Tag Archives: Mariemont Players

Mariemont Players, Inc. is pleased to announce auditions for AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY by Tracy Letts, directed by Jerry Wiesenhahn and Produced by Kristen Vincenty. Auditions will be held Sunday, September 18th and Monday, September 19th at Mariemont Players, 4101 Walton Creek Road, Cincinnati, Ohio 45227.

Synopsis: A vanished father. A pill-popping mother. Three sisters harboring shady little secrets. When the large Weston family unexpectedly reunites after Dad disappears, their Oklahoman family homestead explodes in a maelstrom of repressed truths and unsettling secrets. Mix in Violet, the drugged-up, scathingly acidic matriarch, and you’ve got a major play that unflinchingly–and uproariously–exposes the dark side of the Midwestern American family.

Please sign up for a time slot here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/4090D44AFAB2FA2FE3-august

Audition Requirements: Please bring a headshot and resume. Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. You may be requested to stay past your audition time to read with other auditionees.

Callbacks: Callbacks are tentatively scheduled for Tuesday, September 20th from 7-10:00pm. More information will be forthcoming following auditions. If you are not called back it does not mean you are not cast. Each auditionee will be individually contacted by the producer before a cast list is posted.

Rehearsal times: Rehearsals will begin on Sunday, January 22nd from 7-9:30pm; Our plan is to rehearse 4 nights a week on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday (unless there are cast conflicts) until tech week.

Production Dates: Thursday, March 9th-7:30pm, Friday, March 10th-7:30pm, Saturday, March 11th-7:30pm, Sunday, March 12th-2:00pm, Thursday, March 16th-7:30pm, Friday, March 17th-7:30pm, Saturday, March 18th-7:30pm, Sunday, March 19th-2:00pm, Wednesday, March 22nd-7:30pm, Thursday, March 23rd-7:30pm, Friday, March 24th-7:30pm, Saturday, March 25th-7:30pm, Sunday, March 26th-7:30pm

Character Breakdown: listed ages are stage ages

Beverly Weston: Male, 69 years old
The patriarch of the Weston family. An alcoholic and once-prestigious poet whose career has faded.  Weathered and beaten a bit by life, he still maintains a touch of his gentility. His mysterious disappearance one evening is the reason for the family’s reunion.

Violet Weston: Female, 65 years old
Painfully honest, critical and accustomed to manipulating those around her. The matriarch of the Weston family. Undergoing treatment for oral cancer, she is addicted to several prescription drugs, mostly depressants and narcotics. Despite her drug-induced episodes, she is sharp-tongued and shrewd in a way that can border on verbally abusive; she is aware of the family’s many secrets and not hesitant to reveal them for her own benefit.

Barbara Weston: Female, 46 years old
The oldest daughter of the Weston Family, mother of Jean and wife of Bill, though they are currently separated. She is a college professor in Boulder, Colorado. She wants to save her marriage, but has the intense need to control everything around her as it falls apart.

Ivy Weston: Female, 44 years old
The middle daughter of the Weston family and the only daughter to stay in Oklahoma. She works as a librarian at the local college. A typical middle child, often overlooked or dismissed, her calm and patient exterior hides a passionate woman who is gradually growing cynical.

Karen Weston: Female, 40 years old
The youngest daughter in the Weston family. A critically self-consumed dreamer with stars in her eyes. She is newly engaged to Steve, whom she considers “the perfect man”, and lives with him in Florida, planning to marry him soon. Karen can talk of little else but her own happiness, and she clearly chooses to lie to herself about her situation rather than face the reality of not having her happily ever after.

Bill Fordham: Male, 49 years old
Barbara’s estranged husband and Jean’s father, a college professor, he’s left Barbara for one of his students, but wants to be there for his family during this crisis. His marriage is disintegrating, and his patience is slowly running thin.

Jean Fordham: Female, 14 years old (actor must be 18 or older)
Smart tongued daughter of Barbara and Bill; artsy, intelligent and a little bit brooding. She smokes cigarettes and pot, is a vegetarian, loves old movies and is bitter about her parents’ split. Willing to do just about anything to defy and punish her parents.

Steve Heidebrecht: Male, 50 years old
A businessman in Florida (whose business may be less than legitimate). While he is handsome, charming and a smooth talker, he is not the “perfect man” that Karen considers him. He is inappropriately sexual with Jean throughout the play and supplies her with marijuana.

Mattie Fae Aiken: Female, 57 years old
Violet’s sister, Charlie’s wife and Little Charles’ mother, age 57. Just as jaded as her sister, Mattie Fae constantly belittles her son and antagonizes her husband, but is accommodating and  fiercely loyal to Violet.

Charlie Aiken: Male, 60 years old
Husband of Mattie Fay and the father of Little Charles. Charlie is a genial man, and was a lifelong and loyal friend of Beverly. He struggles to get Mattie Fae to respect their son. Not one to get too entangled in drama, he seems content with how things are. A gentle man, he often seems to struggle with dealing with his family amidst the strong personalities of his wife and the other women.

