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Casting Call - PERSEPHONE
David Hoffman, 05/26/10
Casting Call:
Concert performance of Persephone, an innovative new musical with Book, Music, and Lyrics by David Hoffman (www.workbydavidhoffman.com, www.persephoneonstage.com) to be held at the A.R.T. South Oxford Space in Brooklyn, Wednesday, July 21st 2010, at 7PM, for an invited audience of industry insiders and filmed for the web. Script-in-hand reading of dialogue scenes, musical numbers performed with live 11-piece orchestra. 6-8 rehearsals in late June and July, dates TBD, dress rehearsal Sunday, July 18th 1PM-5PM.
12 performers needed, variety of ages and vocal ranges. This is a music-centered performance – aside from the Narrator (described below), strong reading singers only, please. Some classical voice training strongly preferred. All singers also perform chorus. All parts cast without regard to ethnicity.
Auditions to be held by appointment only, on Saturday, June 12th at the South Oxford Space, Rehearsal Studio B – 138 South Oxford St., Between Fulton and Atlantic, Ft. Greene, Brooklyn from 1-5PM. To receive an appointment, please RSVP to davidhoffmanmusic@gmail.com before Thursday June 10th, indicating which part you are auditioning for and your availability. Please bring one monologue or reading and two songs in contrasting styles, a pianist and CD player will be available.
This is a non-union, unpaid, workshop performance. All performers will receive program and website credit and a DVD of the performance for portfolio use.
Auditioning for:
Demeter: Female, age: 40s. Alto (f#-d’’). Goddess of nature and growing things, Mother of Persephone, ex-wife of Zeus. 7 solos in a variety of moods, plus chorus and backgrounds. Mature, versatile, motherly, powerful.
Persephone: Female, age: 20’s (playing 19). Mezzo (f#-f’’). Daughter of Demeter. 7 solos ranging from tender ballads to belting soul, plus chorus. Grows from sullen teen to confident adult.
Hades: Male, age: 35-50. Bass/Baritone (F-f’). God of the Underworld, Brother of Zeus. 7 Solos plus chorus and backgrounds. Unconventional anti-hero/leading man, intimidating and creepy, but seductive.
Aphrodite: Female, age: 20s. Soprano (g-g’’). Goddess of Love, adopted daughter of Zeus. 3 solos plus chorus. Spoiled, petulant princess who reveals hidden power and importance.
Metaneira/Eunomia/Callithoe: Female, age: any (plays 20’s and child). Soprano (b-g’’). Doubles Metaneira: Wife of Celeus; Eunomia: Aphrodite’s Handmaiden; Callithoe: Metaneira’s older daughter (age 10). Several short solos, plus supporting duets and chorus. Range to play both adults and children.
Harmonia/Old Woman/Demo: Female, age: any (plays elderly, 20’s, and child). Alto (e-e’’). Doubles Harmonia: Aphrodite’s Handmaiden; Old Woman; Demo: younger daughter of Metaneira and Celeus (age 6). Several short solos, plus supporting duets and chorus. Range to play three different characters from small child to grandmother.
Zeus: Male, age: 40-60. Baritone (A-c’). King of the Gods. 2 solos plus chorus. Pompous, regal, entitled.
Hypnos/Man: Male, any age. Baritone (A-e’). Doubles Human Man; Hypnos: Hades’ Second Assistant. 2 solos plus chorus.
Thanatos: Male, any age. Tenor (c-f’). Hades’ First Assistant. Short solos plus chorus. Creepy, Peter Lorre type.
Narrator/Hermes/Butler/Poseidon/Apollo: Male, any age. Reads settings and stage directions and doubles all non-singing parts. Must have versatility to convey several different characters distinctly and presence to act as Master of Ceremonies. Please audition with monologue or reading in which you play more than one character.
Synopsis:
In the time before history, human beings live off what the land provides for them. The gods care for them, and, in turn, feed off the energy from the human’s prayer. Persephone, a young goddess, is the daughter of Demeter, Goddess of the Fertility of the Soil, and Zeus, King of the Gods, whose love affair was brief and ended long ago. Zeus has since adopted Aphrodite, the spoiled and petulant Goddess of Love, who appeared to him under very mysterious circumstances.
