Audition Information for Pride and Prejudice

Silver Spring Stage is holding auditions for its production of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice as adapted by Christina Calvit. The production will be directed by Madeleine Smith.

Auditions will be held at Silver Spring Stage (10145 Colesville Rd, Silver Spring, MD) Sunday, February 23 at 6:00pm-9:00pm and Monday, February 24 from 7:30pm-10:00pm. Callbacks will be held on the evening of Wednesday, February 26. NOTE: It is possible callbacks will not be held for all roles due to the large cast size. Casting will include 8-12 women and 8-10 men (breakdown below). All roles are open and unpaid.

To audition, actors need to Sign-Up HERE for a half hour slot. If slots fill up, please email prideandprejudice@ssstage.org. Walk-ups are encouraged, but can only be accommodated as time permits.

Actors should prepare a one-minute, memorized monologue to perform at auditions. Please choose a monologue that best shows your talent, rather than one that best suits the play. All characters in Pride & Prejudice speak with an English accent. There will be a dialect coach available to the cast, however if you have a British accent in your acting arsenal, please be prepared to showcase it, if asked, in auditions. You may also be asked to cold read sides from the scripts. For callbacks, sides will be provided in advance. Movement and period dance play a strong role in this production, it is possible there will be a movement component to callbacks.

Actors will need to fill out an audition form and submit a resume and headshot if available. The form may be downloaded HERE to print and fill out. Actors will need to note conflicts for the rehearsal process and run of the show, February 27 – June 6.

Rehearsals will be held 3-4 times a week on both weeknights and weekends, depending on cast availability. Tech and dress rehearsals will be May 9 – 14. Performances will run 4 weekends from May 15 – June 6, 2020. Performances will be Friday and Saturday nights at 8:00 pm and two Sunday matinees at 2pm on May 24 and 31. Brush up rehearsals will be held Thursday evenings before Friday performances. Cast attendance is required at all rehearsals as called by the director unless a conflict has been previously indicated. Cast must be available for tech and dress rehearsals, performances, and brush ups.

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

SHOW SYNOPSIS
A delightful adaptation of the story surrounding the Bennet sisters and their attempts to make their way in a society that deems them unsuitable. Our heroine, Lizzy, takes us along with her as she narrates the story while a chorus of townspeople help to create the atmosphere of gossip in which Lizzy and her family are attempting to hold their own. With a large cast and some intentional doubling of roles, this production promises to enchant Jane Austen lovers both on stage and off.

SETTING
English town in the early 19th century.

CHARACTERS
Many if not all of these characters will be doubled and actors asked to play multiple roles.

Mr. Bennet – (50s/60s) Patriarch of the Bennet family and father of five daughters. A late-middle-aged, dryly sarcastic, kind, and level-headed man.

Mrs. Bennet – (Late 40s – early 50s) Wife to Mr. Bennet and mother of five daughters. the middle-aged, jovial, energetic, social climbing, faux-hypochondriac who imagines herself susceptible to her “poor nerves” whenever things are not going her way. Her main ambition in life is to marry her daughters off to wealthy men. Whether or not any such matches will give her daughters happiness is of little concern to her.

Jane Bennet – (Early 20s) Oldest daughter of the Bennets’. She is considered the most beautiful young lady in the neighbourhood and is inclined to see only the good in others (but can be persuaded otherwise on sufficient evidence).

Elizabeth Bennet – (Early 20s) Second daughter of the Bennets. Intelligent, lively, playful, attractive, and witty.

Mary Bennet – (Late teens) Third daughter of the Bennets’. the middle Bennet sister, and the plainest of her siblings. Mary has a serious disposition and mostly reads and plays music, although she is often impatient to display her accomplishments and is rather vain about them. She frequently moralises to her family.

Kitty Bennet – (17) Fourth daughter of the Bennets’. Though older than Lydia, she is her shadow and follows her in her pursuit of the officers of the militia. She is often portrayed as envious of Lydia and is described as a “silly” young woman. However, it is said that she improved when removed from Lydia’s influence.

