Auditions for "Hurricane Diane" are September 28

Meet Diane, a permaculture gardener dripping with butch charm. She’s got supernatural abilities owing to her identity – the Greek God Dionysus – and she’s returned to the modern world to gather mortal followers and restore the earth to its natural state. Where better to begin than with four housewives in a suburban New Jersey cul-de-sac? Pulitzer Prize-finalist Madeleine George pens a hilarious evisceration of the blind eye we all turn to climate change and the bacchanalian catharsis that awaits us, even in our own backyards.

Auditions for Madeleine George's "Hurricane Diane" directed by Eva Gil are September 28. Sign up now!

Audition slots are available from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, September 28. Callbacks are Sunday, September 29. Auditions and callbacks are in Performing Arts Center ("PA") 399 - the rehearsal space at the end of the third floor hall.

Register to audition by Friday, September 27 at 3 p.m.

“An astonishing new play by Madeleine George that whirls ancient myth, lesbian pulp, ecological thriller and The Real Housewives of Monmouth County into a perfect storm of timely tragicomedy.” – Jesse Green, The New York Times

Character Breakdown

We will be casting five actors and five understudies.

Characters

Carol Fleischer (39, female identifying, any race/ethnicity)

Carol knows what she wants and knows she deserves it. She’s built a nice life but dreams of a better one. Slightly cold, in control, logical, with a surprising hidden strength.

Pam Annunziata, (40s, female identifying, Italian American)

She’s got emergency radios and food rations in the basement, she’s prepared. Loud, passionate, always looks put together, great laugh, protective, ready for a good time.

Renee Shapiro-Epps, (40s, female identifying, Woman of Color)

Proudly dated a woman after college, but now married to a man. Professionally successful, the only woman of color on the masthead of an interior design magazine. More open and forward thinking than the rest of the group, but also competitive. Sharp, smart, passionate, fair, reliable.

Beth Wann, (30s, female identifying, any race/ethnicity)

Beth’s husband recently left her, a moment she never saw coming (but everyone else did.) She is reeling and not able to get on top of this new reality. She wants to be saved. Dreamy, gentle, melancholy yet optimistic, floaty, sweet.

Diane, (genderfluid/female identifying/trans/nonbinary, any race/ethnicity)

The Incarnation of Dionysus, the Greek god. A butch charm factory, combination of swagger and stillness. Powerful, wry, charming, confident, smooth and immortal.

Casting note from the author

Diane may be played by any butch person who does not identify as male. The character is a butch dyke, but the actor need not be – casting can run the spectrum of non-cis-male performers, from a straight woman who can convincingly play a butch lesbian to a trans man who’s willing to play a butch lesbian. 

Instructions for your audition

• Auditions will be held on Saturday, September 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. in room 399 in the Performing Arts Center.
• Deadline to sign up is Friday, September 27.
• Sign up for a 5-minute time slot.
• For the audition you will prepare two monologues from Hurricane Diane: pick two different characters from these selections from the play.
• At your audition, state your name and the two monologues/characters you’ll be doing from Hurricane Diane.
• Work on making distinct choices (such as physical, vocal, etc) for each character based on having read the play and the character descriptions.
• The production will be on the Mainstage which requires strong vocal projection and energy, let’s see that in the audition.
• Please note the rehearsal schedule of the play when you sign up: all conflicts must be listed on the form.
•  If you need to change your audition time, or if you missed the sign-up deadline, please email Production Manager Teylor Lowe to see what options might be available to you.
• COVID-19 Vaccinations: While vaccinations will not be required to participate in this production, we still strongly encourage that everyone auditioning be vaccinated and boosted for COVID-19. This will help protect the cast, production team, and audience from being exposed to COVID-19 and keep everyone healthy.

Callbacks are Sunday, September 29 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

If you are called back, you will receive an email on Saturday, September 28 with information on which sides to prepare for the Sunday callbacks.

• Though you may not be needed for the entire time please arrive by 10 a.m. You will be released ASAP.
• Follow this link for callback sides.
• Familiarize yourself with the sides and try to commit them at least partially to memory.
• Know the circumstances of the scene.
• The director will pair you with other actors to read sides; or we will use a reader.

Content Disclosures

This play includes intimacy such as kissing and provocative dancing. It also discusses the character's sex lives. The play also includes profanity.

Intimacy Content

The actor playing Diane will have potential kissing and/or other physically intimate moments with the actors playing Beth, Renee and Pam.

Intimacy Descriptions from the script

“Diane pulls Beth in for a devouring kiss. Beth yields with abandon. Beth mounts Diane, Diane carries her out the French door into the dark.”(Pg 39)

“Renee opens her Eileen Fisher.” (Pg 54)

“Pam falls upon Diane in ecstatic submission” (pg 60)

“The Bacchae (Beth, Pam, Renee) and Diane fall out into a big, sexy, beastly dance number: beautiful, barbaric, rhythmic, precise.” (Pg 63)

GPA Policy

The Theatre Department is phasing in a new policy (announced in Monday Matters last spring): in order to work on Department of Theatre and Dance, productions you must maintain a certain GPA.

• For Fall quarter 2024, you must maintain a 2.4 overall GPA
• In Spring quarter 2025, the GPA requirement will change to 2.8
• Subsequent to Spring 2025, the GPA requirement will remain at 2.8
• See GPA Requirement document for details

Audition Form

Questions on this form include opportunities to share information about your identity, including gender, race and cultural background. Your answers help WWU prioritize authentic, appropriate casting as called for in each script. Please share only what you feel comfortable sharing.

Our department is committed to anti-racist and anti-oppressive practices in all areas, including casting. Our goal is to create a casting process that is welcoming, absent of intimidation, and serves those auditioning as well as the creative team in the full exploration of the material in an environment of mutual trust.

In reference to the character descriptions – these are descriptions of the characters as identified in the script and in collaboration with the creative team. They are not meant to be exhaustive of who should play these roles and we seek to cast expansively and intentionally. We are striving to make our production and audition practices inclusive of performers of all races, ethnicities, national origins, gender expressions, body types, and abilities. We also recognize that these characters are written on the binary (use he/him or she/her pronouns) and we invite gender non-conforming, genderqueer, transgender, and non-binary actors to submit for any roles they identify with.  We also welcome performers of all abilities and are prepared to provide any reasonable accommodations and resources needed in order to cast performers with disabilities.  (Thanks to the Actors Theatre of Louisville for their language and inspiration in this statement.)

Some questions on this form involve disclosing what you are comfortable with as a performer. Show-specific questions are below and you may also be given a longer, more detailed disclosure form to fill out the morning of auditions. You will be asked to return this form by the end of Audition Day.

Additionally, there are some resources made available here to inform you of Western Washington University’s procedures and protocols for moments of intimacy in our productions.

Audition Resources

Below are links to very useful Word documents which are resources to inform you of Western Washington University’s procedures and protocols for moments of intimacy in our productions.

• Production incident report
• WWU Actor Consent Form
• WWU Audition Disclosure Form
• WWU Intimacy and Instructional Touch Policy
• WWU Intimacy Protocols

Sign up Between September 15 and September 27