Casting Call (Carson City)


Proscenium Players, Inc. are proud to announce auditions for our Holiday Season play: Michael Wehrli's "A Christmas Chaos", an hilarious satire of what can -- and in this case, does -- go wrong when a community theatre company is forced to, at the last minute, rewrite, rehearse and present a production of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol" when the Royal Shakespeare Company arrive in a city 2000 miles from their intended destination.

As with any theatrical production, we will also need a tech crew ranging from Lights and Sound Techs (sound technician is a very important part of this show) to Stage Manager and Stage Techs.

Two Audition Sessions:

Sunday, September 16 at 5:30 pm

Wednesday, September 19 at 7:30 pm

Both auditions will take place in the Performing Arts Building of the Silver State Charter School, 900 Mallory Rd., Carson City, NV.

Performances will take place at the Brewery Arts Center in Carson City, Nevada, 11/30, 12/1, 12/2, 12/7, 12/8 & 12/9.

Rehearsals are scheduled for Sundays at 3:00 and Wednesdays at 7:00 at the in the Performing Arts Building of the Silver State Charter School, 900 Mallory Rd., Carson City, NV.

Prospective cast members will be asked to read lines from the script of "A Christmas Chaos".

Cast of Characters:

"A Christmas Chaos" is full of fun characters requiring actors of various levels of experience and line counts ranging from as few as 19 lines and as many as 164 lines.

Flexible cast of 16: 4 adult females, 1 youth female*, 4 adult males, 1 youth male* and 6 of either gender.

*Youth actors should be 15-years-old, or older

--All line counts are approximate--

Scrooge (m) Considers himself a "professional actor" and is appalled when the others don't take the craft seriously, but occasionally slips in an ad-lib and falls out of character; strong willed; strong ego. Actor needs to, at least, fake his way through a brief Swing Dance and a Waltz. Should have a convincing British accent. (164 lines)
Director (m) Enjoys being a director, but frequently loses his cool when things go awry. He is doing his best to keep it all together with little success.
(126 lines)

Stage Manager (m/f) Tough, no-nonsense type. Great part for an actor who can humorously show aggression
(75 lines)

Writer (m/f) Considers himself/herself a great writer and loves to show off his/her vocabulary; show narrator. Communicates almost entirely with the audience. (64 lines)

Musician, Young Scrooge, Boy and Wife (f) Strong-willed and hard-headed; in a relationship with "Musician, Bob Cratchit, Fan and Belle" and they frequently butt heads. Musical expertise is not necessary, but wouldn't hurt. Cockney accent for "Boy" wouldn't hurt. Needs to, at least, fake his way through a brief Waltz. (61 lines)

Serious 1, Marley, Bob/Mrs. Cratchit (f) Strong actress that loves a challenge; able to ad-lib well and roll with whatever is presented to her, but has a tendency to go overboard.
(49 lines)

Musician, Bob Cratchit, Fan and Belle (m) A goofball who thinks he's a good actor, but tends to overplay things; in a relationship with "Musician, Young Scrooge, Boy and Wife" and they frequently butt heads. Musical expertise is not necessary, but wouldn't hurt. (43 lines)

Fred, Ghost of Christmas Future (f) The show understudy who is called to fill in to replace an actor. Unfortunately, she suffers from extreme stage fright; shy and nervous.
(41 lines)

Serious 3, Peter, Businessman 2 and Husband (m) Loves to be in the theatre, even though his talents are minimal; strives to do his best.
(41 lines)

Serious 4, Charity Lady and Mary (f) Very quick on her feet and can always make the best of a tough situation. Needs to, at least, fake her way through a brief Swing Dance. (41 lines)

Serious 2, Ghost of Christmas Past, Ghost of Christmas Present, Businessman 1 (m/f) Loves to ad-lib and/or find humor in everything; frequently amuses herself/himself. (32 lines)

Crew (m/f) A crewmember who has overdosed on cold medication, is highly disoriented and keeps interrupting the production by coming on stage in a total of 10 costumes (none relating to the show) in characters ranging from Anne of Green Gables and Huck Finn to Hamlet and Dracula. Will need to deliver a line in the style of William Shatner. (28 lines)

Singer, Tiny Tim 2 (youth -- 15+ -, m) Considers himself the child star of the area. Must be able to sing "Silent Night" out-of-key. (27 lines)

Tiny Tim 1 (youth -- 15+ -, f) Strong-willed and used to getting her own way. (23 lines)

Light Board Operator (f) Loves being a "techie", despite having minimal skills and abilities to accomplish the task at hand; has worked with "Director" before and knows how to handle him. (20 lines)

Sound Board Operator (m/f) Probably a volunteer who doesn't take her/his job seriously; mainly there to hangout with the cast and crew; has great contempt for "Director" and doesn't mind expressing that to him. (19 lines)

Synopsis:

The Royal Shakespeare Company hasn't arrived as promised to perform their stirring rendition of "A Christmas Carol." So our intrepid band of hapless actors and technicians must put together their own production in only seven hours! What a pity that they are not quite up to the task, even though they give it their all.

Have you ever experienced backstage mayhem? Well, you haven't seen anything yet! The play focuses on these poor but dedicated thespians doing their best while chaos is all around them: two kids fighting over who gets to play Tiny Tim, a confused actor who thinks she's in another show, a haughty lead actor, one actor playing both Bob and Mrs. Cratchit, an out-of-control director, thrown together props and costumes, ridiculous scenery, and tons of flubs and confusion.

Most of the actors in the show play multiple roles in this extremely fast-paced and physical comedy. Even the light and sound board operators are characters in the show!

The play is an hilarious backstage comedy that pokes fun at the classic novel and everything that can go wrong with a theatrical production.

The script allows, and encourages, the use of the first names of each actor as the characters in the play, PPI as the theatre company putting on the show and Carson City as the location of the production.