AUDITIONS for Spring 2022: Play Lab

PLAY LAB

PlayLab this year will feature two plays written by graduate students Bianca Dillard and Percival Hornak — details on each project to follow.
•    Parzival by Percival Hornak
•    Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert by Bianca Dillard

Auditions: Monday, January 31 and Tuesday, February 1
Callbacks: Wednesday, February 2

Please prepare a one minute contemporary monologue or tell a one minute story. If choosing to prepare a story, feel free to tell us an engaging story from your life, from a storybook or other piece of writing you admire (written notes to aid you in the telling are totally welcome). We are most interested in material that matters to you as a person and a performer. 

We value seeing you for these plays. What we are most interested in seeing in these auditions are monologues and stories that show us who you are as a performer and collaborator.  If you are on the fence about auditioning, please join us. We are happy to provide cold readings or another audition task.

Parzival 
by Percival Hornak

Parzival is a contemporary trans retelling of Wolfram von Eschenbach’s Parzival, about a young knight who stumbles into a quest that changes his life and reveals his hidden destiny. The play takes inspiration from fanfiction to tell the story of a teen who explores his gender through the Parzival story as its protagonist learns about chivalry, becomes a knight, and searches for the Holy Grail, winning jousts and the hearts of fair young maidens along the way. 

We are seeking approximately 9 actors for the following tracks — because the play features trans characters and stories, we encourage actors of all genders to audition for whichever roles excite them most.
•    1 - Wolfram 
•    2 - Parzival 
•    3 - Herzeloyde, Cundrie, Trevrizent 
•    4 - Knight, Servant, Gawan
•    5 - King Arthur, Anfortas 
•    6 - Ither, Clamide, Keie
•    7 - Sigune, Woman, Squire
•    8 - Crowd, Condwiramurs, Page
•    9 - Messenger, Gurnemanz, Segramors

Parzival - Full Character Descriptions:

Wolfram: late teens; transmasculine; very nerdy; he/him

Parzival: late teens; transmasculine; desperate to be a knight; kind of oblivious; he/him

Herzeloyde (herz-eh-loyd): Parzival’s mom; has Seen Some Shit and would do anything for her son; she/her

Knight: a knight in service of King Arthur; he/him

King Arthur: the King; he/him

Sigune (sig-goon): sad but working through it; Parzival’s cousin; she/her

Crowd: a member of the crowd; any pronouns

Ither (ee-ther): kind of an asshole if I’m being honest; he/him

Gurnemanz (gur-neh-mahns): a cool uncle; he/him

Condwiramurs (cond-wee-ruh-murs): canonically hot; she/her

Clamide (clah-myde): a conquering knight; he/him

Anfortas (ahn-fort-ahs): the Fisher King and keeper of the Holy Grail; he/him

Page: a servant in Anfortas’ court; any pronouns

Squire: a squire in service of one of the Knights of the Round Table; any pronouns

Segramors (seg-rah-mor): a knight in service of King Arthur; he/him

Keie (key): a knight in service of King Arthur; he/him

Gawan (gow-an): a knight in service of King Arthur; canonically hot; he/him

Cundrie (cun-dree): a sorceress with high expectations; she/her

Trevrizent (trev-riz-ent): stone butch; she/her or he/him

Others (messengers, pages, servants, etc)

Visit SignUp Genius to schedule your Parzival audition — held in BCA 204
Read the script (PDF)

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Red: Passion and Patience in the Desert. 
A Wild Adaptation 
by Bianca Dillard

Red dramatizes the writings of Terry Tempest Williams and the urgency of climate action. Williams is a naturalist who wrestles with community, religious tradition, politics, always with her eye on the fragility of human life. This piece explores questions like: how do we create and claim a personal ethos and sense of spirituality while being rooted in a place and a community bound to conservative religion and politics? Can we honor where we’ve come from in a way that protects life on this planet as we all hurtle closer to climate disaster? What mix of tools can aid us on our journey: grace, rage, community, empathy, acceptance, wildness itself, Magic? Unabashedly & wildly theatrical, 4th wall breaking, embracing of movement, extreme casting and our collective imaginations! 

Roles: 
Stage Manager (she/her or she/they) 
A friend who helps along the way. She is in charge and plays many characters. A BIPOC perspective would be welcome in the development of this role. 

Man (he/him) 
Another friend to play many roles. Experience with puppets and/or sleight of hand magic is a plus!

Stage Directions (any gender) 
You won’t be bored reading directions for this piece! Your actorly skills, energy and timing will be on full display in this juicy and interactive role. A BIPOC perspective would be welcome and encouraged in this role! 

Visit SignUp Genius to schedule your Red audition — held in BCA 203
Read the script (PDF)