Auditions

Wanting to audition for a show at etc?
Auditions are open to everyone that is suitable for the designated roles. There is no fee to audition, but successful members who are cast in etc shows must agree to pay the $20 annual membership fee which covers administration and insurance costs. This is payable within one month of rehearsals. To find out specific requirements about what is expected in the audition check out the notices below, or contact the associated director. We always welcome new faces and talent.

A Fly on the Wall (4 one act plays) Directed by Natasha Boyd & Tess Maurici Ryan Audition Dates: 23-Mar-10 at 07:30PM 28-Mar-10 at 02:00PM Season: 17-Jun-10 to 26-Jun-10 Audition Venue: Bradshaw Street Community Hall Bradshaw Street (off Buckley Street) West Essendon Melways 28B3 Enquiries: Natasha - 0413 188 513 or Tess - 044 99 32 921 Characters: Racquet by Jason Silverii and Natasha Boyd (30min drama) 2M 3F Selling Johnny Depp by Alex Broun (10 min comedy) 2M 1F Hold’em by Alex Broun (30min drama / comedy) 2F Kids by John Morgan (30min comedy) 5 actors – gender variable Only Adult Performers are required for this One ACT play. Characters Baby-6 months Johhny-nearly 3 Sam-nearly 5 Wendy-7 Ellie-9 *Please note that the gender of each child is interchangeable if this is required* ** STOP PRESS** Initial read through of script and discussion of production: Sunday 21st February at 6pm. Venue Max’s Café, 1 Leake Street, Essendon. RSVP either Tess or Natasha by Friday 12th February. Theatre: Bradshaw Street Community Hall Bradshaw Street (off Buckley Street) West Essendon Melways 28B3 Synopsis: After ETCs success with one act plays in 2009 (numerous nominations at four festivals, including winning best director, production and actress at Macedon festival), the one act plays return in 2010. Three plays will be presented, directed by Natasha Boyd and Tess Maurici-Ryan. Commitment to the June season, as well as four one act play festivals in July-September is required (one weekend for each). Other Information: SPECIFIC DETAILS RACQUET - A celebrity couple has their disintegrating relationship turned into a public circus. As the fate of their relationship hangs in the balance, interested parties decide to have their say. The manager wants them to stay together, the mistress wants them to split, while the media is happy for the uncertainty to continue. 2m, 2F (age 20+) SELLING JOHNNY DEPP- When Celia finds some merchandise left behind by a world famous actor in the hotel where she cleans, her boyfriend Aaron brings in a dealer called Memos who specialises in celebrity mementos. Once Memos has the authentication he needs, he's ready for some haggling - and a little bit of show-and-tell. 2M 1F (age 18+) Mother Have Nine Lives Written by UK playwright Joanna Norland (45 minutes). Australian premiere. 6F required (age 20s-40s) Plot - Kim needs a double stroller for her twin daughter. Now. Marge jet-sets from the boardroom to the nursery, and back. Double time. And Kim will convince the powers-that-be that her daughter deserves a place in the gifted students class. Fasten your seatbelts for a 45-minute whistle stop tour of the highs and lows of modern motherhood. Nine mothers, nine monologues, and nine stories, interlinked by the games of three girls who know one thing for sure: Being the mommy is the best part. ** Tess and Natasha will use this script to highlight the universality of motherhood by reworking the monologues into a mixtures of solo pieces, dialogue and ensemble work (similar to last year’s “What’s the matter with MaryJane?”). 6F required minimum; 3 parts are daughters aged 7yo played by adults, and we also require at least 3 women aged between 20s-40s as the ‘mother’ roles. Audition pages selected: Script is attached as word document, Kids parts (Kelly, Christie, Abby) – see pages 1, 3, and 20 Adult mother parts – see pp 4-5 (Gina), pp 6-7 (Margaret) and pp 13-14 (Katharine) ** note these will be auditioned as monologues but will be cut up for performance as an ensemble piece. KIDS- Exploits of 5 children (adult actors) in a playground who make wry observations on the follies of adulthood and the need to bring about change. Through a hierarchy of blackmail they achieve impossible tasks and their dreamy aspirations are genuine. 5 actors playing young children aged 6months to 9yo - gender variable ABOUT THE DIRECTORS Tess Maurici-Ryan - With over 10 years of theatre experience, Tess has been involved in all aspects of production from acting to publicity, lighting, sound, stage management and directing four shows to date at Sunshine Theatre Company. More recently, Tess has been seen performing on stage at Essendon Theatre with This Way Up, VDL nominated Enchanted April, Dinkum Assorted and as part of the multi nominated 2009 one act play season of Things are not what they seem. Natasha Boyd has been acting, dancing, writing, and directing since her school and uni years. She has performed with Melbourne University Theatre, Mount Players Macedon, STAG, ETC and Heidelberg Theatre. In terms of direction, Natasha directed three shows at Melb. Uni., including the 1994 entry in the Melbourne Comedy Festival. She moved onto co-writing and co-directing a number of high school musicals, as well as co-directing Michael Frayn's hilarious play Noises Off. After 18 months on community radio she returned to theatre co-directing the multi nominated one act play season at ETC in 2009, winning Best Director and Production at Macedon and Best Director and Best Ensemble at Maroondah Rose Street one act play festivals for What’s the matter with Mary Jane? Both Tess and Natasha are really excited to be working on this project together in 2010. They are looking for an eclectic, hardworking group of actors who can play multi roles across the four one act plays. Talent, time commitment, creative input as well as a great team spirit are definite requisites. Rehearsals will be on Tuesday and Thursday nights and Sunday afternoons.

