HOLDS NJ AUDITIONS FOR LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER
MIDTOWN DIRECT REP (MDR), the resident theater company at South Orange Performing Arts Center (SOPAC), is pleased to announce a staged reading of the new musical SEXTET, based on an original story by Chad Hardin, with music and lyrics by Hardin, and book plus additional music, lyrics and direction by Bradley Dean, on Sunday, February 9, 2014 at 7 pm. Additionally, MDR is holding open auditions for the Listen to Your Mother, North Jersey Show, a national series of original live readings about motherhood (www.listentoyourmothershow.com).
SEXTET, part of MDR’s Theatre in the Loft series focusing on new and innovative American theatre, is Sunday, February 9, 2014 at 7 pm at SOPAC (One SOPAC Way, South Orange, NJ, 07079). Tickets, which are $15, are available athttp://sopacnow.org/672/MDR-in-the-Loft-Feb9 or by calling 973-313-ARTS (2787). The performance will be followed by a discussion with the playwright, the cast and creative team.
Long before St. Valentine brought lovers together, the Greek God, Zeus, split us in two with a lightning bolt… and we have been searching for our other halves ever since. Love, sexuality, mortality, and desire upturn the life of a long-married professor on the Upper Westside in this passionate new chamber musical from Chad Hardin and MDR’s Bradley Dean who also stars.
The reading of SEXTET stars Bradley Dean (Evita/A Little Night Music), Becky Gulsvig (Bullets Over Broadway/Legally Blonde), Michael St. John (Les Miserables) and Matt Leisy (The Fantasticks). Additional casting to be announced.
AUDITION INFO:
Auditions for Listen to Your Mother are open to EVERYONE (Men, women, children, parents & non-parents), all ages & ethnicities are encouraged to audition. In this show, the writers are the performers; so writers should come prepared to read aloud their own original 3-5 minute humorous or heartfelt (or somewhere in between) piece about motherhood. Auditions will be held by appointment only on Saturday, March 1, 10 am – 5 pm, Sunday March 2, 10 am – 6 pm, andMonday March 3, 5 pm – 10 pm. To schedule an appointment, please send an email to LTYMNJ@gmail.com with the word AUDITION in the subject line, and include name and audition time availability. Auditions will be distributed on a first come/first serve basis. Audition and venue information will be emailed with audition time confirmation.
Commitment includes two rehearsals in the spring (TBD) and a pre-show run-through on
May 10. No professional writing or stage experience required. The Listen to Your Mother, North Jersey Show will be held on May 10th at 5:00 PM at The South Orange Performing Arts Center.
To get a great sense of the show visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/LTYMShow
Listen to Your Mother is a national series of original live readings about motherhood. (www.listentoyourmothershow.com) The mission of each Listen to Your Mother production is to take the audience on a well-crafted journey that celebrates and validates mothering through giving voice to motherhood (in all of its complexity, diversity, and humor) in the form of original readings performed live on-stage by their authors.
Listen to Your Mother aims to support motherhood creatively through artistic expression, and also financially, through contributions to non-profit organizations supporting families in need. The North Jersey show will be donating a % of ticket proceeds to NJCW, an Essex County Non-Profit dedicated to helping women and children in need in Essex County.
About Midtown Direct Rep
With perhaps more professional theater artists than any suburb of NYC, Maplewood/South Orange (NJ) is “where Broadway comes home to sleep.” MDR, a theatre company created by and for these NJ-based artists, develops and presents relevant, world-class theatre for its community.
Midtown Direct Rep company members include two-time Tony-Winner, Norbert Leo Butz, Tony-Nominee, Christiane Noll, and “Law & Order: SVU” regular, Joel de la Fuente, among many others. The Company is managed by Co-Artistic Directors Sandy Rustin and Jeremy Dobrish, Managing Director Jeffrey Shubart, Producing Director Evan Fleischer, and Artistic Producer Steven Tabakin. For more info on Midtown Direct Rep visit: www.midtowndirectrep.org.
Note – This program is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/ Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts and administered by the Essex County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs.