Auditions for MSU Theatre's Production of Our Town
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What to prepare:
Two contrasting monologues.
1 from Spoon River Anthology
1 of your choosing
Monologues should be between 30 seconds and 1 minute.
Email director Seth M. Honerman with questions. [email protected]
Review the following character information regarding the play and available roles.
19 characters: 5F (female presenting), 4M (male presenting), 3A (any gender presentation). 12 actors will likely play all 19 roles as indicated below, however, casting will be open to all and doubling may not be necessary.
1: Stage Manager: (A) The host of the play and the dramatic equivalent of an omniscient narrator, moving the story along its action. Although referred to only as Stage Manager and not by a name, they occasionally assume other roles, such as an old woman, a druggist, and a minister. Interacting with both the world of the audience and the world of the play’s characters, they occupy a godlike position of authority.
*This role will be played by Assistant Professor Sarah Belfrage Honerman.*
2: Dr. Gibbs: (M) The town doctor. Dr. Gibbs is also a Civil War expert. His delivery of twins just before the play opens establishes the themes of birth, life, and daily activity. He and his family are neighbors to the Webbs, and he gently but firmly corrects George when needed. (Content Disclosure: he shares a chaste kiss with Mrs. Gibbs).
3: Mrs. Gibbs: (F) Dr. Gibbs’s wife. Mrs. Gibbs’s desire to visit Paris—a wish that is never fulfilled—suggests the importance of seizing the opportunities life presents, rather than waiting for things to happen. (Content Disclosure: she shares a chaste kiss with Dr. Gibbs; she is dead in Act. 3).
4: George Gibbs: (M) Dr. And Mrs. Gibbs’s son, 16 at the start of the play. An earnest, upstanding young man, George is a high school baseball star who plans to attend the State Agricultural School after high school. His courtship of Emily Webb and eventual marriage to her is central to the play’s limited narrative action. (Content Disclosure: simulated kiss with Emily on wedding day; must weep in front of Emily’s grave in Act 3.)
5: Rebecca Gibbs: (F) Dr. And Mrs. Gibbs’s daughter and George’s younger sister, 12 at the start of the play. Filled with wonder, her remarks about the location of Grover’s Corners in the universe articulate an important theme in the play.
6: Mrs. Webb: (F) Mr. Webb’s wife. At first a no-nonsense woman who does not cry on the morning of her daughter’s marriage, Mrs. Webb later shows her innocent and caring nature, worrying during the wedding that she has not taught her daughter enough about marriage.
7: Mr. Webb: (M) Mrs. Webb’s husband and the publisher and editor of the Grover’s Corners Sentinel. Mr. Webb’s report to the audience in Act I is both informative and interactive, as his question-and-answer session draws the audience physically into the action of the play. He dotes on his daughter, Emily. (Content Disclosure: Emily kisses him on the cheek in affection.)
8: Emily Webb: (F) Mr. and Mrs. Webb’s daughter and Wally’s older sister. Emily, 16 at the start of the play, is George’s schoolmate and next-door neighbor, then his fiancée, and later his wife. She is an excellent student and a conscientious daughter. After dying in childbirth, Emily joins the group of dead souls in the local cemetery and attempts to return to the world of the living. Her realization that human life is precious because it is fleeting is perhaps the central message of the play. (Content Disclosure: kisses dad on cheek; simulated kiss with George on wedding day; she is dead in Act. 3)
9: Simon Stimson: (M) The organist and Choir Director of the Congregational Church who is the subject of town gossip because of his alcoholism. Simon’s memories of the past are negative. (Content Disclosure: Simon is visibly drunk in Act 1. He takes his life between Acts 2 and 3).
The following roles may be doubled or separated.
10: Wally Webb (M) Emily’s younger brother. (Content Disclosure: he is dead in Act. 3) & Sam Craig (A) Emily Webb’s cousin, who has left Grover’s Corners to travel west, but returns for her funeral in Act III. Though originally from the town, Sam has the air of an outsider.
11: Constable Warren (M): The town law enforcement officer. We hear that he saves a man from freezing to death. / Joe Crowell (M) A paper boy- in Act 1 & in the flashback in Act. 3. We learn that in between he became a scholar at Massachusetts Tech and was killed in France during World War I. / Si Crowell (M): Joe’s younger brother, who takes Joe’s job as paper boy in Act II to indicate the passage of time.
12: Woman In Audience (F) “random” audience member who asks a question about culture in Grover’s corners. / Mrs. Soames (F) A local busybody who clucks over Simon’s alcoholism and idealizes George and Emily’s marriage. She is a spirit in the last act. / Joe Stoddard (M): The town undertaker. Joe prepares Emily’s grave and remarks on how sad it is to bury young people. This statement emphasizes a theme that grows ever more apparent throughout the play and receives its most explicit discussion in Act III: the transience of human life.
13. Professor Willard (A): a local professor at State University who provides background knowledge and statistics about Grover’s Corners.
Two contrasting monologues.
