Old Academy Players welcomes new talent! Please note that we are a non-profit community theater and that all roles are performed on a volunteer basis and are non-paying. Please check this site for audition information which appears throughout the season.
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# Alabama Story
AUDITION NOTICE FOR ALABAMA STORY
Audition Date: Saturday, May 11th, 2024, 1:00 pm — 4:00 pm.
Location: Old Academy Players, 3544 Indian Queen Lane, Philadelphia PA 19129
Director: Carla Childs (carla@oldacademyplayers.org)
Performances will be on September 13th, 14th, 15th, 20th, 21st, 22nd, 27th, 28th 29th, 2024. All actors who are cast will be required to assist with set-building and set striking. In addition, performers are required to assist the hospitality committee with one performance of our Summer One-Act Bonanza, July 12th, 13th, 14th, 19th, 20th, or 21st, 2024
Auditions will consist of readings from the script. Please contact the director (carla@oldacademyplayers.org) if you would like us to send you the sides that will be used at the auditions. We will hear actors in approximate order of arrival.
Play and Roles:
Alabama Story, by Kenneth Jones, takes place in 1959, in Montgomery, Alabama, The Deep South, and Beyond
Two white women, age 50-ish and age 32
One Black man, age 32
Three or six white men, age 50-ish, age 50-ish, age 28, age 70s ‑80s, age 30s-50s, age 30s-50s
GARTH WILLIAMS (and OTHERS) — 50-ish or older, white writer and illustrator from the East Coast. Frisky, sardonic, dry, funny, deadly serious and omnipresent, when practical. Requires a charismatic chameleon actor with range and gravitas.
***In our production, the actor portraying Garth Williams may or may not also assume the roles of: aged, sickly Alabama State Representative BOBBY CRONE; sincere Montgomery newspaper reporter HERSCHELL WEBB; fiery segregationist columnist HENRY BRANCH; a folky RADIO ANNOUNCER; two silent WHITE PASSERSBY, and a COFFEE-CART SERVER (see below ***)
LILY WHITFIELD — 32, a white woman from small-town Alabama privilege. Genteel Alabama accent. Politically unversed, she is the product of (and enjoys the benefits of) a racist system and has not questioned it. Sheltered, ashamed, loyal, religious, garrulous, charming, unhappily married, sentimental, all facade, ready to blossom.
JOSHUA MOORE — 32, upwardly mobile, middle-class African American man who left Alabama years ago,settling in the north after serving in the Army. Purposely subtle and suppressed Alabama accent, which becomes pronounced when agitated. He is politically active, aspirational, loyal, kind, worldly, happily married, slow to boil, susceptible to nostalgia without getting lost in it, a disciple of Dr. King.
SENATOR E. W. HIGGINS — 50-ish or more, a white Alabama State Senator. Pronounced Alabama accent. He is an active racist, a charmer, a bully, a bull, a poisoner, a politician. Most of what he says is rhetorical or performative. Not as smart as he thinks he is, but influential. He is never sorry. An extrovert.
EMILY WHEELOCK REED — 50-ish or more, a white female librarian, the State Librarian of Alabama, born in North Carolina and raised in Indiana. No Southern accent. She has no sense of humor,. She does not suffer fools, she is all-business. When cornered, fallible. When her vulnerability is accessed and her heart unlocked, a person of good character is revealed. An introvert.
THOMAS FRANKLIN — 28, a white male reference librarian, Emily’s assistant. Pronounced Alabama accent. Buttoned-up, genteel, educated, officious, efficient, slightly uncomfortable in his own skin. Neutral and objective when conveying information. The kind of man you want as your colleague, or your son.
***BOBBY CRONE — 60s-80s white male Alabama State Representative. Pronounced Southern accent. Aged, sickly, irritable, avuncular, wise
***HERSCHEL WEBB — 30’s‑50’s, white male Montgomery newspaper reporter. Sincere, fair, liberal-leaning. Pronounced Southern accent.
***HENRY BRANCH — 30’s‑50’s, fiery segregationist columnist from the Deep South. Pronounced Southern accent.