Audition Notice – Nose Creek Players
“Calendar Girls”
Directed by: Robin McKittrick
Auditions: July 31, - 6:00 p.m.-10:00
p.m.
Callbacks: August 1 -6:00 p.m.-10:00 p.m.
Requirements: Please prepare a 1 minute
monologue
Location: Wingate by Wyndham | 513 Gateway Rd
NE, Airdrie, AB T4B 0J6
Book Audition time here: www.SignUpGenius.com/go/30E0C4DA9AA2FA7F49-calendar
Rehearsal Dates: Monday, Wednesday &
One Saturday a month.
Tech Week: October 20-October 25
Production Dates: October 26 & 27
Rehearsals Begin: Wednesday, August 9,
2017
Actors must be available for all rehearsal dates,
tech week and performance dates.
Play Synopsis:
When Annie's
husband John dies of leukaemia, she and best friend Chris resolve to raise
money for a new settee in the local hospital waiting room. They manage to
persuade four fellow WI members to pose nude with them for an
"alternative" calendar, with a little help from hospital porter
and amateur photographer Lawrence. The news of the women's charitable venture
spreads like wildfire, and hordes of press soon descend on the small village of
Knapeley in the Yorkshire Dales. The calendar is a success, but Chris and
Annie's friendship is put to the test under the strain of their new-found fame.
Character Breakdown:
CHRIS - (F
50s.) You want Chris at your party. She will talk to people she doesn't know,
and things to say to all silences and generate laughter. Part of this
is because Chris is at home in crowds, holding court, being the centre
of attention.
ANNIE – (F
50s). Annie will join in mischief but is at heart more conformist and
less confrontational than Chris. After Chris has put a waiter's back up
in the restaurant, Annie will go in and pour calm.
CORA – (F
-40's). Cora's past is the most eclectic, her horizons broadened by having
gone to college. This caused a tectonic shift with her more parochial
parents. She came back to them pregnant and tail-between-legs, but Cora
has too much native resilience to be downtrodden. She is the joker in the
pack, but never plays the fool. Her wit is deadpan. It raises laughter in
others, but rarely in herself.
JESSIE – (F late
60s/70s). Get on the right side of Jessie as a teacher and she'll be the
teacher you remember for life. Get on the wrong side and you will regret
every waking hour. A lover of life, Jessie doesn't bother with cosmetics —
her elixir of life is bravery. Jessie goes on rollercoasters. Her husband
has been with her a long time and is rarely surprised by her actions.
Jessie bothers about grammar and will correct stallholders regarding their
abuse of the apostrophe "s".
RUTH –(F -40s)
Ruth's journey is from the false self-confidence of the emotionally
abused to the genuine self confidence of the woman happy in her own skin.
Ruth is eager to please but not a rag doll, and despite being Marie's
right-hand woman she is desperate to be the cartilage in the spine of the
WI and keep everyone happy. She has spine herself — if she was too wet,
no-one would want her around. But they do, and they feel protective of her
because they sense there is something better in Ruth than her life is letting
out.
MARIE –( F
50s). Marie has gradually built the current 'Marie' around herself over
the years as a defence mechanism. She went to her Oz, Cheshire, and found
Oz didn't want her. She came back scorched. The WI is a trophy to her,
which justifies her entire existence. There is a lingering part of Marie
that would love to be on that calendar.
JOHN – (M-
50s). John is a human sunflower. Not a saint. Not a hero. Just the kind of
man you'd want in your car when crossing America. When he dies it
feels like someone somewhere turned a light off.
ROD – (M -50s) Chris's husband. You have to be a certain kind of guy to stick with Chris and Rod loves it. He can give back what he gets, and has a deadpan humour which has always made Chris laugh. He drinks a lot but never so much as to have a problem. He would work every hour to make his shop a success. And John was his mate, even though the relationship was originally channelled through their wives.
LAWRENCE –(M late 20s). Hesitant without being nerdy, Lawrence is a shy young man with enough wit to make a joke and enough spirit to turn up at the WI hall in the first place. When he arranges the shots he is close to female nudity but sees only the photo.
LADY CRAVENSHIRE –(F 60s). Lady Cravenshire really doesn't mean to be so patronizing. But the WI girls seem from another world. The world of her estate workers. Dress: when she makes an entrance, she must make an entrance.
ELAINE – (F 20s). Elaine really doesn't mean to be so patronizing. But Jessie seems from another world. The world of her gran. Dress: her clinical whites slice through like a knife. You feel you could cut yourself on that dress.
LIAM – (F late 20s). Liam would like to be directing other things than photoshoots for washing powders. He's not so unprofessional as to let it show, but we can sense a slight weariness at having to deal with these women. There's a resigned patience to his actions and each smile he makes we feel is professional. For Liam, this photoshoot is a job. And not the job he wanted.
ROD – (M -50s) Chris's husband. You have to be a certain kind of guy to stick with Chris and Rod loves it. He can give back what he gets, and has a deadpan humour which has always made Chris laugh. He drinks a lot but never so much as to have a problem. He would work every hour to make his shop a success. And John was his mate, even though the relationship was originally channelled through their wives.
LAWRENCE –(M late 20s). Hesitant without being nerdy, Lawrence is a shy young man with enough wit to make a joke and enough spirit to turn up at the WI hall in the first place. When he arranges the shots he is close to female nudity but sees only the photo.
LADY CRAVENSHIRE –(F 60s). Lady Cravenshire really doesn't mean to be so patronizing. But the WI girls seem from another world. The world of her estate workers. Dress: when she makes an entrance, she must make an entrance.
ELAINE – (F 20s). Elaine really doesn't mean to be so patronizing. But Jessie seems from another world. The world of her gran. Dress: her clinical whites slice through like a knife. You feel you could cut yourself on that dress.
LIAM – (F late 20s). Liam would like to be directing other things than photoshoots for washing powders. He's not so unprofessional as to let it show, but we can sense a slight weariness at having to deal with these women. There's a resigned patience to his actions and each smile he makes we feel is professional. For Liam, this photoshoot is a job. And not the job he wanted.
