136 Rivet St., New Bedford, MA 02744-1814
Telephone: 508
993 0772
Fax: 508 993
1396
For
information contact:
Roger H. Allen, Publicity Manager
E-mail: ytinews@comcast.net
For
Immediate Release
AUDITIONS OPEN FOR
BEAUTY QUEEN OF LEENANE
NEW
BEDFORD, MA - - - Auditions for The
Beauty Queen of Leenane, Martin McDonagh’s Tony Award-winning play, will be
held at 7:30 p.m., July 13 at Your Theatre, Inc., 136 Rivet St. (at County St.)
in the auditorium of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church.
Stephen Kay, director, will be selecting two women and
two men for the production. Actors must be able to master an Irish dialect. The
play runs Jan. 18-28, 2006.
Auditioning involves impromptu reading from the script with an attempt at a light Irish dialect, Mr. Kay says. The characters:
Maureen Folan, aged 30s to
40s, is plain and somewhat bitter about being forced to care for her aging
mother while hoping for a chance at romance and escape.
Mag Folan, Maureen’s mother,
is aged 60-70. Faced with Maureen’s chance for escape, she attempts to stop it,
hoping to hold onto her daughter and avoid being put in a home. A
hypochondriac, she constantly seeks attention by having her daughter wait on
her and attend to her ailments.
Pato Dooley, a good-looking
man aged about 30s to 40s, woos Maureen but is forced to look for work in
England and America. When he proposes marriage, his effort is thwarted.
Ray Dooley, Pato’s brother,
is in his 20s or at least looks young. Somewhat of a wise guy, he serves as a
visitor bearing news from his brother and the neighborhood. His entrances and
his talks with Mag account for some of the funniest lines in the play.
Actors wanting more information should call
508/993-0772, Mr. Kay says.
The drama-with-comedy, which also won the Lucille Lortel Award for outstanding play, depicts an epic battle in ordinary life based on a universal theme because it applies to any place where people are trapped by family or social circumstances.
A New York Times drama critic called the play
“stunning” and said “McDonagh has a master’s hand at building and subverting
expectations in a cat-and-mouse game with the audience.”
Now in its 59th season, Your Theatre, Inc. was rated the favorite 2005 community theatre organization in Southeastern Massachusetts in a poll conducted by The New Bedford Standard-Times. The poll, which asked the newspaper’s reader’s to choose their preferred businesses and service providers in a variety of categories, drew more than 4,000 responses.
Founded in 1946, YTI is incorporated as a non-profit community theatre which seeks to enhance the cultural life of New Bedford, Southeastern Massachusetts, and nearby communities through the study and regular presentation of dramatic productions and other programs of high quality and professional standards.
The company also develops and encourages artistic talent
through the establishment and operation of workshops, theatre productions and
other dramatic training opportunities.