audition information for Leading Ladies
Audtion dates: Sunday & Monday , February 12 & 13 @ 7:00 pm
Where: First United Methodist Church in Bowling Green. Room number will be posted at the main entrance.
Performance dates: April 20, 21, 27, 28 @ 8 PM , April 29 @ 2 PM
Director: Bob Hastings, 419-352-1358, bobhastings@woh.rr.com
About the play:
Two English Shakespearean actors, Jack and Leo, find themselves so down on their luck that they are performing "Scenes from Shakespeare" on the Moose Lodge circuit in the Amish country of Pennsylvania. When they hear that an old lady in York, PA is about to die and leave her fortune to her two long lost English nephews, they resolve to pass themselves off as her beloved relatives and get the cash. The trouble is, when they get to York, they find out that the nephews are really nieces! You know, Ladies! Romantic entanglements abound, especially when Leo falls head-over-petticoat in love with the old lady’s vivacious niece, Meg, who’s engaged to the local minister. Meg knows that there’s a wide world out there, but it’s not until she meets Leading Ladies, “Maxine and Stephanie”, that she finally gets a taste of it. Leading Ladies is another hilarious Ken Ludwig comedy, and sure to make you laugh as much as last season’s record breaking Lend Me A Tenor.
Roles: 5 Men and 3 Women
- Leo/Maxine – 30-45 years of age - A grandiloquent, but down on his luck, because he is not very good, English Shakespearean actor driven to desperate measures. Still dreams big of “making it” as an actor. He is conniving, a smooth talker and apparently horny!
- Jack/Stephanie – 30-45 years of age – Also a down on his luck, because he is not very good, English Shakespearean actor who is too often easily swayed by Leo. He’s ready to “settle down.” Has had enough of the “actor life” and Leo’s plans for him. He is not as conniving, nor as smooth a talker but is apparently just as horny! He is a sort of scrambled-DNA hybrid of Harpo Marx and Gene Wilder.
- Florence – 60-80 years of age – a fatally ill, fabulously wealthy woman who, though ailing, is yet feisty, with crafty flashes of sarcasm and whose proximity to death may be more apparent than real.
- Meg – 25-35 years of age - Florence's beautiful stagestruck niece, who's unaccountably engaged to a wet-blanket minister. She’s vivacious, with enormous warmth and a great sense of humor. She also has the fresh, unstudied beauty that most women would kill for. She knows there’s a big world outside York, Pa., but hasn’t seen much of it yet. She harbors a world of dreams, and sleeps on them every night. They keep her alive, but she doesn’t know it.
- Audrey – 25-35 years of age – an also pretty, but delightfully daffy autodidact who's kinda-sorta involved with the amiably clueless Florence’s son...capable of ditzy shenanigans. She is extremely well-built, extremely sweet and good natured. She’s a knockout. Roller-skating waitress.
- Duncan – 45-60 years of age – engaged but substantially older than Meg., Duncan is a somewhat boring, wet-blanket minister with his own designs on the old woman's $3 million fortune. He’s a good man at heart, but rather fussy, set in his ways, a bit scatterbrained and lives in his own world.
- Doc – 45-60 years of age – Florence’s mostly unreliable Doctor...Chief Moose of the Shrewsbury Moose Lodge. A crusty, likable curmudgeon, a country doctor who takes no guff from anybody.
- Butch – 20-30 years of age - amiably clueless son of Florence's doctor. A little slow on the uptake, but earnest and sincere, with a good heart. He played football in high school. Doc and Butch argue a lot and adore each other.
Preparation: Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. It is important that all those wishing to audition, be there at 7:00 pm each night so we can see and hear candidates audition together for stage "look" and age compatibility. Sunday auditioners may be asked to return on Monday.