Auditions Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías

Silver Spring Stage is holding auditions for Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías. The production will be directed by Matt Ripa and produced by Maura Suilebhan.

Auditions will be held at Silver Spring Stage (10145 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD) on Saturday, April 9 from 11:00 AM-5:00 PM with callbacks the following day, Sunday, April 10 at a time TBD (between 1:00 and 5:00 PM). If you are unable to attend auditions in person, please reach out to us to us at nativegardens@ssstage.org to arrange a video submission. The first read thru will be on Monday, May 7:00 10:00 PM. All roles are open and unpaid.

To audition, actors need to Sign Up HERE for a 10 minute slot and come prepared with a contemporary comedic monologue no longer than 2 minutes. Walk ups are permitted, but will only be accommodated as time allows.

Some notes about auditions:
Actors will need to fill out an audition form and submit a resume and headshot if available. The form may be accessed HERE to print and fill out in advance. Actors will need to note their conflicts throughout the rehearsal process and run of the show, June 24-July 1 Rehearsals will typically be held 3-4 times a week on both weeknights and weekends, depending on cast availability. Dry Tech/Cue to Cue will begin around June 15th with Full Tech and Dress Rehearsals starting on June 18. Performances will run 4 weekends from June 24-July 16, 2022.

Performances will be Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 pm with two Sunday matinees at 2pm on June 16 and July 10. Brush up rehearsals will be held Thursday evenings before Friday performances. Cast attendance is required at all rehearsals as called by the director and stage manager, unless a conflict has been previously indicated. Cast must be available for all tech and dress rehearsals performances, and brush ups.

** If you have any questions, please email us at nativegardens@ssstage.org

SHOW SYNOPSIS—
Cultures and gardening clash in this hilarious comedy by playwright Karen Zacarias. A quiet neighborhood is turned upside down over a border dispute that threatens the outcome of this annual gardening competition In a story that playwright Zacarías has called a “love letter to our city in a sense,” Native Gardens will make audience from the DMV feel right at home as Pablo Tania, the young couple who have just moved into the neighborhood, and Virginia (Ginny) and Frank, the nearly retired couple who have lived there for decades, spar over the installation of a new fence. Good intentions come head to head with deeply entrenched beliefs in this brilliant comedy in which everything isn’t coming up roses.

SETTING—
Adjacent backyards in a normally quiet neighborhood in the DC area.

CHARACTERS—
Tania Del Valle (early thirties) – Energetic and passionate. She is a PhD candidate and advocate for native gardening. Her family is Mexican American and she grew up in New Mexico.
Pablo Del Valle (early thirties) – A savvy and ambitious young attorney. He is from a wealthy family in Chile and went to boarding school in the US.
Virginia Butley (sixty to mid–seventies) – A no-nonsense engineer. She is assertive and fiercely protective. White.
Frank Butley (sixty to mid–seventies) – A caring, gentle, and detail-oriented federal employee and avid gardener. White.
Ensemble Roles: 3-4 non speaking roles that create a vibrant ensemble of land surveyors, contractors, and landscapers. These actors should be strong movers, expressive, and adept at physical comedy. Ideally, they are majority Latinx actors.

Actors do not need to be the exact ages of the characters, but the ethnicity and race of the characters is important to the story. The actors playing Frank and Virginia should be white and Pablo and Tania are Latinx.

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