[Capdist-auditions] Auditions: Picnic by William Inge

[Michael S. Burnett]

Auditions for William Inge's PICNIC will be held at the Glove Performing
Arts Center, 42 N Main St, Gloversville, NY
on Sunday, September 27 at 2 pm and Monday, September 28 at 6:30 pm.

This is for a show on January 8,9,10,15, and 16, 2010.
Directed by Michael S. Burnett (518) 332-7755

 Info on characters:


*Character guide:*

   - *Helen Potts* - Flo's neighbor
   - *Hal Carter* - Hired by Helen, an old college friend of Alan
   - *Millie Owens* - Youngest daughter of Flo
   - *Bomber* - Neighborhood kid
   - *Madge Owens* - Oldest daughter of Flo
   - *Flo Owens* - Madge and Millie’s mother
   - *Rosemary Sydney* - Schoolteacher renting a room in Flo’s house
   - *Alan Seymour* - Madge’s boyfriend, an old college friend of Hal
   - *Irma Kronkite* - Schoolteacher, a friend of Rosemary
   - *Christine Schoenwalder* - Schoolteacher, a friend of Rosemary
   - *Howard Bevans* - Rosemary's boyfriend

*Character analysis:*

*Flo Owens* – Flo is a woman who has worked hard to keep her family alive.
The father to her children is long gone, so she has to be both mother and
father to her two girls. She raises them cautiously, almost overbearingly,
as she tries to lead them on the right path and make sure they are more
successful in life than she turned out to be. Flo has big dreams for her
daughters, and seems to live vicariously through them. She is hesitant about
accepting outsiders, because she is very comfortable with the way she leads
her life.

*Madge Owens* – Madge is a beautiful girl growing gracefully into adulthood.
Some call her materialistic and conceited because she spends quite a bit of
time with makeup and beauty products. She is not as naive as she may seem;
she definitely has some hidden knowledge about the world. Madge may not open
herself to many people, but she is able to relate to others if she tries. On
the outside, she wants to be wealthy and gorgeous all her life. But on the
inside, she is sick of always being the pretty one, and she just wants to
find her place in the world. Madge desperately wants to be loved, and at
first she thinks that Alan is enough for her. But getting to know Hal
changes her completely.

*Millie Owens* – Throughout most of the play, Millie is wild and tomboyish,
yet she has a softer, more artsy side to her. Millie shows herself to the
world as a tough kid, but she is really nervous about what other people
think of her. She wants to be noticed, but in the right way. Millie wants to
be somebody. She wants to experience city life and make a difference in the
world.

*Helen Potts* – A bit past her prime, Helen longs for the days when she was
a wild young girl. She used to love going against the conventions and
challenging authority, which has given her much wisdom in her older years.
She is easygoing, still loves fun and wants to share her knowledge with the
young people around her.

*Hal Carter* – Hal is young, handsome, crazy, impulsive and has seen some
harsh times. He has been to reform school, a few colleges, a part of a
fraternity, been chased by the police and claims other things that may or
may not be true. He is a confident fellow, and he loves attention. He is
capable of crumbling though, as shown after Rosemary’s vicious words. Hal
has a soft inner side that really wants to be accepted and fit in somewhere.

*Alan Seymour* – Alan is a rich young man looking to settle down with a
beautiful girl. He loves Madge, whether their relationship is superficial or
not. Alan is level-headed most of the time and tends to criticize those who
make decisions without thinking them through.

*Bomber* – A small character in the play, he tends to reinforce Madge’s
beauty as well as criticize Millie for being the oddball.

*Rosemary Sydney* – Rosemary is an aging schoolteacher who likes to call
herself an independent. She brags about not having a man and doing whatever
she wants. She tends to gossip with her friends and make eyes at Hal when he
comes into the scene. She is rather unconventional for a schoolteacher,
since she is not reserved and scholarly. She has a breakdown when she
realizes that she is not as young as she’d like to be. Rosemary ends up
begging Howard to marry her.

*Howard Bevans* – Howard is a businessman who is rather set in his way of
life. He has accepted that this is all he can be and even decided that he
may not get married and have a happy ending. He has been seeing Rosemary,
but is not sure what she wants from him or where their relationship is
going. He is easy to get along with but not extremely assertive of what he
wants. Howard is a reasonable guy who does what he can to live each day.
When Rosemary begs him to marry her, he is unsure what to say at first. He
tries to tell her she is just drunk, but Rosemary is very persistent. He
finally agrees to marry her and does his best to be happy about it even
though he is unsure.

*Irma Kronkite* and *Christine Schoenwalder* – These two ladies are
schoolteachers with Rosemary. They are slightly younger than Rosemary and
definitely like gossip. Irma has known Rosemary for a bit longer, since
Christine just moved to the town and started teaching there.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://capdisttheater.org/pipermail/capdist-auditions/attachments/20090904/43c6c7fb/attachment.html>