt of Congress in May 1957. Miller was sentenced to a fine, a prison sentence, and was blacklisted.

 

This Production will be a conversation between the original purpose of the play and our modern times.

 

CHARACTERS:

Note**- All roles are open to all genders, races and ethnicities.

 

JOHN PROCTOR: Married to Elizabeth

ELIZABETH PROCTOR: Married to John

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS: Former employee of Proctor's, niece of Parris
MARY WARREN: Current employee of Proctor
TITUBA: Employee of Parris
PARRIS: A Minister
G. COREY: Resident of Salem
HALE: A scholar
DANFORTH: Presides over trial
ENSEMBLE: CHORUS will play S. WALCOTT, M. LEWIS, R. NURSE, F. NURSE, T. PUTNAM, A. PUTNAM, HATHORNE CHEEVER, S. GOOD, HERRICK

 

 

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By James Still

                               Directed by Risa Brainin                              

 

 

PERFORMANCES:            Thursday, February 22^nd – March 2nd

                                            Hatlen Theater

 

GENERAL AUDITIONS:     Monday, November 20th

                                            6pm-10pm

                                            TD-W 1507

 

CALLBACKS:                  Tuesday, November 21st

                                        6pm-10pm

                                        TD-W 1507

 

 

1ST REHEARSAL: Monday, January 8th

       

INCLUSIVITY STATEMENT:

We invite actors to audition who identify as/with any gender, race, age, sexual orientation, disability, and/or religious or political belief and affiliation. ALL enrolled UCSB students are encouraged to participate!

                       

REHEARSALS:

Typically 20-25 hours per week until tech rehearsals begin.  This play will rehearse Monday – Friday between the hours of 6-11 until tech week. There will be some Friday afternoon rehearsals and possibility of rehearsals on Saturdays.  There are additional hours for techs and dress rehearsals leading to performances including Saturdays and Sundays.

 

CREDIT:

3 units of THTR 49 and/or 149 will be given to cast members.

 

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

Any full time UCSB student is welcome and encouraged to audition. There is a link to sign up for auditions at the top of this page.

 

AUDITION PREPARATION:

The current draft of the script is currently available to read and a link can be found at the top of this page.

 

Please read the script carefully and choose a short scene or monologue from the play to perform for your audition. You do not need to memorize the material, but it should be prepared well.

 

If you choose a scene, you may also choose a partner and prepare together. It is possible to have a partner who is not auditioning for the role that they read in the scene. If you want to do a scene and don’t have a partner a reader will be provided.

 

Selections should be no more than 2-3 minutes. Time your scene, please. Please specify which role you are reading for on the sign-up sheet.

 

If you have questions or need more information contact Artistic Director Risa Brainin at rbrainin@ucsb.edu.

 

LAUNCH PAD:

LAUNCH PAD is our new play development program housed in the Department of Theater and Dance. Everybody’s Favorite Mothers is a Preview Production of a brand new play never performed before now. Our concept of the “Preview Production” is unique in the American theatre. As a fully-realized production, the play stays in previews through the run of the show, allowing the writer to continue revising as the piece evolves through performances. For actors, it is an exciting and challenging opportunity to work on a new play. As the play evolves, you’ll be asked to learn new pages, make on the spot cuts and maybe even play a new character! We started this program in 2005 and are proud to have supported so many great playwrights and plays on their journey from incubation to professional world premieres. Click here for our full Gallery of Preview Productions.

 

THE PLAY:

EVERYBODY’S FAVORITE MOTHERS is a theatrical celebration of unconditional love and unlikely activism that started in the summer of 1972 when one mother marched in a parade with her gay son. She carried a home-made sign boldly declaring her support — and a new kind of movement was born. On that day she was an unknown hero to dozens of shocked gays and lesbians — but the story didn’t end there.  Jeanne Manford and her husband Jules went on to co-found a support group for parents — an organization that would eventually become known around the world as PFLAG which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2023. EVERYBODY’S FAVORITE MOTHERS is also about young queer men and women coming out, standing up to power, and accelerating the fight for gay rights. It was a time when homosexuality was illegal in 49 states, when the American Psychiatry Association still diagnosed homosexuality as a mental illness, and police raids on any kind of same-sex gatherings were common and life-threatening.  With violence now against the transgender community and LGBQT+ youth at an all-time high, EVERYBODY’S FAVORITE MOTHERS isn’t nostalgic — it’s a warning that there’s still work to do and that history can inspire us to find ways forward.

