A Piece Of My Heart/Much Ado About Nothing Auditions

For this audition, please be prepared to cold read the audition sides found at the bottom of the page.  Please plan to be there for 1.5-2 hours.  The audition process is time consuming and we will do our best to stay on schedule.

For questions please contact Cole Butcher, Production Stage Manager, 239-434-7340 ext. 125 or [email protected].

DESCRIPTIONS:

A Piece of My Heart

This is a powerful, true drama of six courageous American women who went to Vietnam in the late 1960’s and their struggle to make sense of a war that irrevocably changed them and the nation that shunned them.  The play portrays each young woman before, during, and after her tour in the war-torn nation and ends as each leaves a personal token at the memorial wall in Washington.

**Content & Intimacy Notice**  This play contains strong and racially charged language, discussion and depictions of war and murder, characters experiencing trauma and PTSD, and discussion of sexual assault and substance abuse.  Other intimate moments will include violent physical contact male-to-female, non-violent/non-romantic female-to-female and male-to-female physical contact.  Consent-forward and best practices intimacy staging will be part of all rehearsals involving these moments.  If you have concerns you would like to discuss, contact Cole at [email protected].  All questions are welcome.  Concerns or limitations with any of the above material will not affect your consideration for the roles.

Director: TBD
Stage Manager: TBD
Cast [Age on all shows & parts is flexible]: 6 Women (18-50s), 1 Man (18-50s)
Rehearsal & Performance Schedule: A Piece Of My Heart Conflict Sheet

Characters:

• MARTHA – (Female, 20s-40s) An army brat who follows in her military family’s tradition and becomes a head nurse. Strong, self-composed, aura of self-discipline, military bearing. A pioneer type and very American.
• MARYJO – (Female, 18-40s) Singing Role.  A country-rock singer and USO entertainer who performs with an all-female band.  Pretty, outgoing, bubbly personality. Funny comedienne quality but sad inside. Guitar playing is a plus.
• SISSY – (Female, 20s-40s) A sweet but naive girl from Pennsylvania who wants to escape her small town. Sweet, feminine, outgoing, a strong sense of fun. Warm personality.
• WHITNEY – (Female, 20s-40s) A prim and proper Vassar graduate who volunteers for the Red Cross.  Withdrawn, contained, very aristocratic in bearing and quality.
• LEEANN – (Female, 20s-40s) A half-Chinese, half-Italian woman who was persuaded by an army recruiter to go to Vietnam.  Strong, tough, determined, urban and hip
• STEELE – (Female, 30s-50s) An African-American woman who is the most capable of the characters but is often treated as the Cassandra.  Extremely strong, military bearing. Very intelligent, outgoing, great sense of humor. Very pragmatic.
• THE AMERICAN MAN – (Male, 18-50s) American looking, versatile actor needed for a variety of roles.

Much Ado About Nothing

Count Claudio falls in love with Hero, the daughter of his host. Hero’s cousin Beatrice (a confirmed spinster) and Benedict (an eternal bachelor) are each duped into believing the other is in love with them. Claudio is deceived by a malicious plot and denounces Hero as unchaste before they marry. She faints and is believed dead, but recovers to be proved innocent by a chance discovery. Benedict wins Beatrice’s love defending her cousin’s honour, and to his surprise, Claudio is reunited with Hero, who he believed dead.

**Consent & Intimacy Notice** Though Shakespeare can be flexible in time period and style, there may be moments of intimacy which could include non-violent/romantic, non-violent/non-romantic, violent/non-romantic physical contact between male and female, male to male, and female to female.  If you have concerns you would like to discuss contact Cole at [email protected]. All questions welcome. Concerns or limitations with any of the above material will not affect your consideration for the roles.