Lydia Bennet – (15) The youngest Bennet sister. She is frivolous and headstrong. Her main activity in life is socializing, especially flirting with the officers of the militia.

Mr. Darcy – (Late 20s) Mr. Bingley’s friend and the wealthy, twenty-eight-year-old owner of the family estate of Pemberley in Derbyshire. While he is handsome, tall, and intelligent, Darcy lacks social ease, and so others frequently mistake his initially haughty reserve and rectitude as proof of excessive pride (which, in part, it is).

Mr. Bingley – (Mid-20s) A handsome, amiable, wealthy young gentleman from the north of England who leases Netherfield Park, an estate three miles from Longbourn, with the hopes of purchasing it. He is contrasted with Mr Darcy for having more generally pleasing manners, although he is reliant on his more experienced friend for advice. He lacks resolve and is easily influenced by others;

Caroline Bingley – (20s) The vainglorious, snobbish sister of Charles Bingley,

Sir William Lucas – Father of Charlotte Lucas. He is inoffensive, friendly, and obliging by nature.

Charlotte Lucas – (late 20s) Elizabeth’s friend who, at 27 years old (and thus very much beyond what was then considered prime marriageable age), fears becoming a burden to her family and therefore agrees to marry Mr. Collins to gain financial security. Charlotte is the daughter of Sir William Lucas and Lady Lucas, neighbours of the Bennet family.

Mr. Collins – (20s/30s) Mr. Bennet’s distant second cousin, a clergyman, and the current heir presumptive to his estate of Longbourn House. He is an obsequious, ridiculous, and pompous man who is unreasonably devoted to his patroness, Lady Catherine de Bourgh.

Mr. Wickham – (Early 20s) Wickham has been acquainted with Mr. Darcy since infancy, being the son of Mr. Darcy’s father’s steward. An officer in the militia, he is superficially charming and rapidly forms an attachment with Elizabeth Bennet. He later runs off with Lydia with no intention of marriage, which would have resulted in her and her family’s complete disgrace, but for Darcy’s intervention to bribe Wickham to marry her by paying off his immediate debts.

Lady Catherine de Bourgh – (50s/60s) The overbearing aunt of Mr Darcy. Lady Catherine is the wealthy owner of Rosings Park, where she resides with her daughter Anne. She is haughty, pompous, domineering, and condescending, and has long planned to marry off her sickly daughter to Darcy.

Miss Anne de Bourgh – (Teens/20s) Heiress Daughter of Lady Katherine, meek and sickly.

Mrs. Gardiner – (40s/50s) is Mrs Bennet’s brother and a successful tradesman of sensible and gentlemanly character.The Gardiners are instrumental in bringing about the marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth.

Mr. Gardiner – (40s/50s) genteel and elegant, and is close to her nieces Jane and Elizabeth.The Gardiners are instrumental in bringing about the marriage between Darcy and Elizabeth.

Colonel Foster – the colonel of the so-called “Meryton Militia” in which George Wickham serves. It is Mrs. Foster who invites Lydia to join them in Brighton, where she runs away with Wickham.

Colonel Fitzwilliam – (30s) is the younger son of an earl, and the nephew of Lady Catherine de Bourgh and Lady Anne Darcy; this makes him the cousin of Anne de Bourgh and the Darcy siblings, Fitzwilliam and Georgiana.

Townspeople – Function as a chorus and gossipers, will double with other characters

Servants – Will double with other characters

Militia – Will double with other characters

Actors do not need to be the exact ages of the characters. Any actors under 18 are asked to have a guardian check them in at auditions or send an email to prideandprejudice@ssstage.org giving permission to audition.

Roles are open to actors of all ethnicities and genders, and actors should audition for roles that best fit their gender identity and expression. Additionally, actors of all ethnic and racial backgrounds are strongly encouraged to audition. The Pride & Prejudice team is committed to open casting, and an actor’s race or ethnicity will not bar them from being considered for a family role alongside a cast member who does not share their racial or ethnic background.

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

Silver Spring Stage is an all-volunteer community theatre. All roles are open and unpaid.

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