Co-op Show Auditions/Sides

Willing Suspension of Disbelief
by Katherine James (katherine@actofcommunication.com)

Description

What happens when the actor playing Ophelia (Dawn) is sexually assaulted by the actor playing Hamlet (Colin)? How does the trauma expose the unacknowledged dark basis of her marriage to her college professor wife (Penelope)? What is the glue of secrets and lies that binds Colin’s brilliant lawyer wife (Jennifer) to this predator? Finally, what happens when instead of dying in the river…Ophelia lives, survives, goes to a nunnery and starts a revolutionary movement to stop sexual predators from preying?

Activation Advisory:

The play Willing Suspension of Disbelief deals with sexual abuse, sexual trauma, sexual violence, incest, and sexual predatory behavior. Reading about, reading, auditioning for and/or working on this play may potentially be activating, disturbing and/or upsetting to some actors. 

This play explores the important and explosive issues which gave rise to the “Me, Too” movement for show business – #TIMESUP, and is an extraordinary opportunity to wrestle with and expose these issues.

The play is written by PRT member Katherine James, directed by Rachel Berney-Needleman and produced by PRT member Alan Blumenfeld and the Intimacy Coordinator  is Celina Selnick.

We will have table work in December, rehearsals in January 2025 and Perform February 2025
Auditions: Monday and Tuesday Nov 11 and Nov 12 from 2-6pm at PRT.
Email alan@actofcommunication.com to sign up today!

*Click the square + arrow “Pop-Out” icon in the top-right corner of the images to open, download, and print the full sides.

Casting for:

DAWN: (age range: 30 – 40)
Brilliant and feisty, she is a female ingenue for a bit longer. This play is Dawn’s journey into discovering what it means to be the victim of sexual trauma again and again at different times in her life. Why are some people perceived as “an invitation” (her wife’s description of her)? And most importantly…how can she overcome the trauma and turn the dark night of her soul into a revolutionary political movement?
COLIN: (age range 30 – 40)
An exceptionally gifted actor entering the other side of male ingenue. Collin is also a sociopath and a sexual predator. He manipulates and controls every situation he encounters and every person that he meets. His attitude toward how he lives his life and how he approaches acting are the same: “I don’t pretend! None of it is pretending! I just follow whatever my gut tells me to do next. And whatever my gut tells me to do next is always the best thing for me. Isn’t that what everyone does?”
JENNIFER: (age range 30 – 45)
As cool as a cucumber, Jennifer is a powerful, highly skilled and ruthless Intellectual Property/Copyright trial lawyer. None of her colleagues or clients know that beneath her sharklike veneer is a very damaged sexual trauma victim who has resorted to secrets and lies in order to keep her life in order. Married to Colin, she thinks she is the one who is controlling their relationship.
PENELOPE: (age range 50 – 65)
A distinguished and vibrant woman, Penelope is Dawn’s wife. A sought- after English professor who specializes in the writings of Homer, Penelope met Dawn when Dawn was her student. Penelope seems to be one of those amazing wives who protects and sacrifices everything for her spouse. And yet…during the course of the play Penelope never will understand that sleeping with a student – even if you believe that “the student taught the teacher” —  is actually predatory behavior.

*Click the square + arrow “Pop-Out” icon in the top-right corner of the images to open, download, and print the full sides.