Producer

DESCRIPTION:

Spotlight Players is seeking Producers for our 2008-2009 season. The Shows are: "Hello, Dolly", "You Can't Take it With You", "Divine, Stella Devine" and "The Pajama Game". A complete Producer's manual is available to guide and direct your efforts. There is a stipend/honorarium with this position. Please send a resume' and/or letter of interest to president@spotlightplayers.net and please do not hesitate to contact Spotlight Players with any questions.

Hello, Dolly!

Lyrics & Musica by Jerry Herman, Book by Michael Stewart

NA

You Can't Take It With You

By George S. Kaufman, Moss Hartman

Auditions:: September 22, 23, 2008 at: 6:30pm, Village Theater at Cherry Hill, 50400 Cherry Hill Rd., Canton, MI

Ages listed in the character descriptions are the ages of the characters, not necessarily the ages of the actors. Physical characteristics (hairiness, baldness) are as described in the script, but not carved in stone, or even lukewarm Jello. The cast is primarily three generations of an extended family that live together in a large house near Columbia University. The time period is the mid to late Thirties. The cast is listed in order of appearance.

• Penelope Sycamore (Penny) is Grandpa’s daughter, in her early 50’s. She is unflappable, enthusiastic, and follows multiple Muses, writing and painting being the most recent. She is onstage 65 pages.
• Essie Carmichael (Paul and Penny’s daughter) is about 29. She has the elfin air of a ballerina. Classical dance is her obsession, and making candy is her hobby. The actress taking this role should have some dance training, as she will be dancing, doing ballet stretches, etc. throughout the play. She is onstage 50 pages.
• Rheba is the family cook. She is in her mid 30’s. She is very much a willing participant in the gentle lunacy of the family. The part is written for an African-American, but could be played without reference to ethnicity. She is onstage 18 pages.
• Paul Sycamore (Penny’s husband) is in his early 50’s. His current avocation is designing, making and selling fireworks. He is onstage 54 pages.
• Mr. dePinna delivered the ice to the house eight years ago, and hasn’t left yet. Along with Ed, he makes fireworks in the basement. He also is the model for an unfinished painting of a discus thrower that Penny is working on. He is described as being bald, though this is not required for the part. His physique has gone a little bit to seed since Penny started the painting eight years earlier. He is onstage 37 pages.
• Ed Carmichael (Essie’s husband) is in his mid 30’s. In the script, he plays a xylophone, and is fascinated with a printing press. As with Essie, the actor going for this role ideally should be able to play a xylophone. If you play any musical instrument, be prepared to demonstrate it at the audition. The music in the script is never explicitly written out, but one piece is a blend of Beethoven and jazz, while the other title mentioned is “Goody-Goody”! He is onstage 55 pages.
• Donald (Rheba’s boyfriend) is in his mid 30’s. He helps around the house, though he does not live there. He is unemployed, collecting a welfare check every week. The part is written for an African-American, but could be played without reference to ethnicity. He is onstage 18 pages.
• Martin Vander Hof (Grandpa) is in his early 70’s. He is a gentle man who has made peace with the world, not by following its rules, but by ignoring the ones he doesn’t like. At an earlier age he had been a successful financier, and he still has a small income from some properties he owns. He is onstage 58 pages.
• Alice Sycamore (Paul and Penny’s daughter) is about 22. While clearly a loving member of this family, she is slightly less touched by the family eccentricity. She is the only one in the family with a regular wage-paying job as a secretary to Tony Kirby. She is onstage 45 pages.
• Mr. Henderson is from the Department of Justice. He is trying to get Grandpa to pay eight years of back taxes, unsuccessfully. He is onstage 4 pages, and could double for one of the J-men.
• Tony Kirby is the romantic lead, in his mid 20‘s. He is a recent graduate of Yale and Cambridge universities, and has reluctantly taken on the “job” of vice president in his dad’s firm. He’s a bit of an idealist, and head over heels in love with Alice. He is onstage 39 pages.
• Boris Kolenkhov is Essie’s ballet coach, and a Russian émigré’. He is described as a great, hairy bear of a man with a booming voice, alternately enthusiastic and Russian gloomy. He wrestles onstage. He is onstage 31 pages.
• Gay Wellington is an alcoholic actress that Penny brings home to read a play. She spends much of her stage time passed out on the sofa. She is onstage 18 pages.
• Mr. Kirby (Tony’s father) is in his 50’s. He is a stuffed shirt business tycoon with the beginnings of an ulcer. He raises prize orchids as a hobby. At one point in the show, he is wrestled to the ground by Kolenkhov. He is on stage 25 pages.
• Mrs. Kirby (Tony’s mother) is in her early 50’s. She is a wealthy socialite who believes in Spiritualism. She is on stage 17 pages.
• Three J-Men all from department of Justice, sent to arrest the whole family for sedition and bad manners. They are onstage 4 pages.
• Grand Duchess Olga Katrina is a cook at a New York department store restaurant. She is deposed Russian nobility (it says here!). A good Russian accent would be a plus in this part. She is onstage 7 pages.
  
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