SEQUIM — Director Steve Humphrey will conduct auditions for Joseph Kesselring’s dark farce “Arsenic and Old Lace” at Olympic Theatre Arts this weekend.
Auditions will be at 414 N. Sequim Ave. in Sequim at 2 p.m. Saturday and at 6:30 p.m. Monday. Callbacks will be at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The play, set in 1941, takes place in the Victorian-era Brewster mansion and requires a company of three women and nine men.
“We are staging the play from a realistic point of view, allowing the human idiosyncrasies of these characters to carry both the drama and the comedy,” Humphrey said.
In “Arsenic and Old Lace,” Humphrey hopes to cast one actor in three roles: the victims.
“This is a tour-de-force performance for an actor between 45 and 65 years of age who can create and portray three completely different characters in one evening,” Humphrey said in a press release.
They are:
• Rev. Dr. Harper, an Episcopalian minister, about 65 years old. He still has the upright bearing of a clergyman despite being a widower. He is also the father of Elaine.
• Mr. Gibbs is a small, angular character with clipped speech and birdlike aspect. Also 65, he is a a retired salesman and alone. He’s become a bit shabby and antisocial in his solitude.
• Mr. Witherspoon, the superintendent of Happy Dale Sanitarium. He is aging, probably in his early 60s, and his entire life centers around his work. He is efficient, professional, dapper and lonely.
In other roles are:
The Brewsters
• Abby Brewster: Abby is in her late 60s or early 70s. She’s plump, Victorian, sweet and generous to a fault. Seeking an actress late 50s to early 70s.
• Martha Brewster: Two or three years younger than Abby, she’s also in her late 60s and just as much a throwback as her sister. Seeking an actress late 50s to early 70s.
• Teddy Brewster: Teddy is middle aged, about 40 years of age, and fully believes himself to be President Theodore Roosevelt. His manner is very serious and presidential. We are looking for an actor late 30s to mid-50s, who is athletic enough to charge up the stairs.
• Mortimer Brewster: Mortimer is in his mid-30s, tall, handsome, well-dressed and extremely self-assured. After all, he is a well-known drama critic for a New York paper. An actor in the late 20s to very early 40s is sought.
• Jonathan Brewster: Jonathan is Mortimer and Teddy’s sociopathic elder brother. He’s between 42 and 45 years of age but has lived a hard life and after multiple alterations of his face through surgery, now resembles Boris Karloff.
Sought is an actor at least 6 feet in height, probably between the ages of 35 and 45, although the character’s makeup will change his appearance.
Jonathan’s voice is particularly important to his character and preference will be given to actors with a large/deep voice.
The Other Leads
• Elaine Harper: Elaine is the ingénue of the play. She’s young, late 20s or maybe early 30s, pretty and very sure of herself. While she may be the daughter of an Episcopal minister, that does not stop her from being smart and up-to-date in her attire. Seeking an actress in her early 20s to mid-30s.
• Dr. Herman Einstein: Dr. Einstein is a small, unkempt man of indeterminate age. He might be 54 years of age, but it clearly has been a hard life. As a consequence, he has taken to drink, which further obscures his age. This role could be played by an actor or actress between the ages of 35 and 55.
“Channel your inner Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre), and this role could be yours,” the director said.
The Policemen
• Officer Brophy: Brophy is a young man who has been on the force for about 12 years. Probably in his early 30s, he carries a genial aura about himself. Casting an actor in his late 20s to late 30s.
• Officer Klein: Klein is also young but has probably not been on the force quite as long as Brophy. He is in his late 20s to early 30s and a robust individual. An actor in his late 20s to late 30s would be considered.
• Officer O’Hara: O’Hara is in his mid- to late 30s and a bit of a blockhead. He’s blustery and completely full of himself and his play of epic incubation. The actor pictured is in his mid-30s to early 50s, perhaps a little heavy set.
• Lieutenant Rooney: Rooney is the long-suffering lieutenant of the bunch. He’s in his late 50s and has been on the force long enough to have seen everything.
The first reading for the cast will be July 18. Rehearsals begin the following Monday, on July 25, and are scheduled for Monday through Thursday evenings from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. until opening.
The director will work to accommodate scheduled vacations and events, but the play is a fast-paced comedy requiring an ensemble cast and therefore much rehearsal, he said.
The show will open Sept. 16 and runs three weekends through Oct. 2.
No monologues are in this play, so actors are asked to come prepared with a short comedic piece from another work that demonstrates your range.
After an initial presentation, actors will be teamed with others to perform a variety of cold readings from the play.
