Eleemosynary Audition Announcement
November 24
Audition Notice
for Eleemosynary
By Lee Blessing
NON-UNION CASTING CALL for Madison Street Theater’s production of Eleemosynary
DIRECTED BY: Jolaine Orlin
CONTRACT DATES: Jan 2 – Mar 2 2025
AUDITION DATES: Video submissions Due Nov 24 2024
Call backs in person by invitation Dec 15 or Dec 16
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REHEARSALS: Jan 2 – Feb 16, 2025
Tuesdays thru Fridays 7:00pm – 9:45pm
Saturday or Sunday TBD based on availability
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TECH WEEK: Feb 17 – Feb 19 2025
PERFORMANCES: Thurs Feb 20 – Invited Dress/Preview
Fri Feb 21 7:30 – Opening
Sat Feb 22 7:30
Sun Feb 23 2:00
Fri Feb 28 7:30
Sat Mar 1 7:30
Sun Mar 2 2:00 – Closing/Strike
SUBMISSIONS: Please complete the linked Audition Form with a video link of a
one-minute contemporary monologue of your choice, your headshot and resume.
Submissions due November 24.
Questions to info@madisonstreettheater.org
STIPEND: $500
Character Breakdown:
Note that the age ranges below are for the character, not the actor.
The production staff will consider actors that are older or younger if they can convincingly read as the suggested age.
Dorothea (50s) a willfully eccentric woman whose purposely-strange behavior is a way to assert her independence as she ages
Artemis “Artie” (30s) abandoned her overbearing mother many years ago, living her own life as a prominent and successful biochemist
Echo (teens) was raised by Dorothea and barely knows her mother until her adolescent and teenage years. Echo is also extraordinarily intelligent and a particularly excellent speller
SHOW DESCRIPTION:
Eleemosynary probes the delicate relationship between three singular women: the grandmother, Dorothea, who has sought to assert her independence through strong-willed eccentricity; her brilliant daughter, Artie (Artemis), who has fled the stifling domination of her mother; and Artie’s daughter, Echo, a child of exceptional intellect—and sensitivity—whom Artie has abandoned to an upbringing by Dorothea. As the play begins, Dorothea has suffered a stroke, and while Echo has re-established contact with her mother, it is only through extended telephone conversations, during which real issues are skirted and their talk is mostly about the precocious Echo’s single-minded domination of a national spelling contest. But, in the end, after Dorothea’s death, both Artie and Echo come to accept their mutual need and summon the courage to try, at last, to build a life together—despite the risks and terrors that this holds for both of them after so many years of alienation and estrangement.