 

THE PLAYWRIGHT:

James Still's plays have been produced throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe, Australia, South Africa, China and Japan. His new plays include The Cratchits (in America); Dinosaur(s); (A) New World; and Joy Waves to You from a Distance. Recent work includes a trilogy of linked-plays: The House that Jack Built (Indiana Repertory Theatre), Appoggiatura (Denver Center Theatre), and Miranda (Illusion Theater, Minneapolis). Also: April 4, 1968: Before We Forgot How to Dream (Indiana Repertory Theatre); two plays about the Lincolns: The Widow Lincoln and The Heavens are Hung in Black ( both premiering at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.); a play for one actor about culinary icon James Beard called I Love to Eat (Portland Center Stage); a play for 57 actors called A Long Bridge Over Deep Waters (Cornerstone Theater Company in Los Angeles); Looking Over the President’s Shoulder at theaters across the country; and And Then They Came For Me at theaters around the world (most recently at Alabama Shakespeare Festival). His short plays have appeared in many festivals including  When Miss Lydia Hinkley Gives A Bird The Bird which was a winner of Red Bull Theater’s Short New Play Festival in New York. Still is an elected member of both the National Theatre Conference in New York and the College of Fellows of the American Theatre at the Kennedy Center.  He received the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award from the William Inge Festival, the Indiana Authors Award for "The Jack Plays", and the Todd McNerney New Play Prize from Spoleto.  His plays have been developed at the New Harmony Project, the O’Neill Conference, Sundance, Seven Devils, the Colorado New Play Festival, Denver Center's Summit, LAUNCH PAD, Fresh Ink, and many others. He is a four-time Pulitzer nominee for his work in the theater, and a five-time nominee for his work in television. He is the Playwright in Residence at Indiana Repertory Theatre, Artistic Affiliate at American Blues in Chicago, and lives in Los Angeles.

 

The Creative Team

Playwright / James Still
Director / Risa Brainin
Scenic Designer / Ann Sheffield
Costume Designer / Nicky Smith
Lighting & Projections Designer / Michael Klaers
Sound and Music / Michael Keck
Dramaturg / Liz Engelman

Associate Lighting & Projections Designer / Elijah Frankel

Assistant Director / Gabrielle Baltzell
Asst. Scenic Designer / Linyi Chen, Joseph Hernandez
Asst. Costume Designers / Leslie Cohrt, Jake Marshall 
Stage Manager / Trinity Wicklund

 

CHARACTERS and CASTING:

From the writer James Still…

“SOME THOUGHTS ON CASTING: Every choice tells a story. In the same spirit in which I'm writing this play, characters may/can/should be played by actors of any race, ethnicity, origin and other-abledness. My hope is that an ensemble of six actors will take on various roles. To reflect that hope and in keeping with the play's theatrical and fluid relationship to time and place, it's quite possible that women play men and men play women, younger play older and older play younger, queer play straight and straight play queer. Casting choices of race and ethnicity should of course be treated with care and respect.”

 

Note: As with many LAUNCH PAD plays, two professional actors will join the cast to work alongside our wonderful students. This is also a unique opportunity to act with professionals.

 

Actor 1:     Jeanne Manford (CAST: Julie Fishell)

Actor 2:     Jules Manford (CAST: Paul Canter)

Mrs. Cratchit

Ensemble (other roles as cast)

 

Available roles for students:

 

Actor 1:     Morty Manford

 

Actor 2:     Maria Von Trapp

Principal

Ensemble (other roles as cast)

 

Actor 3:     Mike

                Marge Simpson

Ensemble (other roles as cast)

 

Actor 4:     Leena

Virgin Mary

Ensemble (other roles as cast)