Arcadia moves back and forth between 1809 and the 1990s at the elegant estate owned by the Coverly family. The 1809 scenes reveal a household in transition. As the Arcadian landscape is being transformed into picturesque Gothic gardens, complete with a hermitage, thirteen-year-old Lady Thomasina and her tutor delve into intellectual and romantic issues. 1990s scenes depict the Coverly descendants and two competing scholars who are researching a possible scandal at the estate in 1809 involving Lord Byron. This brilliant play moves smoothly between the centuries and explores the nature of truth and time, the difference between classical and romantic temperaments, and the disruptive influence of sex on our life orbits- the attraction Newton left out. You can find more in-depth details at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arcadia_(play)
Director: Kate Small
Stage Managers: Erin Ivie and Laura Roberts
ASM/Props: Diane Marie-Louise
Intimacy Director & Set Design: Toni Schaperjohn
Costume Design: Jondi Soper
Light Design: Aleigh Pratt
Audition Dates
Tuesday, July 30, 6-8:30
Thursday, August 1, 6-8:30
**If you cannot make these dates, please contact Kate Small!
Show Dates:
September 26 & 27, 7:30 pm
September 28, 2:00 pm and 6:00 pm
The audition will consist of cold reading from the script. Audition sides will be posted no later than 1 week prior to auditions for your review.
This show is set in England, so please be prepared to attempt an English accent. We will be working on accent training and specifics but give it a shot!
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*All ages listed below are playable ages, not necessarily actual age.
Characters of 1809
* Thomasina Coverly: 13 (ages to 16), daughter of Lord and Lady Croom, Thomasina is a precocious genius.
* Septimus Hodge: 20s-30s. Thomasina's tutor.
* Jellaby: Older, but open on playable age. The Crooms' butler.
* Ezra Chater: Middle-aged. A “poet” and fairly ridiculous but must be played with heart and sympathy.
* Richard Noakes: 30s-50s. Lady Croom's gardener, working to transform Sidley Park's classical, Arcadia-like landscape into the popular Gothic style.
* Lady Croom: mid-30s, Thomasina and Augustus’s mother.
* Captain Brice: mid-30s ish. The brother of Lady Croom (of 1809). Royal Navy captain who falls in love with Mrs. Chater.
* Augustus Coverly: Thomasina's trouble-making brother. (Gus of 1990s and Augustus are played by the same actor.) NOTE on Gus’s age: while he’s Thomasina’s “younger brother” in the play, because of his function, he is often, and probably in this case, played by an older actor who looks in his mid-to late-teens.
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Characters of the 1990s
* Hannah Jarvis: 30s-40s. Writer and researcher.
* Chloe Coverly: 18ish, daughter of the modern Lady Croom.
* Bernard Nightingale: 30s-40s. Academic with a new book and a complicated history with Hannah.
* Valentine Coverly: 20s. Chloe's older brother, math graduate student.
* Gus Coverly: late teens. Valentine and Chloe's younger brother, who has been mute since the age of five.
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3 evenings a week until tech week; specific days will be based on actor and staff availability
Tech Sunday: September 22, 2024
Strike: Monday, September 29, 6 pm
*Above is subject to change
NOTE: There will be a couple of weeks of overlap between this show and STAGEtwo’s production of The Rocky Horror Show; the directors will work together to manage schedules for people who want to do both shows.
All actors must be 16 years or older.
**Actors 16-17 must have parental consent.
**If the actress cast as Thomasina is under 18, a basic background check will be required of the actor playing Septimus.
NOTE on intimacy and mature themes: All intimacy will be staged with an intimacy director; these situations will be choreographed to actor comfort.
Included in the show:
*Thomasina and Septimus share a brief chaste kiss at the end of the show.
*Characters engaging in some aggressive posturing but not actually a full fight
* Onstage flirtation and innuendo
*Physical (non-sexual) closeness
*Implications/suggestions of sexual involvement between characters
*Deep discussion and dissection of maths, physics, chaos theory, poetry, literary and research criticism, and slagging off of Lord Byron’s character
More details about the above, including characters involved, will be provided at auditions.
Activities are made possible in part by the Arts Council of Southwestern Indiana, the Indiana Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.
Event Venue
STAGEtwo at 321, 321 N. Congress Ave,Evansville,IN,United States
