Auditions

New Edgecliff Theatre will hold auditions for two of its main stage productions, Burn This and Reasons to be Pretty, on Tuesday, August 9^th from 7-10pm at the Essex Studios (2511 Essex Place, Cincinnati, OH 45206).  No appointment is necessary.  Roles are available for men and women, ages 25-45.  Auditionees are asked to prepare two contrasting monologues and to bring a headshot and resume to the audition.  Invited callbacks for Burn This will be held on Thursday, August 11^th.

Opportunities are also available this season for set designers, costumers, prop masters, and sound designers. All positions are stipend paid.  If you are interested in any of these design positions, or would like more information, contact New Edgecliff Theatre at jobs@newedgecliff.com.

Available Roles

Burn This

Anna: ( 25-35 years old), a dancer who wishes to be a choreographer; beautiful, slender, and strong. As the play opens she is grieving for her gay roommate, Robbie, who has just died in a boating accident.

Burton: (30-40 years old), is handsome, tall, athletic; a successful screenwriter and Anna’s boyfriend. For Burton, screenwriting is not an artistic passion, but is a means of making a lot of money. He was a privileged child and he has never lost anything important before.

Larry: ( 25-35 years old) Anna’s other roommate; intelligent, an also gay; works in advertising. A confidant of Anna’s, LARRY is aware of Anna’s love for Pale long before she admits it. Larry helps break the tension of the play with some light comedy.

Pale: (35-45 years old), Robbie’s older brother who appears to collect his brother’s belongings. Pale is described as very sexy in a blue-collar kind of way. He manages a restaurant and is separated from his wife and children. He has a foul mouth and admits he knew Robbie was gay but speaks contemptuously of that lifestyle.

Reasons to be Pretty

The characters in reasons to be pretty are two working class, twenty-something couples in an outlying suburb somewhere in the United States.  All are flawed, but at their core they are sympathetic.

Greg: the play’s protagonist.  He works the night shift in a food packing plant with his long-time friend, Kent.  Greg is intelligent and has a love of literature that he often uses as an escape.  He alternates between typically jerkish male behavior and genuine vulnerability and sensitivity.  He makes a journey toward understanding and ultimately takes responsibilities for his failings.

Steph: a hairdresser who finds out that her boyfriend, Greg, doesn’t think she’s pretty.  This launches her on a journey of her own.  Her fragile self-esteem is ruled by her perception of herself as odd-looking rather than attractive.

Kent: someone we hate to like and like to hate.  He is a vulgar, arrogant, overgrown child whose main preoccupations are sex and sports.  He has bullied Greg to remain locked in an immature macho friendship.  He is a boorish, hyper-masculine brute who is charming enough to get whatever he wants.

Carly: Kent’s wife and Steph’s best friend.  She works at the plant as a uniformed security guard.  Beautiful but gruff, she is a put-upon character with a toughened exterior and desperate vulnerability.  She possesses the shaky confidence of a born beauty who is scared that all she has to offer is her looks.