Theater Arts Productions

AUDITIONS

Auditions will take place on Sunday, January 26. All those auditioning should reserve an audition slot and prepare per the "What to Prepare for the Audition" section of this website. 

sign up for AUDITIONS

CALLBACKS

To Prepare:

1. Please read the play! 
2. Prepare a monologue. Pick something that speaks to you and shows how you interact with language. Make choices, take a risk! Your choices are either

• A contemporary monologu
• A Shakespeare monologue
• Or one of the monologues provided below. Please note - any person can use any monologue regardless of gender. 

3. You will also be asked why you are drawn to this play and what you are hoping to learn or explore. Fom the director: "I'm excited to meet YOU and learn who you are and why you are drawn to tell this story!"

For your audition, you may choose a contemporary monologue, a Shakespeare monologue or one of the following from the play: 

EURYDICE. 
Orpheus never liked words. He had his music. He would get a funny look on his face and I would say what are you thinking about and he would always be thinking about music.
If we were in a restaurant sometimes Orpheus would look sullen and wouldn't talk to me and I thought people felt sorry for me. I should have realized that women envied me. Their husbands talked too much.
But I wanted to talk to him about my notions. I was working on a new philosophical system. It involved hats.
This is what it is to love an artist: The moon is always rising above your house. The houses of your neighbors look dull and lacking moonlight. But he is always going away from you. Inside his head there is always something more beautiful.
Orpheus said the mind is a slide ruler. It can fit around anything. Words can mean anything. Show me your body, he said. It only means one thing. 

ORPHEUS.
Dear Eurydice,
Last night I dreamed that we climbed Mount Olympus and we started to make love and all the strands of your hair were little faucets and water was streaming out of your head and I said, why is water coming out of your hair? And you said, gravity is very compelling.
And then we jumped off Mount Olympus and flew through the clouds and you held your knee to your chest because you skinned it on a sharp cloud and then we fell into a salty lake. Then I woke up and the window frightened me and I thought: Eurydice is dead. Then I thought - who is Eurydice? Then the whole room started to float and I thought: what are people? Then my bed cloths smiled at me with a crooked green mouth and I thought: who am I? It scares me, Eurydice. Please come back.
Love,
Orpheus

FATHER.Dear Eurydice,
A letter for you on your wedding day.
There is no choice of any importance in life but the choosing of a beloved. I haven't met Orpheus, but he seems like a serious young man. I understand he's a musician. 
(The father thinks - oh, dear.) 
If I were to give a speech at your wedding I would start with one or two funny jokes and then I might offer some words of advice. I would say:
Cultivate the arts of dancing and small talk.
Everything in moderation.
Court the companionship and respect of dogs.
Grilling a fish or toasting bread without burning requires singleness of purpose, vigilance and steadfast watching.
Keep quiet about politics, but vote for the right man.
Take care to change the light bulbs.
Continue to give yourself to others because that's the ultimate satisfaction in life - to love, accept, honor and help others.

Scripts are available for 24 hour check-out by contacting shelbyart@brandeis.edu.
You are expected to read the entire script before accepting any role in a mainstage production, and preferably before the auditions themselves. You should only accept a role if you know what the show entails and that you are comfortable performing all content indicated in the script. Though the director may make adjustments, you are accepting the role and plot as written by the playwright.

PLOT SUMMARY

In life, Eurydice loves books… and a great musician. One of the few heroines who dies twice, she falls to the underworld on her wedding day. In death, she reunites with her father and remembers her life again. A lyrical and heartfelt re-imagining of the classic myth, focusing Eurydice’s journey as she navigates the underworld, encounters old memories, and makes profound choices about love and remembrance. 

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

THE MYTH
A charming and talented musician, Orpheus is the son of a Thracian king and the muse Calliope. When Orpheus plays, every animate and inanimate thing follows and his music can divert the course of rivers. He meets and marries the maiden Eurydice—thought to be perhaps a nymph (minor Greek deity related to nature), or maybe a daughter of Apollo. Their joy is brief; on their wedding day Eurydice travels through a meadow with her bridesmaids (in some versions, she’s running to escape the sexual advances of a satyr or shepherd) and she steps into a pit of vipers. She is bitten by a snake and dies. Overcome with grief, Orpheus strikes a sad note on his lyre and travels to the Underworld. A normal mortal would have perished, but Orpheus uses his music to charm the spirits and Hades, the Lord of the Underworld. Hades agrees to let Eurydice return to the world of the living on one condition: that she must follow Orpheus and he could not look back at her until they reach the outer world. The young couple sets off as proscribed. Whether his faith was not able to withstand the test or whether he was tricked by the gods, Orpheus fatefully looks back at Eurydice. She is taken back to the Underworld. In some versions, Orpheus is simply heartbroken and in others he is punished, wandering alone with his lyre until he is torn apart by a band of Maeneds.

