Audition Notice: Rope
Rope Auditions
The Footlight Club is pleased to announce upcoming auditions for Patrick Hamilton’s Rope.
Director: Dustin Todd Rennells
Auditions Dates:
Tuesday, January 26th from 4-8pm and Wednesday, January 27th from 6-9pm via Zoom
Performance Dates (this is a virtual/video production):
April 16th, 23rd & 24th, 2021
Audition Requirements:
We are holding live, on screen (Zoom) auditions for this production. You will be at home or somewhere with internet connection, and will present your audition live via Zoom. Please do not let technology deter you from auditioning. Email us with concerns so that we may help you audition in this new medium.
We are accepting video auditions for this production. Please complete the following steps to complete your video audition:
Sides will be presented before the audition. You don’t need to have the audition piece memorized, but an ability to work off script is ideal. You may be asked to use a different tone, concept, or characterization to repeat the text.
We will also ask you questions regarding technology you may have at home so we can assess individual needs.
Please fill out this audition form and list your conflicts for the rehearsal and production period.
Be sure to list your conflicts for the rehearsals and production period. Some conflicts can be scheduled around if we know about them ahead of time.
EMAIL a headshot or recent photo of yourself after completing the application to ropefootlight@gmail.com no later than Friday, January 22nd, 2021, at 5:00pm EST.
Other Audition Info:
Callbacks, if required, will be held on Friday, January 28th from 7:00-9:00pm on Zoom. Details to follow if you are called back.
We may not hold callbacks, and if callbacks are held, not all roles require a callback.
Actors needed at callbacks will be notified by end of day on January 27th. Actors called back will be given sides to work on.
All actors will be notified of casting results following callbacks.
For further research, this play is based on a true story of the Leopold and Loeb case in Chicago.
If you have any questions not addressed here, please email our team.
Producing a Play during a Pandemic
The primary concern of The Footlight Club is the health and safety of its performers, production staff, members, and friends. Rope will be a virtual production with the audience at home. Should it be possible/ feasible the director’s vision is to perform the piece live (audience at home), but with socially distanced actors using a 360 degree camera (provided by the director). If this is not possible, we will attempt to recreate this “feel” with pre-recorded pieces or through dynamic videotaping of pre-recorded elements. We understand some of these in-person, socially-distanced options may not be possible for those on the production team or cast, BUT that will not affect casting decisions. The best actors and production team members will be chosen regardless of ability to perform in-person, socially-distanced. This means that all actors should expect to perform safely. No performer will be asked to meet in person unless they feel comfortable doing so. If you have any questions regarding these policies, please email ropefootlight@gmail.com.
About Rehearsals:
Rehearsals will be held via Zoom as early as Sunday, January 31, 2021. February rehearsals will mostly all be on Zoom with added in-person scene work if possible. No potential cast member should feel obligated to provide/access technology beyond their comfort zones. If you are able to connect to the internet, we can help you rehearse on Zoom. If our entire show is performed online, our production team will accomplish any technological feats on your behalf. Rehearsal preferred days are: Sunday, Monday, and Thursday. There will be two tech weeks to accommodate additional online technology needs. Those weeks will be: April 4 - April 15, 2021. While not every day will be utilized, more than 3 days per week will be needed for production.
SHOW SUMMARY:
Rope, retitled Rope's End for its American release, is a 1929 British play by Patrick Hamilton. Its action is continuous, punctuated only by the curtain fall at the end of each act. It may also be considered a thriller. The play is set on the first floor of a house in Mayfair, London in 1929. The story, thought to be based loosely on the Leopold and Loeb murder case in 1924, concerns two young university students, Wyndham Brandon and Charles Granillo (whom Brandon calls "Granno"), who have murdered fellow student Ronald Kentley as an expression of their supposed intellectual superiority. At the beginning of the play, they hide Kentley's body in a chest. They proceed to host a party for his friends and family at which the locked chest containing his corpse is used to serve a buffet. Suspicion arises among the guests as to the content of the chest. After the party, one guest, a former professor of the murderers, returns and contrives to open the chest. He is shocked and ashamed that they have acted in response to his own declarations of amorality. The play ends with this quandary unresolved.
THE CHARACTERS:
The Footlight Club welcomes and encourages qualified performers of all ages, races, ethnicities, abilities, genders, and body types to audition.
Brandon: Arrogant, superior, aesthete, domineering, athletic. (male, playing age: 20/30s)
Granillo: Emotional and easily led by others. Nervous and fidgety. Dominated by Brandon. (male 20/30s)
Kenneth Raglan: A fawning hanger-on. Has a soft spot for Leila Arden. (male, 20/30s)
Leila Arden: Demonstrative friend of Brandon and Granillo. Likes being the centre of attention. (female, 20/30s)
Sir Johnstone Kentley: Elderly book collector, the father of the murdered man (male, 50/60s or older)
Mrs Debenham: A rather silly, upper class woman. (40/50s)
Rupert Cadell: An older acquaintance of Brandon and Granillo. Poetic and a dreamer. Gradually unravels the murder plot using old fashioned detective work (male, 30/40/50s)
Sabot: A surly butler to Brandon and Granillo. (50s)