OPEN CALL AUDITIONS:
Sunday, March 19th
5:30pm – 7:30pm
At Corbin Theatre
15 N. Water, Liberty, MO
SYNOPSIS:
Brooklyn, 1942, Eddie Kurnitz, needs to take a job as a traveling salesman and decides to ask his stern and straight talking mother if his two early-teen sons, Jay and Arty, can live with her and their Aunt Bella in Yonkers. The boys don’t like their new living situation as they’re afraid of their Grandma, and find it difficult to relate to their crazy Aunt Bella. Into their collective lives returns one of Eddie and Bella’s other siblings, Louie Kurnitz, a henchman for some gangsters. Jay and Arty’s mission becomes how to make money fast so that they can help their father and move back in together, which may entail stealing the $15,000 their Grandma has hidden somewhere. This heart-warming comedy won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
EXPECTATION and PREPARATION:
Prepare: Perform a prepared monologue and do a cold reading from the script.
Bring: Please bring a current resume and all known conflicts from March 27th through May 14th.
PRODUCTION DATES:
May 5th, 6th, 12th, and 13th
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN:
4 Males, 3 Females
NOTE : Age ranges listed for characters are suggested ages only. These may be flexible depending on the actors.
Jay: He is fifteen “and a half” years old. The play tells his coming-of-age story.
Arty: Jay’s younger brother, he is 13. More of an observer than the rest of his family, he often goes with the flow of things, but also can be a little childish.
Bella: Jay’s thirty-five-year-old aunt. She is sometimes a bit off-center and is mentally challenged, but despite this she is also loving and protective of her nephews.
Louie: Jay’s flamboyant, jovial uncle, in his late 30s, who comes to live with the family when he is hiding from the local mob.
Grandma Kurnitz: Jay’s grandmother. A very old and stern woman, an immigrant from Germany. Owing to her harsh childhood, she has always been very intolerant of what in others she calls “weaknesses”.
Eddie: Jay’s middle-aged father. He is shown to be, much like his sisters, a nervous wreck around Grandma.
Gert: Jay’s aunt in her late 30’s, and Grandma’s daughter. She is a very interesting addition to the family.