OPEN AUDITIONS: It Can't Happen Here

It Can’t Happen Here

By Sinclair Lewis

Adapted by Tony Taccone and Bennett S. Cohen

Directed by Dr. Brandi Berry-Douglas

Open Table Read: November 7, 1pm

Open Auditions: November 30 - December 1, 6:30pm-9:30pm

Callbacks: December 2

Rehearsal Timeframe: December-March

Evening Performances (7:30 pm): March 12, 13,19, 20

Matinee Performances (2:30 pm): March 14, 21

Content Label: R; violence 

The Majestic Theatre (a division of the City of Corvallis Parks and Recreation department) is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion and to creating a welcoming place for actors of all backgrounds to explore their craft. We are particularly eager to work with artists of color and other artists from marginalized communities. All auditions are free and open to the public. This audition is for an amateur, volunteer production. The Majestic Theatre staff and volunteers do not discriminate on the basis of age, national origin, race, gender, ethnic background, ability, religious beliefs, sexual orientation, or any protected class.

Auditions will be held in person at the Majestic Theatre. Auditions are open to anyone, and prospective actors may attend one or both nights. Callbacks are by invitation only. Remember that if you are not called back, this does not mean you have not been cast; conversely, if you are called back, this is not a guarantee that you will be cast.

SHOW SYNOPSIS

From Dramatists Play Service: “A cautionary dark satire about the fragility of democracy and how fascism can take hold even in the land of liberty, IT CAN’T HAPPEN HERE follows the ascent of a demagogue who becomes president of the United States by promising to return the country to greatness. Witnessing the new president’s tyranny from the sidelines is a liberal, middle-class newspaper editor from Vermont who trusts the system will fix itself—until he ends up in a prison camp. Sinclair Lewis’ eerily prescient 1935 novel gets a fresh update in this adaptation that examines what brings a citizenry to the point of sacrificing its own freedom and how a courageous few can prevail to overcome the fall.”

FROM THE DIRECTOR Brandi Berry-Douglas

It Can’t Happen Here is an interactive, dystopian drama that takes place in 1930s New England, where an alternate reality sees fascism infiltrating American politics and slowly consuming the lives of citizens in Fort Beulah, Vermont. Set against the backdrop of the Great Depression, citizens yearn for a new direction. Buzz Windrip's campaign begins as a "shining beacon" of American promise, but as he gains power, it morphs into an ever-present, oppressive force that controls every aspect of life and crushes dissent.

PREPARATION NOTES

You do NOT need to prepare a monologue or piece. 

Wear comfortable clothes to audition; be ready to move as part of your audition.

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS

All characters do not have a specific race or ethnic background; we're excited to see a diverse pool of actors audition for all roles. Ages listed are the approximate ages of the characters themselves. We invite actors of any age to audition for any role.

DOREMUS JESSUP 

Character Age: 45-65

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Man

Desired Actor Gender: Any

Ability/movement: On stage for the entire play, in continuous movement. Comfortable with stage fight movements. Down on the floor at times.

Character: A journalist who serves as editor of the Vermont newspaper, The Daily Informer; a self-described middle-class liberal intellectual; his evolution from a cynical but detached observer of politics to a committed resistance agent forms the play's main arc.

EMMA JESSUP/ADELAIDE TARR GIMMITCH

Character Age: 45-65 

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Woman

Desired Actor Gender: Female-presenting

Ability/movement: In continuous movement throughout much of the show.

Character: Married to Doremus Jessup; keeping the peace at all costs is one of her focuses; worries about the little things; unable/unwilling to see the bigger picture; she is the epitome of – no decision is a decision.

SISSY JESSUP/NARRATOR 1 

Character Age: 18-25

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Woman

Desired Actor Gender: Female-presenting

Ability/movement: In continuous movement throughout much of the show. Comfortable with stage fight movements. Down on the floor at times.

Character: The youngest child of Doremus and Emma; is a bit of a wild child; full of modern ideas about the world; admires Lorinda; she is sexually liberated, and her extroverted behavior contradicts her strong mind; in love with Julian for all the right reasons. In continuous movement throughout much of the show. Great storytelling abilities, able to command attention.

