[NEohioPAL] Carnation City Players auditions

Carnation City Players

The Cover of Life by R.T. Robinson

Joan M. Conlon, director

Trisha Joy Fites and Michael Ritzert, stage managers

Auditions: Monday, August 11, 2008 7:00-8:00 pm at the Firehouse Theatre 450 East Market St. Alliance, OH

Auditioners should be prepared to read from the script. Scripts may be previewed at Rodman Public Library.

TOOD: 19 years old. Pretty, genuine, a bit of a dreamer, but determined

SYBIL: 25 years old. Flashy, "Sophisticated" or "Fast" in her crowd

WEETSIE: 20 years old. Plain and a little plump, very religious and very much a country girl

AUNT OLA: mid-forties, but appears older. The mother-in-law of the three young women, strong, matriarchal

KATE: early/mid-forties. Correspondent/Photographer for Life magazine, successful woman in a man's world

ADDIE MAE: mid-forties. Local newspaper reporter, affected stylishness

TOMMY: 20 years old. The youngest brother of the family, eager, friendly, insecure. He is a sailor serving in the South Pacific.

* There will be flexibility in casting. Actual ages of the actors is secondary to the ability to portray the character.

The time is September, 1943. The action takes place in various locations over several weeks in Sterlington, Louisiana, a very small town. Tood, Weetsie and Sybill are all brides who have married men who have gone off to war and the young wives have moved in with their mother-in-law. A local newspaper story about these brave girls keeping the home fires burning comes to the attention of Life Magazine, who decides that this all American human interest story would make a great cover article. He assigns one of his journalists, Kate Miller, to the story, The assignment doesn?t sit well with Kate, she has paid her professional dues, has been covering the war in Europe and views a return to the ? women?s stories? as a career set-back. She accepts only because it will be her first cover story. Kate spend a week with the Cliffert women, becoming especially close to Tood, the youngest, who is beginning to realize that there is more to live than being a dutiful, subservient housewife. Kate?s haughty urban attitude gives way to sympathy as she begins to understand these real American women who don?t live on the Island of Manhattan and she comes face to face with her own powerlessness in a solidly man? world. The Cover of Life is a deeply affecting story about the struggle of women to achieve a sense of self-worth.