[Choir] For the Choir's actors: 12th Night - Project and Audition Information

Wed Nov 16 21:18:45 EST 2016

FYI!

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The 2017 DeBaun Shakespeare Project: TWELFTH NIGHT, or What You Will

Director: Bethany Reeves

Producer: Carl Russell

Lighting Design: Shawna Cathey

Interested in tech – designing, building, running? Please contact Shawna Cathey: scathey at stevens.edu<mailto:scathey at stevens.edu>

In this document:

·      The Basics and All Dates, including AUDITION DATES

·      The Play and its People

·      List of Roles

THE BASICS

What this is: this is the fourth annual full-play Shakespeare workshop production put on by DeBaun. “Workshop” refers to the fact that tech values are usually on the minimal side, especially sets. Since Shakespeare’s plays were designed for similar conditions, this works just fine.

However, acting values are maximal. We dig in deeply, and do a great deal of the kind of Shakespeare text analysis that’s useful for actors (what do the sounds/rhythms/word choices etc. suggest, from moment to moment?). Intensive private coachings are part of the process, as well as group workshops before winter break.

12N is OFF BOOK – prior DeBaun Shakespeareans, please note that since this year we have a slightly longer rehearsal period than usual, we will not be using cue scripts.

Auditions:

Tuesday 11/29 and Wednesday 11/30, 7:00-9:45 pm; DeBaun (unless otherwise announced closer to the dates)

No experience required.

Alumni are very welcome to audition and have been cast in prior productions, several times in major roles. However, as a very general rule, current students do receive preference in casting.

Audition sides are available by email upon request (write to breeves at stevens.edu). Hard copies will be available in the Music Room* as of 11/18 and at the auditions as well.

*Howe Center, 4th Floor - see top of file cabinets upon entering room.

Preparatory workshops/coachings: Selected dates/times TBA, Dec. 12-17

Rehearsal period:

Starts MLK Day for those in town; full start on Tuesday January 17 (please note we’ll want to use as much of this day as possible, as there are no classes). Rehearsals will be chiefly nights & weekends.

Off-book date: Saturday January 28.

TECH WEEK is sacred: Sat. Feb. 4 through Thurs. Feb. 9

PERFORMANCES: Friday Feb. 10, Saturday Feb. 11

Time frame: We’ll have 24 days total (25 with MLK Day) from the start of the rehearsal period through final dress; for at least 4 of those, there will be no rehearsal beyond some possible coaching (M/TH nights).

So, 20-21 evenings & weekend days worth’ of possible rehearsal time (which is actually generous for our Shakespeare projects).

Scheduling availability will be a major consideration in casting.

The Play and its People

One of Shakespeare’s favorite devices is to use deception to reveal truth, and he does it in Twelfth Night in numerous ways.

The play is full of disguises and illusions as to identity, and most of its major characters are in some sort of hiding. Some have false ideas about themselves (and/or others), one is literally in disguise, and everyone is in the dark about something.

The play can be seen as consisting of roughly two intersecting plots. One is the love plot with the noble characters (Viola, Orsino, Olivia, & Sebastian, with an honorable mention to Antonio). The love plot is the one most affected by literal disguise and ensuing comic situations.

The other plot is the “gulling of Malvolio,” involving the clown characters (“mechanicals”). This plot centers around Olivia’s ambitious steward, Malvolio, and other members & guests of her household (Sir Toby, Maria, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Fabian, and the free agent Feste). Here, Malvolio’s misperception of his own position, and the ease with which the others can thereby deceive him, is the source of the comedy.

Side note: the festival of 12th Night, in Britain, turned household status designations upside down (i.e., the servants became the masters). The clowns vs. Malvolio plot in the play seems to echo this idea.

I suggest looking up a synopsis of the play to get a sense of how the various shenanigans in both plots unfold.

ROLES

Please note that in general, we are open to cross-gender casting. Exceptions are when such casting might confuse a story line or character arc.

Upshot: audition for any role that interests you, and women, don’t be stopped by seeing only three female names below.

Twelfth Night is an ensemble play. While some characters certainly have more lines than other, there is no clear, single “lead,” and many of the fewer-line roles can really stand out. That said:

Pretty Much Major Roles (“major” means “has lots of lines”)

Malvolio: Olivia’s steward (business manager of her estate). He’s an upper-level servant who aspires to social-climb, via marriage, into the nobility. In Elizabethan times, the promotion of men of ability over men of birth was a relatively new phenomenon, and engendered a great deal of discomfort and hostility, as it innately questioned the class system. Malvolio is such a major part that some 19th century productions of the play apparently changed the play’s name to his name. The role requires the ability to play high status along with high-level language and acting chops, especially comic.

Countess Olivia: Olivia, a young woman left in sole charge of her estate by the fairly recent deaths of her brother and father, starts the play in a place of self-delusion: she has declared she will cloister herself and mourn her losses for a full seven years. Then she very unexpectedly falls in love with “Cesario” (Viola, in disguise), when her first intention was to mock “him.” The fact that she can’t help but respond in this way to such a genuine person (disguise aside) says very good things about the woman Olivia has the potential to become. Her actor must be able to play high status, have a keen ear for language, and be capable of both great vulnerability and great silliness onstage.