PHILIP JESSUP/HERBERT Y. EDGEWAYS 

Character Age: 25-35

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Man

Desired Actor Gender: Male-presenting

Ability/movement: In continuous movement throughout much of the show. 

Character: The son of Doremus and Emma; a Harvard grad who joins the new regime because it gives him access to power and privilege; he is a deep disappointment to his father, which only fuels his determination to assert the correctness of his increasingly extreme views.

MARY JESSUP GREENHILL/JAIME JOHNSON 

Character Age: 22-35

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Woman

Desired Actor Gender: Female-presenting

Ability/movement: In continuous movement throughout much of the show. Comfortable with stage weapons.

Character: The oldest daughter of Doremus and Emma; married to Dr. Fowler Greenhill and mother to David; a lot like her mother until her husband’s bravery and misreading the seriousness of a situation cause her to need to make a choice.

LORINDA PIKE

Character Age: 40-65

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Woman

Desired Actor Gender: Female-presenting

Ability/movement: In continuous movement throughout much of the show. Down on the floor at times.

Character: Intelligent, well-read, and fiercely independent; a suffragist and an activist; completely unafraid of expressing her opinion in public; her affair with Doremus is compromised by his marriage, which she completely accepts and is probably relieved by; where Doremus thinks great thoughts, Lorinda is willing to act upon them.

JULIAN FALCK/ NARRATOR 2

Character Age: 18-30

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Man

Desired Actor Gender: Male-presenting

Ability/movement: In continuous movement throughout much of the show. Down on the floor at times. Able to utilize movement and change voice to demonstrate different characters a must.

Character: Becomes increasingly unsettled by the current political atmosphere; trying to find his footing, what he believes in; inspired by Sissy’s bravery. In continuous movement throughout much of the show. Great storytelling abilities, able to command attention.

SHAD LEDUE

Character Age: 20-40

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Man

Desired Actor Gender: Male-presenting

Ability/movement: In continuous movement throughout much of the show. Comfortable with stage fight movements.

Character: Doremus’ hired man; hard working; in love/smitten with Sissy; we experience him forming a chip on his shoulder and dissatisfaction with his station in life; believes Buzz Windrip offers him a chance to rise above his economic and sociological status.

DR. FOWLER GREENHILL/LEE SARASON

Character Age: 25-35

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Man

Desired Actor Gender: Male-presenting

Ability/movement: In continuous movement throughout much of the show. Comfortable with stage fight movements. Able to utilize movement and change voice to demonstrate different characters is a must.

Character: Married to Doremus’ oldest daughter, Mary; easy-going; doesn’t realize how seriously things are getting; principled.

BUCK TITUS/BERZELIUS ‘BUZZ’ WINDRIP

Age: 40-60

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Man

Desired Actor Gender: Any

Ability/movement: Down on the floor at times. Able to play other characters in the show. In continuous movement throughout much of the show. Able to play other characters in the show.

Character: (Buck) Loyal friend; brave. (Buzz) Charismatic, personable and puts on the persona of the common man

JOHN POLLIKOP/R.C. CROWLEY

Age: 40-70

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Man

Desired Actor Gender: Any

Ability/movement: Down on the floor at times. Able to utilize movement and change voice to demonstrate different characters is a must.

Character: Smart; well read; ornery and opinionated because he's well-versed and passionate about politics; working-class guy who has read his political theory and understands it; a democratic socialist.

KARL PASCAL

Age: 30-50

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Man

Desired Actor Gender: Any

Ability/movement: Down on the floor at times. Able to utilize movement and change voice to demonstrate different characters is a must.

Character: The "local communist"; an auto mechanic, a working-class radical; fully versed in Marx; a proud American with a razor-sharp critique of capitalism; friends with John Pollikop, his boss.

BISHOP PRANG/EFFINGHAM SWAN/FRANK TASBROUGH

Age: 40-65

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Man

Desired Actor Gender: Any

Ability/movement: Down on the floor at times. Able to utilize movement and change voice to demonstrate different characters.

Character: Both are congenial, until they are not, powerful men. 

DAVID/DIMMICK

Age: Any

Character Race: Any

Character Ethnicity: Any

Character Gender: Boy/Man

Desired Actor Gender: Any

Ability/movement: Able to utilize movement and change voice to demonstrate different characters.