1 from Spoon River Anthology
1 of your choosing
Monologues should be between 30 seconds and 1 minute.
Email director Seth M. Honerman with questions. [email protected]
Review the following character information regarding the play and available roles.
19 characters: 5F (female presenting), 4M (male presenting), 3A (any gender presentation). 12 actors will likely play all 19 roles as indicated below, however, casting will be open to all and doubling may not be necessary.
1: Stage Manager: (A) The host of the play and the dramatic equivalent of an omniscient narrator, moving the story along its action. Although referred to only as Stage Manager and not by a name, they occasionally assume other roles, such as an old woman, a druggist, and a minister. Interacting with both the world of the audience and the world of the play’s characters, they occupy a godlike position of authority.
*This role will be played by Assistant Professor Sarah Belfrage Honerman.*
2: Dr. Gibbs: (M) The town doctor. Dr. Gibbs is also a Civil War expert. His delivery of twins just before the play opens establishes the themes of birth, life, and daily activity. He and his family are neighbors to the Webbs, and he gently but firmly corrects George when needed. (Content Disclosure: he shares a chaste kiss with Mrs. Gibbs).
3: Mrs. Gibbs: (F) Dr. Gibbs’s wife. Mrs. Gibbs’s desire to visit Paris—a wish that is never fulfilled—suggests the importance of seizing the opportunities life presents, rather than waiting for things to happen. (Content Disclosure: she shares a chaste kiss with Dr. Gibbs; she is dead in Act. 3).
4: George Gibbs: (M) Dr. And Mrs. Gibbs’s son, 16 at the start of the play. An earnest, upstanding young man, George is a high school baseball star who plans to attend the State Agricultural School after high school. His courtship of Emily Webb and eventual marriage to her is central to the play’s limited narrative action. (Content Disclosure: simulated kiss with Emily on wedding day; must weep in front of Emily’s grave in Act 3.)
5: Rebecca Gibbs: (F) Dr. And Mrs. Gibbs’s daughter and George’s younger sister, 12 at the start of the play. Filled with wonder, her remarks about the location of Grover’s Corners in the universe articulate an important theme in the play.
6: Mrs. Webb: (F) Mr. Webb’s wife. At first a no-nonsense woman who does not cry on the morning of her daughter’s marriage, Mrs. Webb later shows her innocent and caring nature, worrying during the wedding that she has not taught her daughter enough about marriage.
7: Mr. Webb: (M) Mrs. Webb’s husband and the publisher and editor of the Grover’s Corners Sentinel. Mr. Webb’s report to the audience in Act I is both informative and interactive, as his question-and-answer session draws the audience physically into the action of the play. He dotes on his daughter, Emily. (Content Disclosure: Emily kisses him on the cheek in affection.)
8: Emily Webb: (F) Mr. and Mrs. Webb’s daughter and Wally’s older sister. Emily, 16 at the start of the play, is George’s schoolmate and next-door neighbor, then his fiancée, and later his wife. She is an excellent student and a conscientious daughter. After dying in childbirth, Emily joins the group of dead souls in the local cemetery and attempts to return to the world of the living. Her realization that human life is precious because it is fleeting is perhaps the central message of the play. (Content Disclosure: kisses dad on cheek; simulated kiss with George on wedding day; she is dead in Act. 3)
9: Simon Stimson: (M) The organist and Choir Director of the Congregational Church who is the subject of town gossip because of his alcoholism. Simon’s memories of the past are negative. (Content Disclosure: Simon is visibly drunk in Act 1. He takes his life between Acts 2 and 3).
The following roles may be doubled or separated.
10: Wally Webb (M) Emily’s younger brother. (Content Disclosure: he is dead in Act. 3) & Sam Craig (A) Emily Webb’s cousin, who has left Grover’s Corners to travel west, but returns for her funeral in Act III. Though originally from the town, Sam has the air of an outsider.
11: Constable Warren (M): The town law enforcement officer. We hear that he saves a man from freezing to death. / Joe Crowell (M) A paper boy- in Act 1 & in the flashback in Act. 3. We learn that in between he became a scholar at Massachusetts Tech and was killed in France during World War I. / Si Crowell (M): Joe’s younger brother, who takes Joe’s job as paper boy in Act II to indicate the passage of time.
12: Woman In Audience (F) “random” audience member who asks a question about culture in Grover’s corners. / Mrs. Soames (F) A local busybody who clucks over Simon’s alcoholism and idealizes George and Emily’s marriage. She is a spirit in the last act. / Joe Stoddard (M): The town undertaker. Joe prepares Emily’s grave and remarks on how sad it is to bury young people. This statement emphasizes a theme that grows ever more apparent throughout the play and receives its most explicit discussion in Act III: the transience of human life.
13. Professor Willard (A): a local professor at State University who provides background knowledge and statistics about Grover’s Corners.
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Where is it happening?
500 University Avenue West, Minot, ND, United States, North Dakota 58707
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
Know what’s Happening Next — before everyone else does.
Host or PublisherMinot State University Theatre
