[Capdist-auditions] RPI Players Auditions for The Importance of Being Earnest

[Heather D'Arcy]

RPI Players Present Auditions for 

The Importance of Being
Earnest

 

Director Eric Shovah

Producer Matthew Scorza

 

AUDITION DATES:     Tuesday, September 3
and Thursday, September 5, 2013

 

AUDITION TIME:     Auditions will begin at 7pm.  If you need to arrive late or set up an
alternate time, please contact the director as soon as possible to make
arrangements.

 

AUDITION LOCATION:     RPI Campus, Ricketts Building, Room 203

 

PRODUCTION DATES:     November 15-17 and
22-23, 2013

 

The production and most
rehearsals will be held at the RPI Playhouse.

 

All auditioners should
come prepared to read from the script. 
No monologue is necessary. 
Familiarity with the characters and story is helpful.  The play is public domain, so full copies are
available to read online.  All
auditioners will be given the opportunity to read from desired roles.  After an initial round of readings, some
auditioners may be called back or asked to stay for additional readings.  Auditioners are encouraged to try British
(RP) accents, though this is not a necessity as dialects will be taught.  Please bring a headshot and resume if
available, as well as a list of conflicts. 
The staff will do its best to accommodate cast conflicts presented at
the auditions.  All roles are
available.  

 

PLAY SYNOPSIS:

 

The subtitle for The Importance of Being Earnest is “a
trivial comedy for serious people.”  The
play is a comical farce in which the protagonists maintain double lives to
escape burdensome social obligations. 

 

Whenever Jack Worthing
slips away to London from his Hertfordshire estate he says he is going to see
his (fictitious) wayward brother Ernest. 
Once there he keeps his privacy by calling himself Ernest which is
fortunate as his beloved Gwendolen declares she could only love an Ernest.  Her cousin Algy is one person who knows
Jack’s secret and one day he travels to Jack’s estate, announcing himself to
Jack’s attractive ward Cecily as bad brother Ernest.  Cecily is much taken with him and with his
name, so on Jack’s return home and Gwendolen’s unexpected arrival it becomes
clear there are both too many and too few Ernests earnestly courting.   

 

CHARACTERS:

 

Jack Worthing (male) – a young gentleman from the country; in love with Gwendolen
Fairfax.  He is seemingly a responsible,
respectable man who is very dashing and self-assured (as well as living a
double life).

 

Algernon Moncrieff (male) – a young gentleman from London, the nephew of Lady Bracknell; in
love with Cecily Cardew. He is a charming and idle bachelor who enjoys a good
time and loves leisure.

 

Gwendolen Fairfax (female) – a young lady in London society, loved by Jack Worthing. She is
sophisticated, intellectual, cosmopolitan, and utterly pretentious.

 

Lady Bracknell (male or female) – a society lady and Gwendolen’s mother. She is snobbish,
mercenary, domineering, cunning, narrow-minded and authoritarian.

 

Cecily Cardew (female) – a young lady, the ward of Jack Worthing.  She is young, impulsive, and vibrant.

 

Miss Prism (female) – Cecily’s governess.  She is
rigid in her beliefs though seemingly has a soft side.

 

The Reverend Canon Chasuble (male) - the vicar of Jack’s parish.  He entertains secret romantic feelings for
Miss Prism.  

 

Lane (male) – Algernon’s
butler.

 

Merriman (male) – Jack’s butler/servant at the Manor House.  

 

* Lane and Merriman may
be played by the same actor as Lane is only in Act I and Merriman is in Acts II
and III.

  



If you have any
additional questions regarding auditions, please contact director Eric Shovah
at bialystockandbloom at nycap.rr.com or (518) 526-1300.  Thank you and we hope to see you at
auditions!  

 

 

  		 	   		  
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