Auditions will be held at the Performing Arts Building, located on the campus of the University of Utah at 240 South 1500 East (directly west of the University Bookstore) on Saturday, May 19 from 3:00 to 7:00 PM.

Please bring a current acting resume and headshot and prepare a two minute Shakespearean monologue.

Salt Lake Shakespeare is known for its exciting contemporary productions of Shakespeare’s plays and encourages all actors to audition, regardless of age, ethnicity or experience level. Roles are available for men and women.

No appointment is necessary, although a sign up board is currently available at the Performing Arts Building if a specific audition time is preferred.

Two sets of twin−two masters and two servants−are separated at birth. Each pair presumes their double is dead. But when one the pair shows up in the other pair’s city, mishaps due to mistaken identities lead to mayhem. The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare’s first comedy, is an outrageous, farcical example of his comic genius.

Vernon God Little
by DBC Pierre
Adapted for the stage by Tanya Rondy
Directed by Matt Toronto
September 21 – 30, 2012

Vernon Little is in trouble. In the flea-bitten town of Martirio, Texas, Vernon’s best friend has just blown away sixteen classmates before turning the gun on himself. Soon the town is blanketed under a national media siege. With the murderer dead, there’s no one to blame for the tragedy, and Vernon becomes the focus of the whole community’s need for vengeance and the media’s appetite for sensational content—true or not. So he does what any red-blooded American teenager would do; he takes off for Mexico. Adapted from DBC Pierre’s Man Booker Prize-winning novel, Vernon God Little is a provocatively satirical, riotously funny look at violence, materialism, and trial by the American media.

‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore
by John Ford
Directed by Sarah Shippobotham
November 9 – 18, 2012

Annabella is the delectably nubile daughter of a nobleman, Florio of Parma. Every eligible bachelor in Italy, it seems, wants to marry her. But her heart belongs to her brother, Giovanni. Full of the idealism of youth, the siblings’ passion is all-consuming, and can only bring about their ruin. With the men of Parma ready to fight and kill for Annabella’s hand, religion, morality and madness all collide as the brother and sister’s secret is revealed. One of the most controversial plays in the English theatrical canon, John Ford’s brilliant re-imagining of Romeo and Juliet leads audiences deep into a story of passion, lust, vengeance, greed, corruption, incest, and murder. After almost 400 years, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore‘s tale of forbidden love remains controversial, shocking, and theatrically spellbinding.

A Flea in Her Ear
by Georges Feydeau
February 1 – 10, 2013

A classic French farce of marital mayhem, A Flea in Her Ear is Georges Feydeau’s masterpiece of mistaken identities. Raymonde Chandebise suspects that her husband, Victor, is secretly having an affair. With the help of her best friend, Lucienne, she concocts a plan to expose Victor’s dalliance at the Hotel Coq d’Or and confirm her suspicions. The plan misfires monumentally, and sets in motion a plan that turns into pandemonium and comic disaster, erupting into a barrage of hilarity and romantic turmoil. Sexy mistresses and dashing suitors abound in this sensual and satirical romp through art nouveau Paris at the turn of the century.

Spring Awakening
Book and Lyrics by Steven Sater
Music by Duncan Sheik
Based on the play by Frank Wedekind
April 12 – April 28, 2013

Spring Awakening is an extraordinary musical that celebrates youth and rebellion in a daring fusion of morality, sexuality and rock & roll. Set in repressive 19^th-century Germany, a group of teenagers are caught between their sexual urges and society’s contradictory teachings. Revealing their alluringly melancholy story of self-discovery and coming-of-age anxiety, they attempt to reckon with the thrilling, complicated, and confusing time of their sexual awakening. Inspired by Frank Wedekind’s controversial 1891 play about teenage sexuality and society’s efforts to control it, this  seamlessly merges past and present, underscoring the timelessness of adolescent angst and the universality of human passion.

Winner of 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score.

STUDIO 115

Geography Club
by Brent Hartinger
Directed by Jerry Rapier
Produced in conjunction with University Pride Week 2012
October 4 – 7, 2012

Russel Middlebrook is convinced he’s the only gay kid at Goodkind High School. Then his online gay-chat buddy turns out to be none other than Kevin, the popular but closeted star of the school’s baseball team. Soon, Russel meets other gay students. And his best friend, Min, reveals that she’s bisexual. But how can such a diverse group of kids get together without drawing attention to themselves? By creating a club that’s so boring, nobody in their right mind would ever, in a million years, join it—The Geography Club. Brent Hartinger’s play, based on his best-selling novel, deals with hot topics seldom dramatized and explores the themes of friendship and belonging. It is a fast paced, funny, and incisive portrait of contemporary teenagers who may not learn any actual geography in their latest school club, but who learn plenty about the treacherous social terrain of a typical American high school.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Music and Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
Directed by David Schmidt
November 1 – 18, 2012

