Winter Play

by Alice Austen
directed by Sarah Arnold-Simondet

Synopsis:
Girls in the Boat was inspired by the true stories of the U.S. women’s Olympic rowing team. A group of smart, fiery young women fights discrimination and prejudice to compete in the male-dominated sport of rowing, finding an unlikely ally in a taciturn men’s coach. Together, they confront ridicule and overcome obstacles. The women refuse to sit on a bus and wait their turn in a battle for gender equality in a sport that makes national news and takes them to the world championships. Against the rhythm of their oars, these women forge bonds and overcome disagreements in their search for greatness. Despite their diverse backgrounds and politics, they pull together to reach their goals in a fast-paced drama that reminds us of what we can all do if we have a common purpose. As our heroines break barriers of race and gender, their newly minted U.S. women’s rowing team becomes the most-winning sports team in American history.

Auditions:
Auditions for Girls in the Boat will be December 4th and 5th 3:15-6:00 (with the potential of ending earlier). Auditions will be held in the Black Box.

Students will use the following Google form to register for auditions: Audition Form

You may be asked to read multiple sides both at auditions and at callbacks. If you would like to prepare, please take a look at the following sections.

Audition Sides:
Page 14: Girl 5: “My dad is a runner.” – Pg 16 Coxswain “Um…Hello… Why do you think they don’t want to run with you?”
Page 26: Girl 6: “So I get in the boat..” – Page 28 Girl 5: “Not I like the quiet.”
Page 28: Bow: “But the girls…” – Page 30 Girl 5:”…You girls”
Page 42: Journalist: “Can you talk to us…” – Page 43 Coach: “I don’t care if a rower is male or female”
Page 45: Coach: “I didn’t invent anything…” – Page 47 Coach: “You row like an egg beater”

In auditions, we are looking for actors who are specific and bold with their character choices. Your character choices should show what makes the character unique while still being part of the team.

Roles:
Bow: first seat in the boat, smallest and quickest, shy and quiet, also plays a mother
Girl 2: smallest and quickest, likes poetry and literature, also plays a mother.
Girl 3: engine of the boat, artist turned rower, optimist, collaborative, hard working, also plays a mother.
Girl 4: engine of the boat, goes to a prestigious university, fights for equality,
Girl 5: engine of the boat,runner turned rower, all around athlete, fights for women’s sports, also plays a mother.
Girl 6: engine of the boat, energetic tomboy, follows father’s and brother’s legacy, used to be the stroke also plays a mother.
Girl 7: BIPOC, becomes a lawyer and activist, “skilled, smart, follows the rhythm of the stroke”
Stroke: sets the rhythm and rate of the rowing, college athlete, rows all their life, “has perfect form”
Coxswain: steers the boat and coaches the crew, small but mighty, loud and brash, former gymnast
Coach/Dad/Man: older, coach fights for girls and wants them to win, makes hard decisions, teacher
Boy/Journalist/Boy Rower: focused on themselves, younger, plays the villain in many circumstances,
Announcer: calls the race, may be a voice over

Callbacks will be Dec 9th from 3:15 – 6:00pm. The first read thru will be Dec 10th at 3:15pm. Standard rehearsals will begin Dec 11th and the schedule is on the rehearsal calendar.

Thank you to everyone who expressed interest in tech crew for the one-act. We had more people interested in participating on the performance crew than the one-act rules allow us to bring with us, so I had the difficult job of narrowing it down. Please know that I want all of you to be involved in some way, even if you aren’t able to travel with the production, so please join us for set construction, costuming, lighting design, or sound design. You can find the dates/times we are meeting on the calendar starting in January.

Below you will find crew assignments for the performance crew. You must send Jimmy a message via Remind or an email to accept your crew position prior to Friday, December 15th.

Stage Manager Kylie Estochen
Deck Captain Dylan Zeilinger-Johnson
Assistant Deck Captain Onyx Scribner
Props Captain Amelia Swarts
Stage Running Crew Neela Estochen
Lighting Crew Cameron McComas
Aidan Claxton
Sound Crew Evan Hoover
Costume Running Crew Henry North

For those that weren’t able to make the tech crew kick-off meeting, please find the presentation below. If you have questions after reviewing the presentation, please contact the technical director, Jimmy at jstocco@theloftstage.org.

Tech Crew Presentation

Please complete the following tech interest form so that we know what you are interested in doing. Performance crew positions will be announced by Monday, December 11th. Participation on a production crew does not require registration and is open to anyone who is interested.

Tech Crew Interest Form

Thank you to every one of you who auditioned for Little Women. We so admire your bravery and hard work; you made this a difficult task for us all! The first read-through will be in the Black Box at 3:30 pm on Thursday, December 7th. If you are interested in helping the production in another way, please attend the tech meeting on Thursday, December 7th at 3:15 pm in the choir room. Remember, the character you show when you look at a cast list is much more important than a character in a play.

Leslie Switala Jo
Sophia Bramel Meg
JoeLeigh Madsen Amy
Addy Garrett Beth
Liesl Smith Hannah
Maddie Gerber Marmee
Sydney Segedi Aunt March
Riley Hestwood Father
Lizzie Loveridge Old Mr. Laurence
Luca Walz Laurie
Nyx Russell Brooke
Neela Estochen Jo u/s
Jane Stansel Amy u/s
Jackie Gaalaas Beth u/s
Koda Davis Meg u/s
Amelia Swarts Laurie u/s

Thank you to all of the amazing talent who auditioned for Little Women! Callbacks will be at 3:15 in the Black Box on Wednesday. Please review the scenes below to prepare. The first read-through will be in the Black Box at 3:30 pm on Thursday, December 7th. If you are interested in helping the production in another way, please attend the tech meeting on Thursday, December 7th at 3:15 pm in the choir room.

Sophia Bramel
Koda Davis
Z Elias
Neela Estochen
Alex Frith
Jackie Gaalaas
Addy Garrett
Maddie Gerber
Riley Hestwood
Lizzie Loveridge
JoeLeigh Madsen
Alyvia Ruberto
Nyx Russell
Sydney Segedi
Liesl Smith
Jane Stansel
Amelia Swarts
Leslie Switala
Luca Walz
Dylan Zeilinger-Johnson

Callback Sides:

Pg 8 AMY: ” Last Christmas…”- pg 10 MEG: “Don’t worry…”
Pg 14 JO: “Here’s Marmie….” – pg 16 JO: “Captial Marmee…”
Pg 19 MARMEE: “Mr Laurence, our old friend!” – pg 20 OLD MR LAURENCE: “Georgette…”
Pg 38 BETH: “Joe?” – pg 39 JOE: “Goodbye Beth, goodbye.”
Pg 39 AMY: “Mr Brooke!” – pg 41 MEG: “I don’t know, I’m all flustered…”
Pg 43 LAURIE: “It’s going to be a romantic…” – pg 44 JO: “Oh, I doubt that very much…”
Pg 45 FATHER: “How’s my Joe?” – pg 46 JOE: “Yes, I will…”

1 2 3 14