WESTPORT COMMUNITY THEATRE
Announces AUDITIONS for
“Mixed Couples”
By James Prideaux
Directed by Jessica Denes
Auditions will be held on:
Sun., February 13 & Monday, February 14th at 7:00 PM
Westport Community Theatre
Westport Town Hall – 110 Myrtle Avenue
Westport, CT
The time is 1927, the place an airplane hangar in New Jersey where two couples wait for the fog to lift so their chartered plane can fly them to Washington. Their meeting is quite by chance, but also ironic, as it develops that the four had switched partners twenty-five years earlier, and haven’t seen each other since. One couple has settled into suburban bliss, he a professor, she a housewife and mother; the other couple are Park Avenue types, he a rich, hard-driving businessman, and his wife (after all these years) still an aspiring actress. Cautious and civil at first, their conversation turns gradually bitchier (and funnier) as time hangs heavy, bootleg liquor flows, and old enmities are revived. As their veneers crumble, it is clear that neither couple has benefited as much as they had expected from their marital switch, and that beneath their pretense lies aridity, although tempered by the witty hijinks they go through to convince themselves (and us) that all’s well in their reordered worlds. Performance Dates are April 8 – April 24, 2011 at 8:00 PM.
Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. Familiarity with the play is suggested. “There are two (no let’s be totally fair to the men, four) razzle dazzle performances in James Prideaux’s new play MIXED COUPLES…” —NY Post.
Characters:
Alden: (40s) A bit bookish and seemingly unemotional. Alden’s discontent with life speaks volumes in what he does not say or outwardly expresses. Married to Elberta.
Elberta: (40s) A dutiful, charming wife and mother. She is kind and proper and much too smart to see this as a failing or to etch this final image in stone. Elberta is full of emotions but is always in control of them. Married to Alden.
Don: (40s) A well heeled business type. Self confident and slick. Does have his moments of anger and annoyance, but remains loyal to his marriage and lifestyle. Married to Clarice.
Clarice: (40s) A shallow, half-baked starlet whose contrived, dramatic antics are her only real claims to fame. Still a sexpot and can lay on the flirtatious allure with ease. Clarice enjoys stirring up trouble. Married to Don.
Pilot: (Any age) He is a bit nervous about having people, especially women, in the pilots’ room. As the night and the antics go on he is more than ready to get the passengers in the air.
Perusal Scripts available upon request; contact the director at jessicadenes1@yahoo.com
For further information, please call Westport Community Theatre at (203) 226-1983 or contact the director at jessicadenes1@yahoo.com