In dark, smoggy and feral London, Benjamin Barker has escaped from prison, returning to seek revenge against the lecherous judge who framed him, ravaged his young wife, and stole away his daughter. Barker’s private grievance eats away at him, and he gradually turns into a demonic serial killer—his thirst for blood expanding to include his unfortunate customers.  Downstairs, the resourceful Mrs. Lovett soon has the people of London lining up in droves at her pie shop, all due to her mysterious new meat pie recipe. Sondheim’s musical thriller is a chilling, suspenseful, heart-pounding masterpiece of murderous “barber-ism.”

Winner of 8 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, and Best Original Score.

The Eccentrics
by Maxim Gorky
Directed by Elizabeth Williamson
February 21 – 24, 2013

Mastakov is a writer and hopeless romantic. A member of the intelligentsia, he waxes philosophical about his optimistic faith in a beautiful and bright future for Russia and its people, and recklessly carries on a heated affair with his mistress, Olga, right under the nose of his loving and devoted wife, Elena. But it is a perilous time. Russia is crumbling and political and social unrest is spreading. Mastakov, blinded by his idealism, doesn’t understand his friends’ and neighbors’ growing disillusionment, and with his childish dalliance, brings his marriage to the brink of ruin.

Reasons to be Pretty
by Neil LaBute
March 21 – 24, 2013

Is there more to life than simply how one looks? Greg’s long-time lover, Steph, walks out on him after she hears about his offhand remark that her face, in comparison to that of a pretty female coworker’s, is just “regular.” Greg is puzzled by Steph’s rage, and irked by the fact that his casual observation was passed on by a work colleague, Carly, who happens to be the wife of his best friend, Kent. Greg’s tight-knit social circle is thrown into turmoil as the emotional equation becomes exponentially more complicated. As their relationships crumble, the four friends are forced to confront a sea of deceit, infidelity, and betrayed trust. America’s obsession with physical beauty is confronted headlong in this brutal and exhilarating work.

March 8-18, 2012, Plan-B Theatre Company presents the world premiere of Debora Threedy’s The Third Crossing, featuring Bob Nelson as Thomas Jefferson. In Colonial America, the third crossing of black and white bloodlines was believed to yield white children. The relationship between Thomas Jefferson and his slave Sally Hemings – whose children were the third crossing but remained slaves – is the springboard for examining interracial relationships in America.

Go to Plan-B Company’s website for more information

Faculty Bob Nelson on portraying Thomas Jefferson:

Thomas Jefferson was one of the best-read and most accomplished persons of his time. His curiosity was boundless. His intellect outshone virtually everyone’s. Studying his life and times, with an eye toward embodying him for this particular production, has been a privilege.

But how does one dare to portray such a towering figure? Long ago, I discovered that, if I’m lucky enough to be cast in a great role, I must simply take solace in the fact that, if I hadn’t been cast, some other fallen mortal would play him. So I take a deep breath, jump into the deep end, swim for all I’m worth, keep my head above the surface, and relish the opportunity, storm swells and all. I’m an actor. I love any chance to play “make-believe.”

Jefferson articulated some of the most cherished democratic ideals:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

However, he lived a life of contradictions. As an educated, privileged, land-owning man of his times, he seemed to accept without question that women have no place in public discourse—certainly not as candidates, but not even as voters. And he voiced sentiments about the superiority of whites and the inferiority of blacks that we now find downright false, hateful, racist, and deeply troubling. This third president, author of our Declaration of Independence, owned some six hundred human slaves over the years. And despite making the occasional strong statement against slavery, he emancipated only a tiny handful during his long lifetime.

American Antiquarian Society: James Akin’s 1804 political parody “A Philosophic Cock” portraying Thomas Jefferson as the Rooster and his not-so-hidden lover Sally Hemings – who was also his slave and father to his only sons – as his Hen.

I hope I can portray Thomas Jefferson as a fully fleshed out human being, with admirable virtues that somehow existed simultaneously with deep inconsistencies. He knew his own heart, of course, as well we all know our own hearts. I’m sure he saw himself as an earnest soul doing his best to live an ethical, responsible life, as he navigating his way through troubled waters.

Ultimately, I hope this production generates thoughts, and conversations, and lots of second thoughts about where each of us stands with regard to fundamental issues, such as: equality among genders and races; respect for others; the importance of presuming good will.

Read Ben Fulton’s preview article about the The Third Crossing in the Salt Lake Tribune here.