[Capdist-auditions] Auditions for 'ART' in Troy, NY June 13 & 15, 2006

[lwandruski at aol.com]

The Delta Xi Cast of Alpha Psi Omega, the National Theatre Honor 
Society at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will hold auditions for 
Yasmina Reza’s sophisticated comedy ‘ART’ on Tuesday, June 13 and 
Thursday, June 15 at 7:00 PM at the RPI Playhouse, 15th Street, Troy, 
NY.  Needed are three (3) men able to play 30-60 years of age. Prepared 
monologues are not necessary.  We will read directly from the script.  
For additional information, please contact the director John Birchler 
at 347-2372 or the producer Laura W. Andruski at 383-8277.  Production 
dates are September 8, 9, 14, 15 & 16, 2006.

Chartered at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1937, The Delta Xi 
cast of Alpha Psi Omega was formed to honor outstanding work in theater 
on the RPI campus.  To date, over 300 members have been inducted into 
our cast.  Although most members of the Delta Xi cast are RPI students, 
the cast unhesitatingly accepts alumni and community members who 
demonstrate excellence in any field of the performing arts.

About the show:

‘ART’ by Yasmina Reza
Translation by Christopher Hampton

Winner of the 1998 Tony Award for Best Play
Winner of the 1996 Olivier Award for best Comedy

How much would you pay for a white painting?  Would it matter who the 
painter was?  Would it be art?  One of Marc’s best friends, Serge, has 
just bought a very expensive painting.  It’s about five feet by four, 
all white with white diagonal lines.  To Marc, the painting is a joke, 
but Serge insists that Marc doesn’t have the proper standard to judge 
the work.  Another friend, Ivan, though burdened by his own problems, 
allows himself to be pulled into the disagreement.  Eager to please, 
Ivan tells Serge he likes the painting.  Lines are drawn and these old 
friends square off over the canvas, using it as an excuse to 
relentlessly batter one another over various failures.  As their 
arguments become less theoretical and more personal, they border on 
destroying friendships.  At the breaking point, Serge hands Marc a felt 
tip pen and dares him: “Go on.”  This is where the friendship is 
finally tested and the aftermath of action, and its reaction, affirms 
the power of those bonds.

“…wildly funny, naughtily provocative…” – The New York Post

“… a nonstop cross-fire of crackling language, serious issues of life 
and art expressed in outbursts that sound like Don Rickles with a 
degree from the Sorbonne…Reza is a fiendishly clever writer…’ART’ 
sounds like a marriage of Moliere and Woody Allen…” –Newsweek

“Anyone looking for a play that is funny, sophisticated, stylish, 
stimulating and moving should go to ‘ART’.” – Independent (London)

“In October I called it a minor classic.  Let’s change that to a 
classic comedy, period.”  -- London Times


Available roles:

Marc: an aeronautical engineer, a new-style intellectual, an enemy of 
modernism, a “nostalgia merchant”.

Serge: Marc’s best friend, a dermatologist, comfortable but not really 
well off, really into ‘art,’ sees Marc as intellectually arrogant.

Ivan: their friend, a few years younger than they, eager to please, 
“tolerant because he couldn’t care less”.