SARAH’S NEW VERSION

Sarah Ruhl’s play uses the basic myth as inspiration, but differs in many ways. Eurydice’s father doesn’t play a role in the original myth, but he plays a pivotal role in Ruhl’s play. In the classical versions of the story, Eurydice is a passive victim. In Ovid’s version of the story, she doesn’t speak at all and in Virgil’s poem she says only a few words after Orpheus has already looked back at her. In Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, she is given both a voice and a choice.

The stones in Eurydice act like a Greek chorus: sometimes in unison, but always unique. They are in varying degrees of deadness and forgetfulness. They narrate, make commentary and police what’s going on in the Underworld. They warn against suspicious behavior and try to influence other characters with their advice. They do not like noise, music or remembering. Above all, they do like do not like human emotion. They also provide comic relief.

Ruhl says in her Notes: “The stones might be played as though they are nasty children at a birthday party.”[i]She also said, “In the version of the myth I grew up on, Orpheus' music is so sad it makes even the stones weep. So I was interested in the idea of repressed emotion in the underworld... what is it about weeping that breaks the rules of the underworld and allows Orpheus to enter? I also think the Stones enforce the rules of the underworld, they are our guides, and they make us laugh when we want to weep. I love Greek choruses because they mirror the experience of the audience—they remind us that we’re seeing a play and not a film.”[ii]

SOURCE: https://deareurydice.blogspot.com/2011/07/how-to-play-stone.html 

EURYDICE: Female or non-binary. A little too young and a little too in love. Falls to her death on her wedding day. A lover of books and music. Has a sense of irony.

HER FATHER: Male or non-binary. Eurydice’s father. A soul in the Underworld, writing letters to his daughter in the world above. Subversive to the ways of the dead. Loves poetry and also could enjoy watching a sport game. A regular person, and a good father.

ORPHEUS: Male or non-binary. Like Eurydice, a little too young and a little too in love. A great musician and Eurydice’s husband. Travels to the underworld to find her. Wildly passionate. Feels more like a musician than an actor.

A NASTY INTERESTING PERSON: Any gender. First appears at Eurydice’s wedding, luring her away from the party for their own nefarious reasons. 

THE RULER OF THE UNDERWORLD: Any gender. A the child-like lord of the underworld. Could seem like one who is not quite human. Is too passionate for Eurydice. 

A CHORUS OF STONES (6-7 total, may double with other roles): the Stones are an intriguing ensemble who try to uphold the laws of the Underworld, but get swept away into Eurydice’s journey. Specific characteristics of each Stone will be devised in rehearsals based on the performer’s own skills. We are looking for those who can act & move as an individual, and as an ensemble. Please let us know if you have any special skills - singing, instruments, specific kinds of dance, etc. 

Department Information & Conflict Acknowledgement

In consultation with the Center for Spiritual Life at Brandeis, the Department of Theater Arts has updated its auditions and casting with regards to religious observance and our production season. The Department invites and encourages all students to audition, including students who have religious observances which may have previously prevented them from participating as actors in our productions. Requests for religious observances will not adversely affect casting decisions. Please know that accommodations for religious observances – such as but not limited to Shabbat observance, religious services and prayer times, private spaces for prayer, private bathroom space, clothing/costume adjustments, and dressing room assignments – will be made to the best of our abilities. In a situation where additional expertise is needed about a student’s request for a religious accommodation, the Department will consult with the Center for Spiritual Life.

Conflict Policy

Students cast in a production with the Department of Theater Arts are expected to attend all rehearsals unless they have an academic conflict or an accommodation as detailed above. In general, rehearsals are held weekday evenings and weekend days. Cast members are expected to arrive on time to all rehearsals and performances. At the beginning of the rehearsal process, all academic conflicts must be communicated to the Stage Manager. Should other conflicts arise, the Stage Manager and the Director have the discretion to decide upon conflict approval on a case-by-case basis, based on the size of the actor’s role, nature of the conflict, and timing in regards to the rehearsal schedule. Tech Week conflicts, other than academic or accommodation-related, are not permitted. While it may be that a weekly schedule is utilized, the Daily Call (your daily specific schedule) will be sent out each night with 24 hours’ notice.

Any questions or concerns regarding the conflict decisions of the Stage Manager and Director should be brought to Cameron Anderson, Chair of the department.