Charlotte Conservatory Theatre
LEAVING WATERMAINE: A World Premiere, AEA production
Location: VAPA Center, 700 N. Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC
Audition / Call Type: Theater
Charlotte Conservatory Theatre is casting for a world premier of Nan-Lynn Nelson’s Leaving Watermaine. This ethereal new play explores the loves and tensions between familial roots and personal ambitions within the Mainlodge family, a middle-class African American family living in 1940s Watermaine, Georgia.
A finalist in the Susan Smith Blackburn Award in London and recipient of North Carolina Playwright’s Lab selection, Leaving Watermaine provides actors a wonderful opportunity to breath life into Nelson’s first full production of this rich script.
Director: Corlis Hayes
Audition Information: Hayes will be auditioning actors on Saturday, July 8th from 1:00pm to 5:00pm and Sunday, July 9th from 2:00pm to 6:00pm. Auditions will be held at VAPA Center at 700 N. Tryon Street in uptown Charlotte. Free parking is available on site.
To Audition: Please email marlabrown@mac.com with subject line: “Leaving Watermaine Audition” and provide the following:
1. Name and telephone number
2. Headshot/resume if available
3. Your time preference for auditioning (EG: 1:00 -2:00; anytime; before 3:00) 4. Character(s) you are auditioning for and if you’d accept other roles?
5. Answer to the following: Do you have a prepared monologue?
We will be scheduling groups of actors in 30-minute slots. Please bring a 30-60 second monologue (if you have one prepared). If you do not have a prepared monologue, no worries. Everyone will be asked to read from the sides linked here (character descriptions are below):
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aLGH6hEN731jHyoNon-BIirO408E5582?usp=sharing
This production will take place November 9th – 12th at Booth Playhouse. Rehearsals will begin mid-September with a table read on or around August 27th. Rehearsals will be TBD nights and weekends in Charlotte. Actors will be paid a sliding scale based on role. AEA and non-union actors are welcome to audition.
The available roles are:
VERDENE MAINLODGE: 28-32 years of age. Dark skinned beauty. Formally educated. She is a mid- wife of high repute. Has an artist’s spirit. Vulnerable, but strong. Romantic and longs to escape. Pretty.
JESSE MOSS : 30-40 years of age. Dark skinned. Handsome. Not formally educated. Just a “Southern country boy”. Milkman by vocation but wants to “break the chains” of his “going nowhere life”. In love with VERDENE.
CLAVAN GILES: 30-35 years of age. A plain drunkard, on the surface. Harmless. Eccentric. His artistic talents run deep. Madly in love with VERDENE. Dark complexion. (DOUBLES AS REVEREND ELDRIDGE)
WISTERIA MAINLODGE: 50-65 years of age. A fair skinned beauty. Southern woman of her times. Holds good manners and etiquette in high esteem. Sophisticated, but down to Earth. Loving mother and wife. The glue that holds the family together. (DOUBLES AS GEECHEE WOMAN)
JERIDENE MAINLODGE : 25-30 years of age. Medium brown complexion. Middle- child, peacemaker and ultimate “good girl”. Very domestic and compassionate. Has her secrets.Pretty.
WERLY MAINLODGE : 55-70 years of age. Dark skinned. King of his castle. Undertaker by profession. Proud of his business reputation. Not formally educated or slick. Self-taught. Good heart. Loves his family.
WARREN ST. MICHAE L: 35-45 years of age. A Southern “Dandy” of the lowest order. High brow- low morals. A con-artist but a real charmer. Faux sophistication. Handsome. Any complexion. Educated. Says he’s a Doctor of Dentistry.
MAGDELENE MAINLODGE: 21-27 years of age. The fair skinned beauty & youngest sister. Feisty and ambitious. Beguiling. Turns flirtation and Pretentiousness into an art form. Status is her drug of choice. (DOUBLES AS ROCHELLE)
SHERIFF HOMER BEASLEY : White Male, 40-45 years of age. Walks a thin “Red-neck” line. A Calculating Charming man of his time. A bit torn. Handsome…..Dangerous?
CLARA MOSS: (SEPARATE ACTRESS if the VOICE IS PRE-RECORDED) Played by same actress for The Voice. 25-35 years of age. No formal education. Hardworking wife of JESSE MOSS. Loves her husband and her family
Payment: Paid
City or Location of call: VAPA Center, 700 N. Tryon Street, Charlotte, NC
Please submit to: marlabrown@mac.com by 07/07/2023 4:00 PM
To Audition: Please email marlabrown@mac.com with subject line: “Leaving Watermaine Audition” and provide the following:
1. Name and telephone number
2. Headshot/resume if available
3. Your time preference for auditioning (EG: 1:00 -2:00; anytime; before 3:00) 4. Character(s) you are auditioning for and if you’d accept other roles?
5. Answer to the following: Do you have a prepared monologue?
We will be scheduling groups of actors in 30-minute slots. Please bring a 30-60 second monologue (if you have one prepared). If you do not have a prepared monologue, no worries. Everyone will be asked to read from the sides linked here (character descriptions are below):
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1aLGH6hEN731jHyoNon-BIirO408E5582?usp=sharing
This production will take place November 9th – 12th at Booth Playhouse. Rehearsals will begin mid-September with a table read on or around August 27th. Rehearsals will be TBD nights and weekends in Charlotte. Actors will be paid a sliding scale based on role. AEA and non-union actors are welcome to audition.
This casting notice was posted by: Charlotte Conservatory Theatre
