[Capdist-auditions] Auditions for "The Children's Hour"

[Susan Ellis]

Our Own Productions, Inc.
Will be holding auditions for
The Children’s Hour
By Lillian Hellman
Directed by Jen Werner
 
WHEN:  Sunday March 4 from 1-4 p.m. (sign in is at 1 and the auditions will start promptly at 1:30).  
and
Wednesday March 7, 2012 from 6-9 p.m. (sign-in at 6 and the auditions will start promptly at 6:30).  
Call backs will be Friday March 9, 2012 if necessary.  
WHERE:  The Rotterdam Senior Citizens Center, 2639 Hamburg St., Schenectady, NY 12303. 
The auditions will consist of reading from the script.  No monologue is necessary.
Any questions, please feel free to email us at ourownproductionsinc at yahoo.com 
 
One of the great successes of this distinguished writer. A serious and adult play about two women who run a school for girls. After a malicious youngster starts a rumor about the two women, the rumor soon turns to scandal. As the young girl comes to understand the power she wields, she sticks by her story, which precipitates tragedy for the women. It is later discovered that the gossip was pure invention, but it is too late. Irreparable damage has been done.
 
ROLES TO BE CAST:  
Mrs. Amelia Tilford
A wealthy widow, Mrs. Tilford is a dignified woman in her sixties. She has been an influential supporter of the Wright-Dobie School, where her granddaughter, Mary, is enrolled. Although she is a fair and generous person, she lacks good judgment when it comes to matters concerning her granddaughter. She recognizes that Mary is both spoiled and manipulative, but she dotes on the child and is utterly blind to the girl's vicious nature.
Agatha
A no-nonsense, middle-aged maid in the employ of Amelia Tilford. She is stern and straight-laced with Mary, who calls her "stupid," although Agatha clearly sees through Mary's deceptions. 
 Dr. Joseph Cardin
Cardin, about thirty-five, is a relaxed and amiable doctor and Karen Wright's fiancé.  He is also gracious and humorous and seems ideally suited to Karen. Like her, he recognizes that his cousin, Mary Tilford, is a spoiled but troubled child, which makes him a dangerous adversary for Mary because he has influence with her grandmother. 
Karen Wright
Karen Wright is Martha Dobie's close friend and partner in the Wright-Dobie School. She is twenty-eight, attractive, warm, and outgoing. She is admired and respected by her students, for whom she has a genuine affection. She is also an emotionally stable woman, at ease with herself and others.
Martha Dobie
Karen Wright's friend and co-owner of their school, Martha is about the same age, twenty-eight. She is described as "nervous" and "high strung" and is certainly far less composed and self-assured than her friend. It quickly becomes obvious that she greatly depends on Karen's emotional stability and good sense to provide her with the confidence needed to make a go of their school. 
Lily Mortar
Hellman describes Lily Mortar as "a plump, florid woman of forty-five." She is Martha Dobie' s aunt and teaches at the Wright-Dobie School. A self-centered woman, she lives in romanticized delusions of her past triumphs as an actress. She is also vain and very susceptible to flattery, an easy patsy for a conniving student like Mary Tilford. She refuses to grow old gracefully, dying her hair and dressing too fancifully for her reduced circumstances (and expanded waistline). She is also a thorn in the side of Karen and Martha, who find her pretensions and meddling very annoying. 
Grocery Boy- Teenager
He is almost mute, but his puerile gawking and giggling are indicative of the damage done to the reputations of Karen and Martha as a result of Mary's accusations.
 
 
THE GIRLS:
Mary Tilford-14
The spoiled granddaughter of Amelia Tilford, Mary is a problem child at the Wright-Dobie School. She appears "undistinguished," but she is clever and used to having her own way with her doting grandmother. She also attempts to manipulate everyone at the school, resorting to a variety of tricks, including flattery, feigned sickness, blackmail, physical intimidation, and whining complaints. Karen and Martha are not fooled by her behavior. They easily penetrate her lies and schemes and insist on disciplining her, but they do not really understand the depths of the girl's depravity.
Catherine- 12
Catherine is one of the students at the Wright-Dobie School. She appears only in the first scene, where she attempts to help Lois prepare for a Latin test. The Latin lesson contributes to the chaotic lack of discipline in Mortar's classroom, revealing Lily's incompetence as a teacher.
Lois Fisher- 11
Another of Karen and Martha's students, she receives Latin tutoring from Catherine at the play's opening, conjugating Latin in hectic counterpoint to Peggy Roger's reading of Portia's "quality of mercy " speech from Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice and Lily Mortar's languid criticism. Like Catherine, she plays no significant role in the rest of the drama
Evelyn Munn-13
One of the girls at the Wright-Dobie School, Evelyn, who lisps, is relatively quiet and timid. With Peggy Rogers, she overhears the conversation between Martha Dobie and Lily Mortar; the overheard conversation becomes the keystone in the malicious arch of lies that Mary Tilford constructs. 
Peggy Rogers-13
A student at the Wright-Dobie School, Peggy, like Evelyn Munn, is easily intimidated by Mary Tilford. 
Helen Burton- 12
It is her bracelet that classmate Rosalie Wells "borrows." an act which allows Mary to blackmail Rosalie into confirming Mary's lies about Karen and Martha. 
Rosalie Wells-10
Unlike Peggy and Evelyn, she is not cowed by Mary Tilford, whom she does not like. In fact, Karen and Martha plan to move Mary in with Rosalie, hoping that rooming with the stronger girl will put an end to Mary's troublemaking. But Mary finds out that Rosalie has stolen a bracelet from Helen Burton and threatens to expose her crime unless Rosalie does what Mary asks. 
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