At Aphrodite’s birthday party, which neither wanted to attend, Persephone is noticed by Hades, the cold and efficient Lord of the Dead. He is much older than she, and socially inept, despite his great power. Inspired by Aphrodite, who appears to think it is a terrific joke, he falls in love with her. A few days later, he lays a trap and abducts her, carrying her to his kingdom underground.
Demeter is distraught. After a frantic search, she is told of Persephone’s abduction by her sister Hecate – the three-headed Goddess of Witchcraft who lives on the moon. She is overcome with grief, and abandons her duties – leaving the earth to grow cold for the first time.
In the underworld, Persephone is initially terrified, but, after an unexpected visit from Aphrodite, she begins to warm to Hades, seeing his sincere affection for her, as well as the benefits of living as an adult, away from her mother. Meanwhile, Demeter is living, disguised, among the humans. She attempts to adopt a new daughter of her own by placing one of the human children into a fire to burn away her mortality. Discovered by the girl’s parents, she reveals herself and then flees to the moon, completely abandoning the world. The world grows colder as the first winter descends.
Prompted by the other gods, who are now suffering for lack of worship from the starving humans, Zeus confronts Demeter. Unmoved, she demands her daughter’s return. Zeus immediately puts Hades on trial for abducting Persephone, and insists on her release. Persephone meets Demeter outside the courtroom and tells her incredulous mother that she loves Hades, and wants to stay with him. She then disrupts the trial, using a depth of power she never knew she had, and announces that she is in control of her own destiny. She can be both a wife and a daughter, on her own terms.
The cycle of seasons begins – the world now grows cold every fall, as Persephone descends to be with her husband, and then warms again as she returns to her mother in the spring. In order that they might weather this cycle, Persephone and Demeter teach the humans agriculture, allowing them to grow and store the food they need to live through the winter. Civilization begins, and humanity soon begins inventing all kinds of technology and art. Persephone is herself the seed that descends into the ground and rises again, ready to blossom, and also the ground, that receives the seed and bears fruit. Thus do we feed ourselves, and have the wherewithal to take control of our environment; and thus do we all move forward.
Concert performance of Persephone, an innovative new musical with Book, Music, and Lyrics by David Hoffman (www.workbydavidhoffman.com, www.persephoneonstage.com) to be held at the A.R.T. South Oxford Space in Brooklyn, Wednesday, July 21st 2010, at 7PM, for an invited audience of industry insiders and filmed for the web. Script-in-hand reading of dialogue scenes, musical numbers performed with live 11-piece orchestra. 6-8 rehearsals in late June and July, dates TBD, dress rehearsal Sunday, July 18th 1PM-5PM.
12 performers needed, variety of ages and vocal ranges. This is a music-centered performance – aside from the Narrator (described below), strong reading singers only, please. Some classical voice training strongly preferred. All singers also perform chorus. All parts cast without regard to ethnicity.
Auditions to be held by appointment only, on Saturday, June 12th at the South Oxford Space, Rehearsal Studio B – 138 South Oxford St., Between Fulton and Atlantic, Ft. Greene, Brooklyn from 1-5PM. To receive an appointment, please RSVP to davidhoffmanmusic@gmail.com before Thursday June 10th, indicating which part you are auditioning for and your availability. Please bring one monologue or reading and two songs in contrasting styles, a pianist and CD player will be available.
This is a non-union, unpaid, workshop performance. All performers will receive program and website credit and a DVD of the performance for portfolio use.
Auditioning for:
Demeter: Female, age: 40s. Alto (f#-d’’). Goddess of nature and growing things, Mother of Persephone, ex-wife of Zeus. 7 solos in a variety of moods, plus chorus and backgrounds. Mature, versatile, motherly, powerful.
Persephone: Female, age: 20’s (playing 19). Mezzo (f#-f’’). Daughter of Demeter. 7 solos ranging from tender ballads to belting soul, plus chorus. Grows from sullen teen to confident adult.
Hades: Male, age: 35-50. Bass/Baritone (F-f’). God of the Underworld, Brother of Zeus. 7 Solos plus chorus and backgrounds. Unconventional anti-hero/leading man, intimidating and creepy, but seductive.
