Our Next Audition:
UN-Shakespeare in the Park 2008
The Nashua Theatre Guild is pleased to announce its second round of auditions for its exciting summer shows: Fortinbras and the 15 Minute Hamlet. Fortinbras is an exciting, anachronistic farce by Lee Blessing about what happened after things got "rotten in Denmark" written in modern language. This ain't your parents' Shakespeare! As an added attraction, presented immediately before Fortinbras as a Hamlet "cliff notes," NTG will present the 15 Minute Hamlet written by the estimable Tom Stoppard in which he pieces together the entire play by using only the most famous of quotes. The entire afternoon will be presented as part the city of Nashua's SummerFun celebration and promises to be a fantastic time for all involved! For the audience and the actors!!!!
The auditions will May 12 and 13 from 6:30-9:00 at at the Nashua Public Library right next to the Court Street Theater.
Audition requirements: There will be cold readings from the script. The amount of "Shakespeare" in these plays is minimal, so no Shakespeare experience required! If there are any questions, please contact the producer Mike Wood at mikewoodnh@comcast.net or the director at serahrose@gmail.com. Monologues will be gladly accepted but not required.
The plays in a nutshell:
The 15-Minute Hamlet is just that: Hamlet performed in 15 minutes. Hamlet returns home to Denmark for his
father's funeral and his mother's wedding (to his uncle, now king). He is visited by the ghost of his father
who reveals that he was murdered and asks for revenge. Hamlet creates various schemes, including madness, to
weasel out the truth and to figure out how to proceed.
Fortinbras opens where Hamlet leaves off. Almost everyone is dead and Fortinbras becomes king.
He decides that the true story of woe is a political mistake and creates a new tale of what really
happened in the castle. Osric goes along with this, but Horatio is determined to spread the true story,
as are many of the ghosts who return to haunt, seduce, and/or irritate Fortinbras. Whereas Shakespeare's
Hamlet is a political and familial tale of woe, Blessing's Fortinbras is a poker-faced political commentary
on the state of truth and, of course, the absurdity of the tale of Hamlet.
Limited perusal copies of the scripts are available. Please contact Mike Wood, producer at mikewoodnh@comcast.net
Character Break-Down:
Fortinbras - 20s-30s - Headstrong, enjoys the easy life, educated only in the art of
war, actor will need a good sense of comedic timing and be comfortable with some stage combat.
Hamlet - 20s-30s - Brooding, but capable of intense, fiery passion.
Osric - any age - takes great pride in service and is fiercely loyal
Horatio - 20s-30s - Hamlet’s best friend. Book-smart and proud of it. Actor must be comfortable with some stage combat.
Polonius - 40s-60s - Ophelia’s father. He is always right. And always knows best. Period.
Captain - any age - Fortinbras’ right hand man.
Ophelia - teens-20s - loud, flamboyant, lustful, knows what she wants. Actress must be very physically comfortable.
Gertrude - 40s-60s - Late Queen of Denmark
Claudius - 40s-60s - Late King of Denmark
Several additional smaller roles for teens and older. There are no non-speaking roles.
Get the latest information on NTG auditions and shows by joining the NTG e-Mail Group.
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Nashua Theatre Guild
Post Office Box 137
Nashua, NH 03061
NTG@NashuaTheaterGuild.org
Phone: 603.320.2530
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