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AUDITION NOTICE For "A Room With a View" This Summer in John Hinkel Park

This summer, Actors Ensemble of Berkeley will be bringing a new adaptation of E.M. Forster's beloved novel, A Room With A View, to the John Hinkel Park Amphitheatre on weekends July 1st - July 16th plus a special show on Tuesday, July 4th, all at 4 p.m. 

Adapted by Bay Area playwright Stuart Eugene Bousel, who has long considered the book and the 1985 Merchant Ivory film of it to be one of his favorites, this production will be directed by local actor/director Andrew Calabrese.

The story of a young English woman who meets rich ensemble of characters while on holiday in Italy, changing her life and shaping her emerging consciousness, which is finally realized upon her return to England, A Room With A View was Forster's third novel to be published and his first great success.

Auditions will be Saturday and Sunday, April 1st and 2nd from 10 a.m.-2 p.m, at the Berkeley Oddfellows Lodge, 2288 Fulton St, Berkeley, CA 94704.   Callbacks will be April 8th from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. at the same location.  Readings will be from the script (to be provided when booking a timeslot).  English accents required.  If for some reason you cannot make one of these dates, we may be able to accomodate you, please contact.

Rehearsals will be Sunday afternoons and Monday-Wednesday evenings, also at the Oddfellows Lodge, beginning May 21st, with a read-thru May 15th.  Performances will be weekend afternoons at 4 p.m. at John Hinkel Park  Amphitheatre, 41 Somerset Pl., Berkeley, CA 94707, from July 1st through July 16th, plus Tuesday, July 4th.  The performance on Saturday, July 8th will begin at 6:00 p.m.

We will schedule folks in groups of 2-4 in 15 minute blocks.   Please write This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for an appointment, with your preference for time and day, and attach your headshot and/or resume if you have one.  If you wish to audition together we encourage you to sign up together.   We encourage both theatre veterans and newcomers to audition - if this is your first time - write us and we will help you through the process.  We recognize these dates may not work for everyone - if this is true for you we may be able to make alternate arrangements, perhaps a Zoom or video audition - write us!

Non AEA/no pay. A consideration for travel/food costs provided in alignment with AB5.  Refreshments (hot dogs (veggie and regular), corn-on-the-cob, and bottled water) provided free to the cast during the performances.

We regularly cast cross-gender and cross-type, and we actively seek folks of all ages, races, genders, and persuasions to audition.  Ages and Genders specified below are characteristics of the role, not necessarily of the actor playing the role. 

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS (some characters may be doubled):
All characters, unless otherwise noted, are English and speak with a British RP accent.

LUCY HONEYCHURCH, 20, brave and impulsive, conventionally pretty but unconventionally curious, she is musically gifted, well bred, and secretly terrified that she is dull and naïve.
 
GEORGE EMERSON, 22, sad, honest, conventionally handsome, physically strong, quite intelligent, and emotionally miserable. Loves his father fiercely, while being vaguely embarrassed by Emerson’s unapologetic earnestness.
 
CECIL VYSE, 24, very smart and very good looking, but deeply insecure and a snob. Though wanting very much to be liked by everybody, he doesn’t like most people, which frequently makes him exhausting if not awful to be around. Also plays a YOUNG ITALIAN MAN who is stabbed to death.
 
CHARLOTTE BARTLETT, 35, Lucy’s cousin and chaperone on their trip to Italy, which Lucy’s mother is paying for. Smart but stuffy, she is a total holdover from the Victorian Age, and just can’t wrap her mind around these new fangled youths of 1905.
 
MR EMERSON, 50, just the nicest man you can imagine, with a pure gold soul. Well educated, politically liberal, deeply earnest, he is habitually embarrassing as he has zero ability or inclination to pick up on social cues. George’s father, deeply worried about his mental health.
 
MARION HONEYCHURCH, 45, a stoutly upper middle class provincial widow who is the epitome of a domestic queen, she finds her children, Lucy and Freddy, exhausting, but very much wants them to be happy, even if she doesn’t understand them. Also plays ELEANOR LAVISH, 30, a lady novelist staying at the Pensione Bertollini in Florence who befriends Charlotte. Bold. Wears a cape. May actually be telling the story we’re watching.
 
FREDDY HONEYCHURCH, 19, Lucy’s brother and Marion’s son, has finished exactly one year of college (pre-med) and has thus decided he knows and understands THE TRUTH. George likes him and they quickly become friends. He can’t stand Cecil. The actor also plays a YOUNG ITALIAN MAN who stabs another one to death.

ARTHUR BEBE, 40, a kindly Anglican reverend who happens to encounter Lucy and Charlotte on their trip to Florence, a trip he is taking before stepping into the role of country vicar in Lucy’s home village of Summer Street. Arthur is a “cool priest”, with Big Daddy energy, but in a tea and crumpets package. Also plays Mr. FLOYD, Freddy’s friend who loves lawn tennis.
 
TERESA ALAN, 60, a sweet little old lady who is travelling the world with her sister, Catharine. Of the two, she’s definitely the more level headed and can be very all business. Also plays the COCKNEY MAID at the Pensione Bertollini in Florence, where she and her sister meet Lucy.

CATHARINE ALAN, 55, an even sweeter little old lady, Teresa’s younger sister and the more sentimental of the two. Loves flowers, loves love stories, loves travelling. Also plays MRS. VYSE, Cecil’s mother who lives in London, who is pretty much just a straight up terrible person. 

A Room With a View
by E.M. Forster
adapted by Stuart Bousel
directed by Andrew Calabrese
produced by Actors Ensemble of Berkeley
4 p.m. Weekends July 1st - July 16th plus Tuesday, July 4th.
July 8th production at 6 p.m.
John Hinkel Park Amphitheatre
41 Somerset Pl.,  Berkeley, CA 94707.
Free, reservations TBA
www.aeofberkeley.org

Actors Ensemble
P.O. Box 663
Berkeley, CA 94701
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
A 501(3)c organization.

 

 

Thank You

Actors Ensemble of Berkeley is delighted to acknowledge the Berkeley Civic Arts Program and Civic Arts Commission's support in the form of a grant of $8,000.00 awarded in 2017. Also, a thank you to Theatre Bay Area for a grant of $2,500.00.

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Actors Ensemble of Berkeley - P.O. Box 663 - Berkeley - California - 94701 ¦ Our Answering Service: (510) 649-5999 ¦

We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Federal Tax ID #946139640, since 04-1967