Aphrodite: Female, age: 20s. Soprano (g-g’’). Goddess of Love, adopted daughter of Zeus. 3 solos plus chorus. Spoiled, petulant princess who reveals hidden power and importance.
Metaneira/Eunomia/Callithoe: Female, age: any (plays 20’s and child). Soprano (b-g’’). Doubles Metaneira: Wife of Celeus; Eunomia: Aphrodite’s Handmaiden; Callithoe: Metaneira’s older daughter (age 10). Several short solos, plus supporting duets and chorus. Range to play both adults and children.
Harmonia/Old Woman/Demo: Female, age: any (plays elderly, 20’s, and child). Alto (e-e’’). Doubles Harmonia: Aphrodite’s Handmaiden; Old Woman; Demo: younger daughter of Metaneira and Celeus (age 6). Several short solos, plus supporting duets and chorus. Range to play three different characters from small child to grandmother.
Zeus: Male, age: 40-60. Baritone (A-c’). King of the Gods. 2 solos plus chorus. Pompous, regal, entitled.
Hypnos/Man: Male, any age. Baritone (A-e’). Doubles Human Man; Hypnos: Hades’ Second Assistant. 2 solos plus chorus.
Thanatos: Male, any age. Tenor (c-f’). Hades’ First Assistant. Short solos plus chorus. Creepy, Peter Lorre type.
Narrator/Hermes/Butler/Poseidon/Apollo: Male, any age. Reads settings and stage directions and doubles all non-singing parts. Must have versatility to convey several different characters distinctly and presence to act as Master of Ceremonies. Please audition with monologue or reading in which you play more than one character.
Synopsis:
In the time before history, human beings live off what the land provides for them. The gods care for them, and, in turn, feed off the energy from the human’s prayer. Persephone, a young goddess, is the daughter of Demeter, Goddess of the Fertility of the Soil, and Zeus, King of the Gods, whose love affair was brief and ended long ago. Zeus has since adopted Aphrodite, the spoiled and petulant Goddess of Love, who appeared to him under very mysterious circumstances.
At Aphrodite’s birthday party, which neither wanted to attend, Persephone is noticed by Hades, the cold and efficient Lord of the Dead. He is much older than she, and socially inept, despite his great power. Inspired by Aphrodite, who appears to think it is a terrific joke, he falls in love with her. A few days later, he lays a trap and abducts her, carrying her to his kingdom underground.
Demeter is distraught. After a frantic search, she is told of Persephone’s abduction by her sister Hecate – the three-headed Goddess of Witchcraft who lives on the moon. She is overcome with grief, and abandons her duties – leaving the earth to grow cold for the first time.
In the underworld, Persephone is initially terrified, but, after an unexpected visit from Aphrodite, she begins to warm to Hades, seeing his sincere affection for her, as well as the benefits of living as an adult, away from her mother. Meanwhile, Demeter is living, disguised, among the humans. She attempts to adopt a new daughter of her own by placing one of the human children into a fire to burn away her mortality. Discovered by the girl’s parents, she reveals herself and then flees to the moon, completely abandoning the world. The world grows colder as the first winter descends.
Prompted by the other gods, who are now suffering for lack of worship from the starving humans, Zeus confronts Demeter. Unmoved, she demands her daughter’s return. Zeus immediately puts Hades on trial for abducting Persephone, and insists on her release. Persephone meets Demeter outside the courtroom and tells her incredulous mother that she loves Hades, and wants to stay with him. She then disrupts the trial, using a depth of power she never knew she had, and announces that she is in control of her own destiny. She can be both a wife and a daughter, on her own terms.
The cycle of seasons begins – the world now grows cold every fall, as Persephone descends to be with her husband, and then warms again as she returns to her mother in the spring. In order that they might weather this cycle, Persephone and Demeter teach the humans agriculture, allowing them to grow and store the food they need to live through the winter. Civilization begins, and humanity soon begins inventing all kinds of technology and art. Persephone is herself the seed that descends into the ground and rises again, ready to blossom, and also the ground, that receives the seed and bears fruit. Thus do we feed ourselves, and have the wherewithal to take control of our environment; and thus do we all move forward.
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