(MIDDLETOWN, NJ) -- The MAC Players at the Middletown Arts Center will hold auditions for the production of Guys and Dolls on Monday, August 28 from 5:00pm-9:00pm. A musical fable of Broadway, the play is based on a story and characters of Damon Runyon, with music and lyrics by Frank Loesser and a book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows.
Guys and Dolls, the sixth production by the Middletown Arts Center’s community theater group, will be performed on October 20-22 and 27-29, 2023, and will be led by Director Kathy Connolly.
AUDITION INFORMATION:
Auditions take place on Monday, August 28 from 5:00pm-9:00pm. Callbacks will take place on Tuesday, August 29 and Wednesday, August 30 from 6:00pm-9:00pm.
Participants must prepare 32 bars of a musical theater song in the style of the show. An accompanist will be provided or please bring tracks for your selection. To schedule an audition time or for questions, please email auditionmac@gmail.com. Rehearsals will begin on or around September 4 and take place on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings. Actors of all ethnicities are strongly encouraged to audition. AEA members may audition for a possible Guest Appearance Contract.
All auditions and rehearsals will be held at the Middletown Arts Center, located at 36 Church Street in Middletown, NJ (next to the Middletown train station). Free parking is available onsite with additional free parking available in the train station metered lot on weekday evenings after 6:00pm and on weekends.
ABOUT GUYS AND DOLLS
Set in Damon Runyon’s mythical New York City, Guys and Dolls is an oddball romantic comedy. Gambler, Nathan Detroit, tries to find the cash to set up the biggest craps game in town while the authorities breathe down his neck; meanwhile, his girlfriend and nightclub performer, Adelaide, laments that they’ve been engaged for fourteen years. Nathan turns to fellow gambler, Sky Masterson, for the dough, and Sky ends up chasing the straight-laced missionary, Sarah Brown, as a result. Guys and Dolls takes us from the heart of Times Square to the cafés of Havana, Cuba, and even into the sewers of New York City, but eventually, everyone ends up right where they belong.
ROLES
Nicely-Nicely Johnson – 25-45: Just like his name suggests, he is the nicest and cheeriest of the gambling crooks. High-spirited and a bit naïve, but sincere and genuine. Nathan’s loyal friend and lackey. (Range B5-D4)
Benny Southstreet – 25-45: Nathan’s right-hand man and a gambler himself. Smart, slick, always moving and shaking, but with what he thinks are Nathan’s best interest at heart. (Range G5-D4)
Sarah Brown – 20-30: A bright-eyed woman who serves as Sergeant of the local Mission. She fully believes in her worthy cause and wishes to convert the gambling sinners to saints. Falls unexpectedly in love with Sky along the way. She is prudish and uptight, but eventually lets go. (Range G5-B3)
Arvide Abernathy – 45-65: The bass drum and cymbal player in the Mission band, he is Sarah’s loving grandfather. Wise and sweet, he wants nothing but the best for her. (Range F5-D4)
Harry The Horse – 30-50: A crook and gambler. He is a tough guy with dollar signs as his bottom line. Brings Big Jule into Nathan’s craps game and backs his cheating, but is also a man of his word in the gambling community. (Range G5-F3)
Lt. Brannigan – 40-55: A New York police officer who is on to Nathan’s illegal craps games and is dead-set on catching him. A tough, no-nonsense character.
Miss Adelaide – 25-35: Nathan’s fiancé and a lead performer at the Hot Box nightclub. She loves Nathan more than anything in the world and desperately wants to get married. Outspoken and stubborn. (Range E5-A3)
Sky Masterson – 30-45: A high-stakes gambler whose luck never seems to run out, and a wild card who surprises himself when he falls in love with the unlikeliest of women. Suave, smart, handsome. (Range-E5-B3)
Big Jule – 30-50: A big-time craps player from Chicago who uses a gun and his pair of rigged dice to bully his way into never losing. Tough looking, a bit of an oaf. (Range G5-F3)
Nathan Detroit – 30-45: A good-hearted gambler and craps game organizer who could never hit the big-time. He loves Adelaide, but cannot quit his gambling ways. A broke schemer with unwitting ways. (Range F5-D4)
Ensemble – 15+: Sightseers, Mission Band (Agatha, Calvin, Martha), Crap Shooters (Liver Lips Louie, Angie The Ox, Rusty Charlie), Hot Box Girls, Waiters, Cuban Dancers
Director Kathy Connolly is an award-winning actor, director, choreographer and teaching artist. She has performed extensively in productions on and off-Broadway and in regional and national tours. Most recently, Kathy was the Artistic Director at Holmdel Theater Company and was awarded “Best Director of a Musical” by Broadway World as part of its 2019 Regional Theater Awards.
The Middletown Arts Center (MAC) is an award-winning, state-of-the-art facility in Middletown, New Jersey that offers performances, exhibits, classes, demonstrations and camps centering on the arts. Its convenient location across from the Middletown train station on Church Street enables easy access and its expanded MAC Annex is minutes away at the Middletown Reformed Church’s Education Building. The MAC is operated by a non-profit 501c3, the Middletown Township Cultural and Arts Council which is dedicated to bringing quality arts programming and events to Middletown and surrounding communities.
The Middletown Township Cultural and Arts Council’s Mission is to celebrate and promote the arts while enriching the community through arts programming, education, entertainment and cultural connection for individuals of all ages and abilities.