“Little” Charles Aiken: 37 years old
The son of Mattie Fay and Charlie; awkward and unemployed, he is often the victim of his mother’s scorn and derision for his shortcomings, which then become self-fulfilling prophecies. He is sensitive and sweet at his core.

Sheriff Deon Gilbeau: Supporting, Male, 47 years old
A high-school classmate and former boyfriend of Barbara’s

Johnna Monevata: This role has already been cast; Female of Native American descent; caretaker and housekeeper for Violet.

Due to the sensitive nature of several scenes, we will be employing the use of an intimacy coach in order to ensure the safety and comfort of the actors. 

Mariemont Players is proud to announce upcoming auditions for THE GODS OF COMEDY by Ken Ludwig.

Directed by Jennifer Keith Day and Assistant Director Megan Horton. Produced by Debbi Berlon and Assistant Producer Douglas Berlon. Stage Managed by Janet Wisner.

Auditions will take place on Saturday, July 9th at 12:00 PM and Sunday, July 10th at 6:00 PM. at Mariemont Players 4101 Walton Creek Rd Cincinnati, OH 45227

Interested individuals can sign up for an audition slot here.

Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. Headshot and résumé are appreciated.

Performance dates will be November 3-20 2022. Rehearsals will begin in September 2022.

Synopsis: Daphne and Ralph are young classics professors who have just made a discovery that’s sure to turn them into academic superstars. But something goes disastrously wrong, and Daphne cries out in a panic, “Save me, gods of ancient Greece!”…and the gods actually appear! The Ivy League will never be the same as a pair of screwball deities encounters the carnal complexity of college coeds, campus capers, and conspicuous consumption.

Link to sign up genius – click here.

Auditions begin at the time noted. We are simply using Sign-Up Genius to know how many auditioners to expect. Please add your name if you plan to be there.

The audition will consist of reading sides from the script. You may be asked to stay and read with others.

If you have any questions, you can contact Debbi Berlon at dberlon@gmail.com

Character Descriptions

• ARISTIDE* (Male, any age)
  A local Greek salesman of colorfully embellished trinkets on the island of Naxos where he lives with his family. He knows everyone and everything that happens on his island, and serves as an omniscient introductory narrator to the story.
  *this actor will also portray the role of Ares
• DAPHNE RAIN** (Female, 20s-30s)
  A young and esteemed American Classics professor from a liberal arts university. She is a passionate Hellenic scholar, currently working to mount a production of Euripides’ Medea as part of her Tenure Folio. Hiding behind her bookishness, hesitation, and self-imposed isolation, Daphne has a fiercely independent spirit and is on the verge of the adventure of her lifetime.
  **this role may include implied (not actual) nudity, please contact the director for more information if needed.
• DEAN TRICKETT (Female, 40+)
  The Dean of the Classics Department at the university where Daphne teaches is a lusty “force of nature.” Hailing from England, her hearty gusto and “full throated laugh” simply can’t be tamed. She is staunchly passionate about her work and will do whatever it takes to see that the study of Classics is preserved and appreciated by the next generation.
• RALPH SARGENT (Male, 20s-30s)
  Hellenistic studies rising-star who has just been hired as the new head of the Classics Department with Daphne and the Dean. He is work-obsessed, bursting with energy, and on the hunt for a ‘lost’ Euripides play, a find which could make his career and change the course of theater history.
• ALEKSI (Male, any age)
  Loveable university custodian with a deep appreciation for ancient culture and art. He is a jovial Russian émigré with Homeric dreams of learning Greek himself and one day being a Classics professor.
• DIONYSUS – This role has been cast
  Celebrated Greek god of wine, fertility, revelry, and misrule incarnated here as a God of Comedy on a mission from his father Zeus. Lover of all things boisterous, anarchic and ecstatic, Dionysus is particularly thrilled to discover all the indulgences a twenty-first century college campus has to offer him.
• THALIA (Female, any age)
  Ancient Greek muse of comedy and idyllic poetry, now Dionysus’s partner in comedic crime from Mt. Olympus. Thalia is a positivist who doesn’t get caught up in the details. Although she is not exactly “the sharpest sword in the armory” she makes up for it with self-confidence. She has a happy-go-lucky spirit and an “Achilles heel” of crushing hard and fast on attractive male mortals.
• ARES* (Male, any age) The Greek God of War who is loud, intimidating, quick to be aggressive, and physically no match for opposing mortals. Brutish and demanding, he does not play around when it comes to satiating himself with whatever his momentary desire might be.
  *this actor will also portray the role of Aristide
• BROOKLYN DE WOLFE (Female, 20s-30s)
  Former Grade-A student scholar turned world-class movie star; she is a big deal at her alma mater. Charming and alluring with a smile that “makes you believe in God,” she knows how to smooth-talk herself into the next big movie without missing a beat.