Auditions for "Grand Horizons”
by Bess Wohl
Director: Gary Green
Tuesday, July 29
Noon to 2:30 p.m.
Performing Arts Studio, Hillside
The Drama Association of Rossmoor (DAOR) will hold auditions for its next Naked Stage production, “Grand Horizons”, a comedy/drama by Bess Wohl, on Tuesday, July 29, noon to 2:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Studio at Hillside. For those who cannot attend the first audition, and for those called rom the first audition, a second audition will be held on Friday, August 1, 9:30 to noon. Please arrive a few minutes before the starting audition time and plan to stay until the ending audition time.
Scheduled performances of the play to be directed by veteran Bay Area director and teacher, Gary Green, will be at 2 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, October 17, 18 and 19. In Naked Stage productions, actors rehearse and perform with their scripts in hand and do not memorize their parts. Actors of all ages are encouraged to audition for any role.
The play takes place in the Grand Horizons retirement community. Nancy and Bill are on the verge of divorce after 50 years of dysfunctional marriage. As their adult children try to “rescue” them, the family members are forced to confront their own insecurities and the nature of love and family. How the senior couple finds peace and quiet and a way forward leaves the audience laughing while brushing away a tear. There are roles for four males and three female actors.
The audition will consist of readings of the script. No resumes or head shots are required. Rehearsals will be held Tuesdays and Fridays beginning August 12. For character profiles and/or for audition registration forms, contact the play’s producer, Martha Hawkins at [email protected] or by phone at (510) 919-9101. A limited number of scripts are available on loan. Audition registration forms are also available in the DAOR mail box at the Gateway administration building. Auditions are open to DAOR members and non-members alike although non-members must join DAOR if cast.
Gary Green delights in helping actors deepen the drama or comedy in a story. During his long teaching career at Berkeley Adult School, he created a course for English language learners called “Practice English by Acting”. Since retiring, he has directed casts of all ages in his community and has taught a scene study class and directed two short play readings for DAOR. During the early COVID years, he directed a number of DAOR members in short and full-length plays via Zoom which provided socialization and an opportunity to keep acting. At that time, he also organized a biweekly Zoom play-reading group that is ongoing.
Auditions are open to DAOR members and non-members alike, although membership is obligatory for all those cast in the show.
by Bess Wohl
Director: Gary Green
Tuesday, July 29
Noon to 2:30 p.m.
Performing Arts Studio, Hillside
The Drama Association of Rossmoor (DAOR) will hold auditions for its next Naked Stage production, “Grand Horizons”, a comedy/drama by Bess Wohl, on Tuesday, July 29, noon to 2:30 p.m. in the Performing Arts Studio at Hillside. For those who cannot attend the first audition, and for those called rom the first audition, a second audition will be held on Friday, August 1, 9:30 to noon. Please arrive a few minutes before the starting audition time and plan to stay until the ending audition time.
Scheduled performances of the play to be directed by veteran Bay Area director and teacher, Gary Green, will be at 2 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, October 17, 18 and 19. In Naked Stage productions, actors rehearse and perform with their scripts in hand and do not memorize their parts. Actors of all ages are encouraged to audition for any role.
The play takes place in the Grand Horizons retirement community. Nancy and Bill are on the verge of divorce after 50 years of dysfunctional marriage. As their adult children try to “rescue” them, the family members are forced to confront their own insecurities and the nature of love and family. How the senior couple finds peace and quiet and a way forward leaves the audience laughing while brushing away a tear. There are roles for four males and three female actors.
The audition will consist of readings of the script. No resumes or head shots are required. Rehearsals will be held Tuesdays and Fridays beginning August 12. For character profiles and/or for audition registration forms, contact the play’s producer, Martha Hawkins at [email protected] or by phone at (510) 919-9101. A limited number of scripts are available on loan. Audition registration forms are also available in the DAOR mail box at the Gateway administration building. Auditions are open to DAOR members and non-members alike although non-members must join DAOR if cast.
Gary Green delights in helping actors deepen the drama or comedy in a story. During his long teaching career at Berkeley Adult School, he created a course for English language learners called “Practice English by Acting”. Since retiring, he has directed casts of all ages in his community and has taught a scene study class and directed two short play readings for DAOR. During the early COVID years, he directed a number of DAOR members in short and full-length plays via Zoom which provided socialization and an opportunity to keep acting. At that time, he also organized a biweekly Zoom play-reading group that is ongoing.
Auditions are open to DAOR members and non-members alike, although membership is obligatory for all those cast in the show.
“Quartet” tells the story of Cecily, Reggie and Wilfred, all famous opera singers in their day, who are enjoying their autumn years in a home for retired musicians. They are looking forward to performing in a concert to celebrate Verdi’s birthday. When Jean Horton, the fourth member of their famous quartet, takes up residence at the home, three of the four are keen to recreate the third act quartet from “Rigoletto.” Jean, however, unfailingly tactless, overbearing, reminding everyone of her diva status, and also Reggie’s ex-wife, has other ideas. Can the four put aside their old grudges and re-team for one more show-stopping finale? The show must go on in this funny and poignant play.
The four characters include: Cecily Robson (Cissy), in the early throes of memory loss, has a friendly, open, and happy personality, but occasionally “loses it”; Reginald Paget (Reggie), organized, serious and intense, is unglued by Jean’s presence; Wilfred Bond (Wilf), full of humor and fantasies of trysts, is highly focused on sex, however imaginary; Jean Horton, very proud, and reluctant to admit to growing old, is more uncomfortable in the surroundings of the retirement home. She was married a number of times, none of them very happily.
Cast members are: Lee Gale Gruen (Cecily “Cissy” Robson), Neil Fiore (Reginald “Reggie” Paget), Edward Kimak (Wilfred “Wilf” Bond), Jean Wilcox (Jean Horton), and Martha Boesing (Understudy for Jean Horton).
The show’s director, Stephanie Singer, is an actor, director, and an acting and improv teacher. She directed the 2023 multimedia musical play “JFK a Remembrance” at the Rossmoor Event Center and recently directed “Doubt” at the Town Hall Theater in Moraga.
“Flamingo Court” consists of three short plays, each set in a different condo within the same retirement community. In the first act, Angelina, a widow, starts to develop feelings for her neighbor, Dominic. However, her sick husband is in the next room, leading to a series of comedic situations as a friend plays matchmaker. In the second more somber, yet poignant playlet, Clara is dealing with memory loss and the emotional struggle of being moved by her loving husband, Arthur, to a home for dementia care. In the final story, 89-year-old Harry wants to celebrate his birthday by hiring a hooker to scandalize his money-grubbing daughter and her annoying husband.
Cast in the first act are Gail Wetherbee as Angelina, Joe Costella as Dominic, Maria Faer as friend Marie, and Thomas Cassese and Lee Gale Gruen as soap opera actors, with Jon Rasmussen as the narrator. In act two, Martha Hawkins is Clara, and Edward Kimak is Arthur. Cast in the third act are Gary Mutz as Harry, David Michetti as Mark, Vicki Beckerman as Charity, Neil Fiore as Walter, and Toby Cowen as Chi-Chi. Faer, Hawkins, Mutz and Cowen are new to Naked Stage.
“In the end, ‘Flamingo Court’ is a good prescription for any senior who wants to reassess what growing older means in the new millennium,” commented the director Michael McGarty.