AUDITIONS & CASTING CALL

If you are interested in auditioning for one of the Playhouse's upcoming productions, click here to get on our audition e-mail list. No experience is necessary to audition beyond a passion and a talent for acting, but please be sure that you can commit to the performance and the rehearsal schedule.

Auditions are held at the Playhouse, typically six weeks before the opening of a show (see season schedule). Rehearsals generally run Monday through Thursday in the evenings. Performances run Thursday through Saturday evenings, and Sunday afternoons and productions generally have a four week run.

The audition will consist of prepared monologue or song and cold readings from the script. Please bring a head shot and resume, as well as conflicts and availability.

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We look forward to seeing you on stage!

Cliffhanger

Directed By Trace Oakley

Summary: CLIFFHANGER is a twisty whodunnit with equal doses of suspense and humor. Henry Lowenthal, after a long tenure as professor of philosophy at a small western college, is looking forward to being appointed to an endowed chair so he and his wife can enjoy their golden years with honor and dignity. But their plans are given a rude jolt when his successor, a vindictive and ruthlessly ambitious young woman, informs him that she is not recommending him for the chair—an act of such calculated cruelty that the usually gentle professor seizes a bust of Socrates and strikes his tormentor a fatal blow. Thereafter, as Henry and his wife plot a foolproof way to dispose of the body, complications arise in the form of a rather sinister young student who is about to flunk out of school (unless his grade is changed) and who happened to witness the professor's violent action. Add in a suspicious police lieutenant and you have all the ingredients for a series of suspenseful, unexpected and frequently funny developments, leading to a denouement that will catch everyone by surprise.
 
Where: The Cabrillo Playhouse, 202 Avenida Cabrillo, San Clemente CA 92672

When: Saturday February 22, 1-4pm and Sunday February 23, 4-6pm, Callbacks 6pm-9pm on February 23rd as well

What to Bring: Headshot, Resume and potential conflicts with the rehearsal schedule (see below). Also, please prepare a 30 second to 1 minute, highly expressive monologue and be prepared to cold read from the script.
 
Rehearsals: Table Read is the evening of March 9th with rough blocking March 10-12. Rehearsals will begin again on March 16, mostly weeday evenings, some weekends if needed. The final scheudle will be built around conflicts provided by the actors cast in the show. Tech week begins on April 12.
 
Performances: April 17^th Preview night, shows run April 18-May 11, Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights at 8pm, Sunday’s at 2pm
 
THERE IS PAY FOR ALL ACTORS! This is a modest gas stipend, email the Artistic Director, Amanda Strader at amanda.strader@me.com for a stipend estimate and further information about this production. 
 
Character Breakdowns:

Henry Lowenthal, male, 55 to 70, College philosophy professor, intellectual, self-effacing, book-smart, but not street-smart. Henry lives in the largely insulated world of a tenured academic: a modest but comfy home just outside the smallish college town, socializing primarily with colleagues, and looking forward to a the prestige and lightened workload of an endowed chairmanship, a career-capping promotion he's long been expected to receive. Henry's world is rocked by the stunning denial of said position, and his impulsive act of violence against the department head who stands in his way.

Polly Lowenthal, female, 55 to 70, intellectual wife of college professor. Polly is the proverbial “pants in the family,” the realistic, problem solving better-half to her insulated, head-in-the-clouds/nose-in-a-book husband. Despite many years with Henry, she remains independent, and carries the look of the upper-class protestant that she is. Quick witted, with a dry sense of humor.

Edith Wilshire, female, 35 to 45, college professor. Attractive in a 1980s corporate way, Edith uses the business realities of her position to mistreat people. The type of person who should have been a corporate downsizer, rather than a college professor. Cold, calculating, ruthless and a bit sadistic.

Melvin McMullen, male, 19 to 25, college student. Slight of build, informal, in the typical college student way, but a bundle of nerves and neurosis. Shows a sinister side when he begins to blackmail his professor over a crime he insists he witnessed.

Dave DeVito, male, 35 to 45, police lieutenant in a smallish college town. Physically, Dave wears the role of law enforcement officer well, but he's that rare cop who studied philosophy. Well-spoken, polite, sincere, he could have easily gone into business or politics, and is much more interested in the psychology of crime than the nuts-and-bolts action of it.