[Capdist-auditions] Auditions for CLYBOURNE PARK at Schenectady Civic

[jwmhickman at nycap.rr.com]

Schenectady Civic Players     
       12 South Church Street, Schenectady, NY 12305
        www.civicplayers.org

Open auditions for . . .
Bruce Norris’
Clybourne Park
Directed by Chris Foster

 -- Tuesday, March 1, and Thursday, March 3 –
                        (Performance dates – May 6 through 20)

At 7:30 pm at Schenectady Civic Players, 12 S. Church St., Schenectady.  Sign-up beginning at 7 pm.  Roles for 4 men and 3 women. (Caucasian and African American)
         
________________________________________
STORY: This funny and fiercely provocative play about race, real estate, and the volatile values of each won nearly every honor the theater has to give, including the Tony Award for Best Play, Olivier Award, the Evening Standard Award and the Pulitzer Prize.  Clybourne Park explodes in two outrageous acts set 50 years apart. Act One takes place in 1959, as nervous community leaders anxiously try to stop the sale of a home to a black family. Act Two is set in the same house in the present day, as the now predominantly African-American neighborhood battles to hold its ground in the face of gentrification.

Characters:

Russ/Dan: Male, ages 47-57, Caucasian. 
•	Russ is a father, husband, homeowner in 1959–has lost his son to suicide after the Korean War and has sold his home site unseen to a family that turns out to be black (the Youngers from “A Raisin in the Sun”). He’s fed up with his neighbors and his neighborhood and just wants to move away.
•	Dan is a Handyman/Contractor in 2009–working for a young white couple who has purchased the home and plans to tear it down and rebuild.
•	
Bev/Kathy: Female, ages 45-55, Caucasian
•	Bev is a mother/wife/homeowner in 1959–has lost her son to suicide, but does not understand her husband’s reaction and tries to get him help by calling in their minister. She wants things to be pleasant and people to get along. 
•	Kathy is a lawyer in 2009; she is helping the new homeowners negotiate a petition brought against them by the homeowners’ association concerning planned renovations for their home.
•	
Francine/Lena: Female, ages 33-40, African American
•	Francine is Russ and Bev’s housekeeper in 1959, who puts up with Bev’s unwitting condescension and then is unwillingly pulled into a debate concerning the neighborhood and the possible change of its demographic. 
•	Lena is a woman in 2009, determined to preserve her neighborhood’s historical legacy and wary of the new homeowners’ planned renovations.
•	
Jim/Tom/Kenneth: Male, ages 26-29, Caucasian
•	Jim is the local pastor in 1959, called by Bev to counsel Russ and asked by the homeowners’ association to convince Russ and Bev not to sell their home to a black family.
•	Tom is a representative of the neighborhood association in 2009 that has filed a petition arguing for preserving the historical look of the community.
•	
Albert/Kevin: Male, ages 33-40, African American
•	Albert is married to Francine in 1959, helpful man, trying to keep himself and his wife out of the neighborhood’s argument. 
•	Kevin is Lena’s husband in 2009, defending his wife’s desire to preserve the neighborhood.
•	
Betsy/Lindsey: Female, ages 27-35, Caucasian
•	Betsy is Karl’s pregnant, deaf wife in 1959. Becomes lost in the conversation as it turns more volatile. 
•	Lindsey is Steve’s pregnant wife in 2009. Hearing. Fighting to understand why the community is against her renovations and to convince them otherwise.
•	
Karl/Steve: Male, ages 30-40, Caucasian
•	Karl is a man in 1959 determined to preserve his neighborhood and property value by trying to stop the sale of the home to a black family. 
.	Steve is married to Lindsey in 2009. The new homeowner who wants to renovate his new house to a larger scale than the historical single-family-home model.

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