The Underpants by Carl Sternheim, Adapted By Steve Martin Directed by John Degabriele & Dawn Hinrichsen Audition Dates: 22-Jun-10 at 07:30PM 27-Jun-10 at 02:00PM Season: 9-Sep-10 to 18-Sep-10 Audition Venue: Bradshaw Street Community Hall Bradshaw Street (off Buckley Street) West Essendon Melways 28B3 Enquiries: 0414 486 139 / 0416 073 649 Characters: Theo Muske - Burly,Muscular,boring bureaucrat and cantankerous husband Louise Maske -Very Pretty,Mid 20s,long suffering wife Count Versati - Camp Esthete,Elegent Gentleman Cohen - With a K’,Jewish barber,sickly hypochondriac Jew Klingelhoff - An elderly creepy older man,sexually repressed gent who shudders at the thought of anything lascivious Gertrude Deuter - Mid 40s,who lives her life vicariously through Louise,nosy upstairs-neighbour The King Theatre: Bradshaw Street Community Hall Bradshaw Street (off Buckley Street) West Essendon Melways 28B3 Synopsis: Louise’s problems with her husband are compounded when she is caught out in the park with her underpants around her ankles in full view of several men including the king. This peep show leads to a string of male admirers beating a path to her door obsessed with the glimpse of ‘paradise’ they witnessed. This is perhaps the play’s cleverest device and its most modern. The underpants seem to symbolize the fetishized nature of male desire, the titillating peep, the fragmented objectified woman that seems to be at the root of a lot of misogyny. These male admirers start to turn up on Louise’s doorstep in the guise of lodgers wanting to rent an advertised room in Theo and Louise’s cramped apartment. Through the conventions of farce, the same room is let to two men, the camp esthete count Versati and the sickly hypochondriac Jew ‘Cohen with a K’. In addition to these two studies in masculinity, there is the later arrival of Klingelhoff an elderly sexually repressed gent who shudders at the thought of anything lascivious. It is interesting to see that despite the diversity of male archetypes, the character Louise is only ever seen in a sexualized way via her underpants. This becomes more apparent later when with the help of her neighbour Gertrude, Louise outsmarts the men vying for her affection which in turn proves to be her undoing as the decadent Versati, whom Louise is swept away by, falls in love with a street prostitute. Other Information: ABOUT OUR DIRECTORS Dawn Hinrichsen Belonging to a theatrical family, Dawn has been involved in theatre since the age of 8. She directed her first play at the age of 15 under the guidance of her father David. She enjoys directing Melodramas because they combine the creative talents of actors, singers and dancers and, when done well, are very entertaining for a wide variety of people. The most recent plays she's directed are not, however, melodramas. During 2008 she directed This Way Up a very funny situation comedy with a great cast and crew. In 2007 she co-directed Black Comedy, an hilarious, almost farcical play with a lot of energy and action. John Degabriele This will be my first directing role with etc and i have been very passionate about this play which i first saw in sydney....i am looking forward in working with my co-director dawn and to gain her experiences to be able to direct more plays with etc in the future

Table Manners by Alan Ayckbourn Directed by Tess Maurici Ryan Audition Dates: 12-Sep-10 at 07:30PM 14-Sep-10 at 07:30PM Season: 25-Nov-10 to 4-Dec-10 Audition Venue: Bradshaw Street Community Hall Bradshaw Street (off Buckley Street) West Essendon Melways 28B3 Enquiries: 0449 932 921 Characters: Sarah 35-40 Motherly,likes to take control, thoughtful, forthright Reg 35-45 Easy going, does as he's told, intellectual, good sense of humor Annie 25-30 Anxious, stuck-in-a-rut, plain-jane, looking for some fun in her life Tom 30-35 Very simple man, good natured, oblivious to what's happening around him, not good with showing affection Ruth 35-40 Career-minded, independant, vain, not good with relationships Norman 35-40 Womaniser, good sense of humour, sensitive, sarcastic, persuasive Reg, Ruth and Annie are brother and sister - the others are their respective partners. Please note - All ages are a guide to the age of the character - not an age requirement for the actor. (As long as an actor can look and present them as a particular age, this is all that matters.) **English accents essential** Theatre: Bradshaw Street Community Hall Bradshaw Street (off Buckley Street) West Essendon Melways 28B3 Synopsis: In Table Manners Sarah and Reg arrive at mum's house for the weekend so that invalid mum's care-giver, Reg's sister Annie, can get away for the weekend. But Annie ends up staying, their brother-in-law Norman shows up unexpectedly, and not long after, so does Norman 's wife Ruth (Annie and Reg's sister). Sarah tries her best to organize a family dinner for the five of them plus Tom, a slow-witted neighbor whom everyone expects to propose to Annie. Sarah can't get much cooperation and doesn't realize that Annie had planned to sneak off with Norman . Norman is incorrigible, Annie is caught between Tom and a fling, mum is upstairs demanding attention, and there aren't six proper chairs. Other Information: ABOUT OUR DIRECTOR 2010 will be Tess Maurici-Ryan's first time directing for Essendon Theatre Company. Still relatively new at the directing game, Tess has directed Key for Two, Shenanigan's Wake, Absurd Person Singular and Relatively Speaking at Sunshine Community Theatre. With over 10 years of experience, Tess has been involved in all aspects of Production, from publicity, to lighting, sound, performance and stage managment. More recently, Tess has been seen performing on stage at Essendon Theatre with This Way Up, Enchanted April, Dinkum Assorted and Things are not what they seem. This new environment and the advantage of work on an actual stage is enough to keep Tess motivated and very excited to get started on the show. With a Passion for English comedy (and Alan Ayckbourn) we're not surprised to see her choice of show this time around.