Auditions: Convent of Pleasure Adaptation

Auditions, Nov. 8-9

Auditions for 
The Convent of Pleasure
Adaptation Project

REVISED GUIDELINES
PRELIMINARY AUDITIONS 

The Convent of Pleasure Adaptation Project
A New Take on Margaret Cavendish’s
17th Century Rom-Com The Convent of Pleasure
With Glitter, Pop & Other Anachronisms

Adapted by Brighde Mullins
Directed by Beth Schachter

Preliminary Auditions
First Floor Rehearsal Hall, Trexler Pavilion
Friday, Nov. 8 — 6:30–10:30 pm
Saturday, Nov. 9 — 1–5 pm
in four-minute slots

 

Callbacks
First-Floor Rehearsal Hall, Trexler Pavilion
Tuesday, Nov. 12 — 5:30–11 pm
Callbacks will be announced by the end of the day on Sunday, Nov. 10. Callback auditions will be held in short time slots; your time commitment will be half an hour at most. Please keep as much of this time open as possible. Callback sides and assignments will be sent along with the callbacks announcement.

 

Rehearsals
Begin the week of Jan. 13, after winter break. See details below.

 

Performances
April 3-6, 2025
Studio Theatre

 

If you have any questions, please email Beth!

 

 

 

AUDITION PROCESS

 

Everyone will choose a side and prepare to work on that scene with a Reader. We have decided to wait until callbacks to have you sing or play an instrument. You no longer need to record a music audition video this week. We've added a few questions to the info form.
 

 

To Prepare for your Audition:

 

 

*Note: You are also welcome to read the original script, although not necessary.

 

Important Note about Preparation:
I am most interested in your capacity to be fully present in your body, acting upon intuitive impulses — whether your impulse is to laugh, to flirt, to command, etc. Please do NOT MEMORIZE the audition side! You will be more relaxed if you hold the page and refer to your lines when you want to.

 

There are roles which can be performed by performers of all abilities, all ethnic and racial identifications, non-binary, female-presenting, and male presenting. The original script was written by a 17th century aristocratic white Englishwoman — but our new play offers roles for a diverse company.

 

*Note: if you are invited for a callback audition, we will check to make sure that the callback scene(s) which I ask you to prepare are appealing to you in all aspects of your identifications. 

 

Rehearsals & Performances

 

Rehearsals will begin the week of Jan. 13, after we return from winter break.

Depending on cast availability, rehearsals will generally be held Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, 6:30-10:30 pm, and Saturdays, 1-5 pm.

No student involved in the project will have more than 20 hours of rehearsal a week, except for the week of March 24, when we begin technical rehearsals.

Technical rehearsals will be held Monday through Friday, March 24 – April 2, 7-11 pm. There will be a tech rehearsal on Saturday, March 29, 12-6 pm. Sunday, March 30, will be a day off.

Technical/dress rehearsals will be held Monday through Wednesday, March 31 – April 2. Call times for actors during technical and dress rehearsals may be as early as 6:15 pm in order to get into costume, etc. Rehearsals will end no later than 11 pm.

Generally the only conflicts that will be approved will be classes or required activities connected to coursework. Other rehearsals, club meetings, etc. will likely not be approved.

Performances in the Studio Theatre, Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance:

 

  • Thursday, April 3 at 8 pm
  • Friday, April 4 at 8 pm
  • Saturday, April 5 at 2 & 8 pm
  • Sunday, April 6 at 2 pm

 

VIDEO INSTRUCTIONS (NOW JUST STUDENTS WHO ARE ABROAD)

We have decided not to require a musical audition video from students who are auditioning on campus. We want this audition process to be fun and not overwhelming. We will strongly encourage students to sing and/or play instruments as part of the callback audition process.

IF YOU ARE CURRENTLY ABROAD, you should still use this form to submit a preliminary audition video.

Video instructions:
  • Your video should be shot in landscape mode (i.e. with your phone sideways)
  • Label your video with your first and last name and the date, e.g. MerylStreep_123124.  (If you suspect that other people have the same first and last name, please feel free to include a middle initial.)
  • Please slate your name at the beginning and the end of your video.
  • Please recruit a reader to help you with your audition (unless you choose to read the Narrator side, which is a monologue). Read your chosen audition side for the video. Your reader doesn't need to be visible in the video.

 

Additional Info

1. No Video Required
We have decided to wait until callbacks to have you sing or play an instrument. You no longer need to record a music audition video this week. We've added a few questions to the info form.
Students who are currently abroad will still send an audition video for preliminary auditions, using the info Google form — however, it will not include a musical element at this time.
2. What IS this thing?
We are creating a NEW WORLD PREMIERE adaptation of The Convent of Pleasure, a fun and strange little play by 17th century playwright Margaret Cavendish, about a group of women who go off and form a utopian community of celebratory female-focused pleasures behind unbreachable walls, where they can live free of the rules of the patriarchy.
We're billing it as "a new take on a 17th century rom-com, with glitter, pop, and other anachronisms." It will also have a new ending. (Margaret Cavendish's husband kind of swooped in at the end to make sure that the original play was safe for the heteros. Husbands, right? Anyway, we're fixing it.)
3. Here's what you would be signing on for if you audition:
  • Rehearsing a world premiere script, by an acclaimed playwright! Brighde Mullins’s new play (the adaptation) will be completed before we start rehearsals this spring semester. Your talents will influence the revisions Brighde will make during the January rehearsals. Starting in February, the script will be set — you will memorize just as you would if you were working on a published play.

  • New songs and choreography, created by the show's creative team, will highlight the abilities of everyone in the cast. If you sing, awesome! If you play guitar or keyboard or harmonica, there will be music made for you to play! Collaborating on a new piece of theatre is thrilling, and you would collaborate with Brighde and all of us to craft this fun, celebratory, exciting new work of art.
       If you don't sing or play instruments very much, you should still audition if you're interested! It will be a play with music, not a musical, and not everyone involved needs to be a musician!

  • Plenty to do! If you're cast as a member of the acting company, you will either have a leading role or have like five different characters to play. Everyone will be very busy and have plenty of stage time!

4. Character and Actor Gender
Some of the characters in the play will be portrayed as male-presenting or female-presenting in a generally traditional way. However, many of the characters can be portrayed as being of any gender presentation, and there will be flexibility in how you as an actor choose to portray your character(s). Just because the character's name includes the word "Lady," that doesn't mean that character need necessarily be portrayed as a cisgender woman.
Actors of all gender identities are encouraged to audition and will be considered for a variety of roles, in keeping with their preference as actors. A question in the audition form asks what character genders you would be comfortable portraying, and we encourage you to answer that question as broadly and inclusively as you would like!
Okay? We hope you'll join us!