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CCRIMES OF THE HEART |
Sunday, March 7, 2010 at 7:00pm Audition Notes Beth Henley's Crimes of the Heart won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1981, and it’s no surprise. The playwright has delivered a piece that delves very honestly into some of the darkest corners of human nature while exposing just how funny attempted murder, parental suicide, and loss of life by lightning strike can really be without ever resorting to slapstick or shtick. It’s going to be a treat to put it on a stage and share it with Wausau. There are six characters in the show; four women and two men. Three of the women are sisters and the fourth is a cousin within the same age range as the sisters. One of the men is a former suitor of the middle sister, and the other is an attorney, relatively freshly out of law school. The age (and consequent experience level) of the attorney is a matter of extensive conversation, so the age of that character really has to appear to be mid-to-late twenties. While there is an assumption that the other five characters are in their mid to late twenties, with Lenny having just turned 30 at the start of the show, the important consideration is that they look like they “go together”, so don’t be discouraged from auditioning if you don’t quite fit in the “proscribed” age range. This is a single set show, taking place entirely in the kitchen of the sisters’ childhood home. To keep things visually interesting, the characters are in near constant motion and there is a lot of prop work. We’ll be spending a lot of time in rehearsals on the physicality of the piece so that come show time you’ll know this kitchen better than you know your own! The first read through will be on Monday May 15th at 7:00pm at the WCT building. Rehearsals will generally be Monday through Friday from 7:00 to 9:00pm, however we will be taking off on Friday March 26th and the full week of March 29th.
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Performances will be at the Jefferson Street Inn |
Friday, May 7, 2010 @ 7:00pm |
- Lenny Magrath is the eldest of the Magrath sisters. She has become the de facto caretaker for her grandfather, at once fears and yet maintains spinsterhood, and is envious of the lives she believes her sisters lead, though she loves them both with all her being.
- Meg Magrath “had a loose reputation” in high school and left town to pursue a career as a lounge singer. As the middle sister, she carries the burden of unrealized, high expectations. As the sister who discovered her mother hanging in the basement, she has an obsession with the morbid, and may be nursing a death wish.
- Babe (Becky) Botrelle is the youngest Magrath, the prettiest, and is married to Zackary Botrelle, a successful, well to do attorney and state senator. The inner demons that are hidden behind her outwardly “perfect life” lead her to shoot her husband, commencing the action of the play.
- Chick Boyle is a cousin to the Magrath sisters and lives next door to Lenny. She is a social climber and is relentlessly embarrassed by her cousins. Though a comparatively small role in terms of stage time, Chick commands the stage when she's on it. This is a “go big or go home” acting opportunity.
- Doc Porter was expected to go to medical school, but rethought his life choices after a difficult break up with Meg some years ago that left him with a limp. He left town, married and had children, but came back to tend to his father’s affairs after his death. An incredibly kind spirit, he still carries a torch for Meg.
- Barnette Lloyd is a recent law school graduate and son of a Magrath family friend. He takes Babe’s case in hopes of exacting revenge against her husband over an old score, but sort of falls for Babe along the way. There's room to play with Barnette's personality, but he has to be a little “too....” something. Too geeky, too intense, too naïve. Too something, but with all due Southern gentility.
- pp. 5-7 Chick, Lenny
- pp. 12-14 Meg, Lenny
- pp. 22-24 Babe, Meg
- pp. 26-27 Barnette, Meg
- pp. 39-41 Lenny, Babe
- pp. 49-51 Doc, Meg
- pp. 43-44 Lenny, Meg, Babe
Wausau Community Theatre serves to enrich the lives of residents
in Central Wisconsin by providing volunteer-produced,
quality live theatre for the community.
Wausau Community Theatre
136 Summer Street
Schofield, WI 54476
(715) 359-3972