St Mark's Players
a non-profit participatory theatre company performing on Capitol Hill within
St. Marks Church, 301 A Street SE, Washington, DC 20003
St. Mark’s Players Audition Call:
Rapture, Blister, Burn
By Gina Gionfriddo
Directed by James Wright
Audition Location & Dates:
In-person auditions will take place on December 7 - 7-10pm
Virtual auditions are welcome by 11:59pm on December 6 (send to info@stmarksplayers.org)
Callbacks by Invite Only - December 9 - 1-4pm
St. Mark’s Episcopal Church
301 A St SE
Washington DC, 20003
Performance Dates: February 23-March 9 (performances held Thursday, Friday and Saturday)
Audition Notes:
Please prepare a 90-second comedic monologue. Sides will be available for those who do not have something prepared.
St. Mark’s Players conducts open casting for all roles, including all gender identities, races, ages, sexual orientations, and experience levels.
Please bring a headshot and resume, if you have them, and be ready to list all conflicts on a provided schedule.
Seeking actors of various ages. Actors do not need to be the chronological age of the characters but need to be able to accurately portray the listed age range(s).
Synopsis:
Can a woman really have it all? After grad school, Catherine and Gwen chose polar opposite paths. Catherine built a career as a rockstar academic, while Gwen built a home with her husband and children. Decades later, unfulfilled in polar opposite ways, each woman covets the other’s life, commencing a dangerous game of musical chairs—the prize being Gwen’s husband. If nothing else, it is good research for their weekly seminar on feminist theory that includes a 70-year-old traditionalist and a 20-something sexually progressive college student. Once the martinis start flowing, these four women offer an unflinching look at gender politics in the wake of 20th-century feminist ideals.
Character Descriptions:
Catherine Croll: Female, 40s, A successful writer in New York who has become somewhat famous for writing about feminism and porn. Although she is at the top of her career, she can't help but think that in her personal life, the glory days are behind her. Wonders if she would have been better off choosing Don over her career instead of what is perceived as vice versa.
Gwen Harper: Female, 40s, A housewife and mother; married to Don, whom she started dating after Catherine moved to London for a year for a writing fellowship post-college. Traditional in every sense. Gwen runs the household and her husband's life. She takes great pride in her life, family and home, but has started to wonder if she sold herself short by settling so comfortably into the wife and mother role.
Avery Willard: Female, 18-25, A student of Don's at the university. Believes that she is a feminist and feels that both genders have the same freedom to explore their sexuality however they choose. She rejects the notion of gender roles and thinks that porn is not at all demoralizing or degrading to women, but instead finds it empowering.
Don Harper: Male, 40s, One of the brightest minds in his graduating class but has now lost his drive. He was only challenged when he was competing, academically, with Catherine. He's now married to Gwen and only gets anything done when Gwen puts it on his to-do list.. Don knows the glory days are behind him both personally and professionally, and copes with it through beer, pot, and porn. Often wonders, what if, but doesn't have the motivation to do anything to ignite change.
Alice Croll: Female, 70’s, Catherine's mother; considers herself old fashioned, and believes in traditional values and gender roles within a relationship, however, she also believes that women have more power within that structure than many think. A woman rules the relationship through intricate and artful manipulation.