United Players of Vancouver is holding auditions for:

By Lucia Frangione, music by Royal Sproule

Directed by Christopher King

Performance Dates:  Thursday, September 5, 2024 (preview) – Sunday, September 29, 2024. Thursdays and Fridays: 8 pm, first & third Saturdays (Sept 7, 21): 8 pm, second & fourth Saturdays (Sept 14, 28): 2 pm, Sundays: 2 pm

Rehearsals will be at St. Mary’s Kerrisdale, 2490 West 37th Avenue (37th & Larch), Tuesday and Thursday evenings, and probably Sunday afternoons and evenings, beginning Sunday, July 21, 2024.

Performance Venue: Jericho Arts Centre

AUDITION DATES: Monday, May 6 and Wednesday, May 8,  (evenings 6 – 10 pm)
CALLBACKS: Monday, May 13 and Wednesday, May 15, (evenings 6 – 10 pm)
AUDITION VENUE: Jericho Arts Centre, 1675 Discovery Street, Vancouver

DEADLINE TO APPLY: Thursday, May 2, 2024

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Synopsis:

Pal escapes from his woes of bankruptcy and immerses himself in the world of raising exotic chickens while his wife, Liza, tries to keep the family farm afloat. Meanwhile, in the chicken coop, two roosters and two hens parallel the couple’s life and get down and dirty with the pressures of egg fertilization, the country poultry fair and the question of flying.

SETTING: A family farm in central Alberta, Canada, 1984.

CASTING: We welcome applications from artists of all backgrounds, identities and ethnicities.

NOTE: This is a non-union production with the option to cast one union member on an amateur contract. Please indicate if you have any union affiliations.

Auditioning for these roles:

PAUL GRANDFIELD: A middle-aged, broke Albertan farmer. Pal is a tender-hearted, philosophical dreamer and a whimsical romantic. When facing great odds he retreats inwards and shuts himself off from his loved ones and the rest of the world. He is searching for a sense of power and belonging and yearns to be freed from the guilt and feeling of failure that he carries.

LISA GRANDFIELD: Pal’s wife. She is a prairie warrior woman of great industry and vivacity, a determined optimist. Liza smiles in the face of sorrow with a vengeance and cannot afford the luxury of anger or self-pity, and never plays the victim. She confronts great odds head on and often takes over where Pal leaves off. Liza is getting anxious about getting too old to have children. She secretly wishes Pal would be more assertive and attentive.

BUTTER BALL: A silver-spangled bantam hen. She is Liza’s heart: she lives in the past, is old-fashioned, religious, and yearns to be protected and provided for. This lonely aging beauty queen is nurturing, sweet, cheerful and lusty.

HIS NIBS: A silver-spangled bantam rooster. He is Pal’s intellect and creativity. He is traumatized by the demise of his brother, leaving him with a profound sense of guilt, fear and loss of confidence, particularly in his masculinity. He is self-sufficient, cultured and elevated.

ALPHONSO: A Plymouth barred rock bantam rooster. He is Pal’s machismo: proud, aggressive and stubborn. He embodies what’s left of Pal’s randy old world domineering red-neck sensibilities. Alphonso is also very playful, sexy, vulnerable, truthful and audacious.

STEWER: A renegade mass-production laying hen. She is Liza’s ferocious pride: fiercely independent, a controlling, tough, wary survivor. She is very strong and willing to take on any adversary, in fact, almost invites conflict as a sort of safe intimacy. She feels homely and unworthy of love and uses honesty as a cruel weapon. She is loyal and passionate when she decides to trust.

NOTE: Some of the actors may make up a musical band – we are interested in hearing about any instruments you can play. The chickens are Liza and Pal’s “demons” so to speak, the walking, talking bundles of fear and contradictions that battle within their brains. The chickens also play various human characters.

TO AUDITION:

Please prepare two songs of your choice, one of which displays your “comedy chops” and a one- to two-minute comedy monologue. Please send back-up tracks for your songs as mp4s a few days before your audition. If you play an instrument(s), please note this in your audition application.

To secure an audition time slot, submit a resumé and headshot to Nancy Caldwell at nancy.w.caldwell@gmail.com, letting us know which character(s) you wish to audition for.

APPLICATION DEADLINE:  Thursday, May 2, 2024.

Please let us know if you have access needs for the audition process.