Auditions – NEW!

Westport Community Theatre announces auditions for Frost / Nixon, by Peter Morgan, on Tuesday, February 19 and Wednesday, February 20, 2013 – 7:30 PM at Westport Community Theatre in Westport Town Hall. The WCT production of Frost / Nixon opens Friday, June 7, 2013 and runs Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 PM and Sundays at 2:00 PM through June 23 at WCT, with an additional Thursday evening performance June 13 at 8:00 PM and a preview with audience Thursday, June 6 at 8:00 PM.

Note – although auditions for this play are in February, rehearsals won’t begin until mid-April. There are 10 actors required for this stage production.

The following is the list of roles as it appears on the “list of characters” page of the Dramatists Play Service, Inc. actors’ edition. Many of the roles are doubled. There are roles for eight men and two women. Age ranges late 20s to 70s.

Actor one: Will play roles Manolo Sanchez and a TV lighting technician. Manolo Sanchez is by Nixon’s side from morning to night. Sanchez is a Cuban refugee and had been in service to the Nixon family for nine years, in the play, he is in his early 40s.

Actor two: Requires a skilled character actor, 50s to 70s. The actor must play the roles of both Mike Wallace and Paul “Swifty” Lazar. Actor two will also be required to play a TV technician. Swifty Lazar is a Hollywood lawyer executive producer who helps make the TV deal with David Frost on Richard Nixon’s behalf. Iconic “60 Minutes” journalist Mike Wallace makes a brief appearance in the play.

Actor three: Will play the roles of Nixon’s White House photographer Ollie Atkins, and the BBC producer John Birt. This actor should play  late 30s.

Actor four: Will play the roles of Bob Zelnick and Studio Manger. Robert Zelnick is a journalist and for twenty years he was a correspondent for ABC News. He was hired by Frost to be the executive editor for the Frost-Nixon interviews. The actor should play late 30s to early 40s.

Actor five: Socialite Caroline Cushing is the girlfriend of David Frost; she has a pivotal scene in the play, and should be able to play mid-20s to early 30s.

Actor six: Richard Nixon, the 37th president of United States, resigned from office in 1974. The actor should play late 50s early 60s. This role requires an actor whose skills in creating character, not in providing imitation.

Actor seven: James Reston: Most notable as an author and journalist however, many people don’t know that he served in the US Interior Department as the assistant secretary from 1964 to 1965, and then in the US Army from 1965 – 1968. Reston is currently a Senior Scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington DC. In the play, Frost brings in Reston to help him develop a series of questions that he hopes will have Nixon admit to a series of crimes that led to the break-in at the Watergate Hotel. Reston is the play’s narrator, and was in his early thirties at the time of the play. Reston could also be seen as reflecting back to his younger years, so the actor could be believable at any age 30s to 60s.

Actor eight: David Frost: his career as a TV Journalist was on its way down as he was doing a sensationalist TV program in Australia. He thought that he could get back on top, so he began to pursue an interview series on American television with the former U.S. President Richard Nixon. He is very English, and is in his mid-30s.

Actor nine: Jack Brennan: he was career marine first assigned to Nixon as an aide that accompanied Nixon to China in 1972. After Nixon’s resignation he became his chief of staff. During the final in the series of Frost-Nixon interviews Brennan held up a card to Frost “Let him talk..”

Actor ten: This actress will play four roles including Evonne Goolagong. This 30ish tennis pro reached four consecutive U.S. Open finals, but lost them all. She is the only player in the open era of the event to have lost four consecutive finals, and the only woman to do so in U.S. championships history. Goolagong made seven consecutive finals at the Australian Open winning four titles in a row. She is a guest on his Australian talk show. Other roles include, stewardess, waitress, and camera operator.

Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script.

All roles are open.

Please click the “Directions” tab above for directions; if you need additional information, please leave a message at the Box Office – (203) 226-1983. Westport Community Theatre is located at Westport Town Hall, 110 Myrtle Avenue in Westport.