Director: TBD
Stage Manager: TBD
Cast [Age on all shows & parts is flexible]: Ages and genders, as well as cast size will be flexible for this production
Rehearsal & Performance Schedule: Much Ado Conflict Sheet

Characters:

• BEATRICE – (Female) Leonato’s niece and Hero’s cousin. Beatrice is “a pleasant-spirited lady” with a very sharp tongue. She is generous and loving, but, like Benedick, continually mocks other people with elaborately tooled jokes and puns. She wages a war of wits against Benedick and often wins the battles. At the outset of the play, she appears content never to marry.
• BENEDICK – (Male) An aristocratic soldier who has recently been fighting under Don Pedro, and a friend of Don Pedro and Claudio. Benedick is very witty, always making jokes and puns. He carries on a “merry war” of wits with Beatrice, but at the beginning of the play he swears he will never fall in love or marry.
• CLAUDIO – (Male) A young soldier who has won great acclaim fighting under Don Pedro during the recent wars. Claudio falls in love with Hero upon his return to Messina. His unfortunately suspicious nature makes him quick to believe evil rumors and hasty to despair and take revenge.
• HERO – (Female) A young soldier who has won great acclaim fighting under Don Pedro during the recent wars. Claudio falls in love with Hero upon his return to Messina. His unfortunately suspicious nature makes him quick to believe evil rumors and hasty to despair and take revenge.
• DON PEDRO – (Male) An important nobleman from Aragon, sometimes referred to as “Prince.” Don Pedro is a longtime friend of Leonato, Hero’s father, and is also close to the soldiers who have been fighting under him—the younger Benedick and the very young Claudio. Don Pedro is generous, courteous, intelligent, and loving to his friends, but he is also quick to believe evil of others and hasty to take revenge. He is the most politically and socially powerful character in the play.
• LEONATO – (Male, older) A respected, well-to-do, elderly noble at whose home, in Messina, Italy, the action is set. Leonato is the father of Hero and the uncle of Beatrice. As governor of Messina, he is second in social power only to Don Pedro.
• DON JOHN – (Male) The illegitimate brother of Don Pedro; sometimes called “the Bastard.” Don John is melancholy and sullen by nature, and he creates a dark scheme to ruin the happiness of Hero and Claudio. He is the villain of the play; his evil actions are motivated by his envy of his brother’s social authority.
• MARGARET – (Female) Hero’s serving woman, who unwittingly helps Borachio and Don John deceive Claudio into thinking that Hero is unfaithful. Unlike Ursula, Hero’s other lady-in-waiting, Margaret is lower class. Though she is honest, she does have some dealings with the villainous world of Don John: her lover is the mistrustful and easily bribed Borachio. Also unlike Ursula, Margaret loves to break decorum, especially with bawdy jokes and teases.
• BORACHIO – (Male) An associate of Don John. Borachio is the lover of Margaret, Hero’s serving woman. He conspires with Don John to trick Claudio and Don Pedro into thinking that Hero is unfaithful to Claudio. His name means “drunkard” in Italian, which might serve as a subtle direction to the actor playing him.
• CONRAD – (Male) One of Don John’s more intimate associates, entirely devoted to Don John.
• DOGBERRY – (Male) The constable in charge of the Watch, or chief policeman, of Messina. Dogberry is very sincere and takes his job seriously, but he has a habit of using exactly the wrong word to convey his meaning. Dogberry is one of the few “middling sort,” or middle-class characters, in the play, though his desire to speak formally and elaborately like the noblemen becomes an occasion for parody.
• VERGES – (Male) The deputy to Dogberry, chief policeman of Messina.
• ANTONIO – (Male, older) Leonato’s elderly brother and Hero’s uncle. He is Beatrice’s father.
• BALTHASAR – (Male) Leonato’s elderly brother and Hero’s uncle. He is Beatrice’s father.
• URSULA – (Female) One of Hero’s waiting women.

Select and reserve an audition slot below:

There are no assigned time slots for play auditions.  If you need to CANCEL your audition time, please contact Cole Butcher, Production Stage Manager, [email protected].