Viola: Viola is one of Shakespeare’s “true blue” characters, and is the heart of the play. She spends almost the entire story disguised as a young man, yet she is nonetheless such a genuine, let’s-be-real-about-this person that she is the means by which both Olivia and Orsino gain truer understandings of themselves. She herself falls for Orsino, and when she is faced with wooing Olivia in his name, she truly tries to do it, for his sake. She has some of the most beautiful, heartfelt language in the play. Her actor must have strong language chops, heart, and some reactive comic capacity. WEAPONRY INVOLVED

Major roles but with fewer lines than the above folks:

Orsino: Orsino, a nobleman, is similar to Olivia in that he has false ideas about who he is. Orsino (the name means “young bear,” which suggests a man of great vitality) is in love with love. He focuses this “love” on Olivia, but rather than actually wooing her for himself, he sends various representatives in his stead. He spends his own time rhapsodizing about her, and about love in general, in highly idealized imaginings. Again like Olivia, however, it speaks well of his potential that he responds so warmly to the very genuine nature of the disguised “Cesario” (Viola).

Sir Toby Belch: his name is indicative! Toby embodies the “Lord of Misrule” figures who would preside over the actual 12th Night festivities of English households, and his actor needs to go for it with an expansive, fun-loving presence onstage. He is Olivia’s “black sheep” uncle, an over-aged party boy who lives for wine, women, laughter and song. He’s full of life and jumps at any chance to make mischief for fun. On the darker side, he’s resentful enough of Malvolio to really go over the line with the “gulling,” and takes heartless advantage of the clueless Sir Andrew.  COMBAT & POSSIBLY WEAPONRY BRIEFLY INVOLVED

Sir Andrew Aguecheek: this is one of the many roles in this play that can steal the show. Andrew is a “foolish knight” of very dubious valor (or sense) but a significant fortune, and Sir Toby is milking him for all he’s worth. To keep the funds flowing, Toby encourages Andrew to woo Olivia. WEAPONRY INVOLVED

Feste: Feste, also one of the “mechanicals” (clowns) of the play, is the actual official clown. He’s a freelance jester, primarily of Olivia’s household but certainly not limited to it. He is the one character who interacts with every other major character in the play – the floater. Feste’s living depends not just on his wit but on seeing people clearly, and mostly, he does. He also chooses actions that, for the most part, lead those who are laboring under illusions towards more truthful perceptions. To the extent that “the truth can set one free,” he is to some extent a healer. He’s a very important force in the play, and – please take note – Feste must be able to sing. His voice doesn’t need to be top-notch or suggest any particular style, but it must be pleasant and tuneful.

Maria: Maria (Muh-RAHee-uh) is Olivia’s chief gentlewoman attendant (a very upper-level servant). She is earthy, fun, more than a little in love with Sir Toby, and is protective of various members of the household and of her own prerogative. When Malvolio wrongly accuses her of helping Toby in his shenanigans, Maria launches into comic revenge mode, setting up some of the most famous parts of the play.

Secondary Characters (fewer lines, generally, than those above)

Sebastian: this is Viola’s identical twin brother, and he’s only listed under “secondary” because he arrives relatively late in the play. BTW, never mind about fraternal vs. identical and all that. Just go with it - the two are mirror images. We do this with costumes, possibly hair voodoo, and by Just Telling The Audience It’s So. Hasn’t failed yet. Anyway – like his sister, Sebastian survives the shipwreck, though neither knows the other is alive. He is a likable, honorable, decent young man who finds himself in a very strange situation, as people in a country he’s never visited continually seem to think they know him, with some crazy results. BRIEF COMBAT INVOLVED; POSSIBLY WEAPONRY

Antonio, the sea captain who saved Sebastian’s life, is also devoted to him. Antonio is a tough fighting man with a history in Orsino’s territory, but risks getting caught in order to stay with Sebastian and be sure he’s got someone to back him up just in case of trouble. He is honor personified, rough around the edges, and altogether admirable. This needs an actor with some moral force. WEAPONRY INVOLVED.

Fabian: Fabian, one of the clowns, is a fun, clever character. He’s usually portrayed as being of a lower class than the others. He’s involved in the gulling of Malvolio and helps Toby set up & then stage a faux fight between “Cesario” and Sir Andrew. He appears late-ish in the play, so will likely be cast in some small role(s) earlier on, as well.

Small roles:

These characters have brief speeches, mostly to deliver plot information:

·      The Sea Captain who rescues Viola (not the same person as Anthonio)

·      Valentine, a courtier to Orsino

·      First Officer to Orsino

·      Priest to Olivia

Further small roles: Curio (courtier to Orsino), sailors, officers

Dr. Bethany Reeves
Director, Stevens Choir & DeBaun PAC Voice Studio
Music Program Coordinator, DeBaun Performing Arts Center
Stevens Institute of Technology
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