On the Verge, or The Geography of Yearning
By Eric Overmyer
Directed by John Elliott
Needed:
Three females, and two actors of any gender.
CAST:
Three Victorian Lady Explorers. All three are intelligent, established in their professions as individual world travelers, each eager to travel and journal her experiences. Together they set out to uncover the last unexplored bit: Terra Incognita. Can they travel together?
MARY: the most restless of the three–a boundless explorer–she is their passionate leader.
FANNY: though the oldest of the three and the most settled, she leaves her husband to go off on this last adventure. She is the least happy with the future she encounters.
ALEXANDRA: young and impulsive, a “wheel enthusiast” and trouser-wearer, she mixes up which words she wants to use, and–most significantly–she experiences strange, undefined concepts from the future osmosing directly into her brain.
ONE ACTOR (any gender) to portray the following eight characters:
– GROVER: FANNY’s husband, a prosperous Mid-West broker. He is wearing a large black oval carved African mask. He listens to FANNY snore. Scratches his eyebrow. Growls softly before he finally chuckles, takes his mask off, and speaks normally.
– ALPHONSE: wears an impeccable German airman’s uniform and speaks with an extravagant German accent.
– THE GORGE TROLL: a young man in a leather jacket, blue jeans, t-shirt, and sideburns and greased-back hair.
– THE YETI: wears a silky mane from head to foot. Speaks Yeti language, like ARRGGGGRRRACKAAACK! and LLLLLLLLUUUUUUUURRRRRAA AAAAAEEECCCCCKOOO! Might be a baby, might not.
– GUS: a fresh-faced American teenager, appears, wearing a baseball cap and chewing gum. Boundless energy.
– MADAME NHU: wears a beautiful if slightly ferocious half-mask. The eyes of the mask are Asian, the cheekbones high, and she wears a wig of long, jet-black hair. The effect is at once feminine and frightening. She looks them over. Her voice is low [not falsetto], and she speaks with a slight accent, both French and Asian.
– MR. COFFEE: an elegant gentleman in a beautiful white suit. Think of him perhaps as a blend of Joe DiMaggio in the Mr. Coffee commercials and Ricardo Montalbán on Fantasy Island.
– NICKY PARADISE: an over-the-top lounge singer who owns Nicky’s Peligroso Paradise Bar and Grill. He does sing. Listen to Joe Jackson singing “Bad Boy”–one of the songs in the play.
ONE ACTOR (any gender):
I am considering casting someone to do many of the STAGE DIRECTIONS (any gender). This person needs to be vocally and physically energetic. Will interact with the props and actors. Like all roles an actor comes to, this one will grow and evolve during auditions and rehearsals.