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Hope and Gravity
5 June 2022 @ 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Written By: Michael Hollinger Creative Team: Director : Kym Clayton
The action unfolds in nine briskly-paced out-of-sequence scenes that begin inside an elevator, where we hear the fuzzy details of an elevator accident the night before – an incident that will eventually link the scenes. Each scene functions as a self-contained vignette but is also a single piece of a big puzzle with the play’s characters interacting on one level, with no idea that their lives intersect on another. Their lives intersect in surprising ways that are both comical and tragic – through love, sex, poetry, dentistry, phobias, in offices, homes, and in hotel rooms. Jill longs for Steve, who’s engaged to Barb, who hooks up with Peter, who’s already having an affair with Nan, who’s married to Marty. Meanwhile, Douglas, who teaches creative writing to Jill and Steve, meets Tanya who’s hoping to get pregnant with Hal. By the time Hollinger is done with his inventive, non-sequential funny play, he’s provided a narrative arc that the audience delight in piecing together themselves. “…..brilliantly structured and hilariously written…” – Fort Worth Star-Telegram “A satisfying, crowd-pleasing puzzle play, with nine scenes in two acts, but not in chronological order.” – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “Some of the scenes are laugh-out-loud funny; others are tenderly poignant.” – Pittsburgh Tribune-Review “There’s a thrill in chasing this plot – it’s always tantalizingly ahead of you – and finally nailing it. The thrill extends to witnessing five actors, some in dual roles, as they lay out this story that happens in the past, or sometimes in the future, yet also in the present.” – WHYY Philadelphia “[It’s] Michael Hollinger at his best: witty banter, well-turned phrases, and genuine characters make us laugh; then something unexpectedly wonderful and mysterious lifts us to a new level. Gravity tugs us downward but hope allows us to soar, as HOPE AND GRAVITY shows.” – BroadStreetReview.com
Information Session:
Audition Information:
| Repeated Fieldset #:0 | |
| Date: | 05/06/2022 |
| Time From – Time to: | 13:30 – 16:00 |
| Repeated Fieldset #:0 | |
| Role Name: | Marty/Douglas |
| Gender: | Male |
| Stage Age: | |
| Role Information: | Dual role. Stage age 40-50s, 327 cues. Marty is a warm and garrulous elevator repairman, and married to Nan. He is interested in people, and is forgiving. Family nis important to him. Douglas is a bachelor, a celebrated poet, and a teacher. He’s lost his creative mojo and is trying to get it back after a life-altering accident. He is kind and friendly towards others who are younger and less experienced person. |
| Repeated Fieldset #:1 | |
| Role Name: | Peter/Hal |
| Gender: | Male |
| Stage Age: | |
| Role Information: | Dual role. Stage age late 30s-early 40s, 306 cues. Peter is a dentist, and is having an affair with Nan. He is stylish, confident, a pathological liar (for which he seeks therapy), and is a philanderer. Actor will need to have good comic timing and physical humour capability. Hal is a school administrator/ Assistant Principal, and has a borderline psychological illness that manifests as hypochondria. He is nervy! He is married to Tanya, and they are trying for a baby but are having difficulty and he needs to get a ‘sample’ tested! (Actor needs to be bare chested during one scene.) |
| Repeated Fieldset #:2 | |
| Role Name: | Tanya/Nan |
| Gender: | Female |
| Stage Age: | |
| Role Information: | Dual role. Stage age 40s, 347 cues. Tanya is and Actuary and is married to Hal. She is a no-nonsense type of person and likely ‘wears the pants’ in the relationship. She is trying to get pregnant with Hal, but it’s likely there is ‘a problem’ with him. She is phobic about elevators. Actor needs to passionately kiss during one scene. Nan is a married to Marty, and works at the same school as Hal and Barb as a nurse. She is having an affair with Peter but has a conscience and finishes it. At heart she is a caring person. Actor will need to participate in a comical seduction scene! |
| Repeated Fieldset #:3 | |
| Role Name: | Steve |
| Gender: | Male |
| Stage Age: | |
| Role Information: | Single character role. Stage age 20s, 317 cues. Steve is a creative-writing graduate student, and is initially engaged to Barb but subconsciously attracted to Jill with whom he shares house. He is a romantic at heart, and wears his heart on his sleeve. |
| Repeated Fieldset #:4 | |
| Role Name: | Jill/Barb |
| Gender: | Female |
| Stage Age: | |
| Role Information: | Dual role. Stage age 30-35, 385 cues. Jill is also a creative-writing graduate student, and is Steve’s roommate with whom she is secretly in love despite that he is engaged to Barb. In private with Steve, Jill is openly hostile about Barb. Barb is engaged to Steve and ‘knows’ that Jill is in love with him. She comes across as ‘cool’ when Steve tries to be romantic. She has an irrational fear of dentists and seeks treatment for her phobia, but this doesn’t prevent her from eventually ‘falling’ for dentist Peter. |
More Information at: www.galleon.org.au
The audition is a group audition. Venue for audition : Park Holme Community Hall, 638 Marion Road, PARK HOLME (corner Wallala Avenue & Marion Road)
Venue for performances : Domain Theatre, Marion Cultural Centre 287 Diagonal Road, OAKLANDS PARK SA 5046 Performance Dates : Thurs 25, Fri 26, Sat 27 May 2023 @ 7.30pm Thurs 1, Fri 2, Sat 3 June 2023 @ 7.30pm Matinee: Sun 28 May 2023 @ 2pm
Rehearsal Times : Tuesdays & Thursdays 7.30-10.00pm, Sundays 1.30-5.30pm, although there may be some variation to days and times.
First rehearsal Sunday 5 March 2023, or thereabouts. (Please note this will be during the Fringe Festival/ Festival of Arts.) Please email Director Kym Clayton ackc1@optusnet.com.au to register for the audition. At the audition you will be asked to provide proof of vaccination against COVID19. The audition will include reading/moving excerpts from the play, with relevant pages emailed to you once you have registered.
Contact: Kym Clayton ackc1@optusnet.com.au 0407704349
