ANgels in America
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ABOUT THE SHOW
The Cranford Dramatic Club is thrilled to announce the auditions for their upcoming February production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches by Tony Kushner. Directed by Michael Kidney. Produced by Joe Leo.
Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches pivots around two couples: Louis and Prior, and Joe and Harper. Abandoned after his AIDS diagnosis, Prior questions his sanity and his partner Louis is no longer able to cope with the strain of his responsibilities as a caregiver. Meanwhile, Harper struggles with a pill addiction, anxiety and hallucinations which are exacerbated when her marriage to her closeted Mormon husband Joe stalls and he is offered a job in a different state. Other characters include the infamous McCarthy-ite lawyer Roy Cohn, Ethel Rosenberg, a former drag queen who works as a nurse, and an angel. Premiering in 1991, Tony Kushner’s multi-award-winning, witty epic is set during the Reagan years and has been heralded as "one of the twentieth century’s defining works of American art.”
All roles are open:
Roy M. Cohn: Male, 30+. A closeted, gay, successful New York lawyer and unofficial power broker based on real life Roy Cohn. Just as in history, it is eventually revealed that he has contracted HIV and the disease has progressed to AIDS, which he insists is liver cancer to preserve his reputation. Also plays: Prior 2: The ghost of a dead Prior Walter from the seventeenth century. A Londoner, a Restoration-era sophisticate and bon vivant; he speaks with an elegant Received English accent.
Joseph Amaty Pitt: Male, 20+. Harper's husband and a deeply closeted gay Mormon, chief clerk for Justice Theodore Wilson of the Federal Court of Appeals, Second Circuit and friend of Roy Cohn. Throughout the play, he struggles with his sexual identity. Also plays: Prior 1: The ghost of a dead Prior Walter from the thirteenth century. A blunt, grim, dutiful, medieval farmer, he speaks abruptly and rather loudly with a guttural Yorkshire accent. The Eskimo: An imaginary friend in Harper's Antarctic hallucination.
Harper Amaty Pitt: Female, 20+. An agoraphobic Mormon housewife with incessant Valium-induced hallucinations. After a revelation from Prior (whom she meets when his heavenly vision and her hallucination cross paths), she discovers that her husband, Joe, is gay and struggles with it, considering it a betrayal of her marriage. Also plays: Martin Heller: A publicity agent to the Reagan Administration's Justice Department and Roy's toady.
Louis Ironson: Male, 20+. Prior’s boyfriend. A word processor working for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Unable to deal with Prior's disease, he ultimately abandons him.
Prior Walter: Male, 20+. A gay man with AIDS, Louis’s boyfriend. Occasionally works as a club designer or caterer, otherwise lives very modestly but with great style off a small trust fund. Throughout the play, he experiences various heavenly visions. When the play begins, he is dating Louis Ironson. His best friend is Belize. Also plays: The Man in the Park, a gay man Louis encounters while cruising for sex in Central Park.
Hannah Porter Pitt: Female, 40+. Joe’s mother. Currently residing in Salt Lake City, living off her deceased husband’s army pension. She moves to New York after her son drunkenly comes out to her on the phone. She arrives to find that Joe has abandoned his wife. Also plays: Rabbi Isidor Chemelwitz: an orthodox Jewish rabbi, Henry: Roy’s doctor & Ethel Rosenberg: The ghost of a woman executed for being a Communist spy. She haunts Roy, whom she blames for her conviction and execution, as he dies.
Belize: Male, 20+. A registered nurse and former drag queen whose name was originally Norman Arriaga; Belize is a drag name that stuck. He is Prior's ex-boyfriend and best friend. Also plays: Mr. Lies: Harper’s imaginary friend, a travel agent. In the style of dress and speech he suggests a jazz musician; he always wears a lapel badge emblazoned “IOTA” (International Order of Travel Agents).
The Angel: Female, 30+. Four divine emanations, Fluor, Phosphor, Lumen and Candle; manifest in One: the Continental Principality of America. A messenger from Heaven who visits Prior and tells him he is a prophet. Also plays: The Voice: the voice of the Angel, Emily: Prior's hospital nurse, a no-nonsense Italian-American, Sister Ella Chapter: Hannah's Salt Lake City realtor friend who helps her sell her house & A Homeless Woman: An unmedicated psychotic who lives on the streets of the South Bronx.
We encourage people of all races & ethnicities to audition for all roles.
Please direct all questions to [email protected] and visit www.cdctheatre.org for more information.
Angels in America, Part One: Millennium Approaches pivots around two couples: Louis and Prior, and Joe and Harper. Abandoned after his AIDS diagnosis, Prior questions his sanity and his partner Louis is no longer able to cope with the strain of his responsibilities as a caregiver. Meanwhile, Harper struggles with a pill addiction, anxiety and hallucinations which are exacerbated when her marriage to her closeted Mormon husband Joe stalls and he is offered a job in a different state. Other characters include the infamous McCarthy-ite lawyer Roy Cohn, Ethel Rosenberg, a former drag queen who works as a nurse, and an angel. Premiering in 1991, Tony Kushner’s multi-award-winning, witty epic is set during the Reagan years and has been heralded as "one of the twentieth century’s defining works of American art.”
All roles are open:
Roy M. Cohn: Male, 30+. A closeted, gay, successful New York lawyer and unofficial power broker based on real life Roy Cohn. Just as in history, it is eventually revealed that he has contracted HIV and the disease has progressed to AIDS, which he insists is liver cancer to preserve his reputation. Also plays: Prior 2: The ghost of a dead Prior Walter from the seventeenth century. A Londoner, a Restoration-era sophisticate and bon vivant; he speaks with an elegant Received English accent.
Joseph Amaty Pitt: Male, 20+. Harper's husband and a deeply closeted gay Mormon, chief clerk for Justice Theodore Wilson of the Federal Court of Appeals, Second Circuit and friend of Roy Cohn. Throughout the play, he struggles with his sexual identity. Also plays: Prior 1: The ghost of a dead Prior Walter from the thirteenth century. A blunt, grim, dutiful, medieval farmer, he speaks abruptly and rather loudly with a guttural Yorkshire accent. The Eskimo: An imaginary friend in Harper's Antarctic hallucination.
Harper Amaty Pitt: Female, 20+. An agoraphobic Mormon housewife with incessant Valium-induced hallucinations. After a revelation from Prior (whom she meets when his heavenly vision and her hallucination cross paths), she discovers that her husband, Joe, is gay and struggles with it, considering it a betrayal of her marriage. Also plays: Martin Heller: A publicity agent to the Reagan Administration's Justice Department and Roy's toady.
Louis Ironson: Male, 20+. Prior’s boyfriend. A word processor working for the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Unable to deal with Prior's disease, he ultimately abandons him.
Prior Walter: Male, 20+. A gay man with AIDS, Louis’s boyfriend. Occasionally works as a club designer or caterer, otherwise lives very modestly but with great style off a small trust fund. Throughout the play, he experiences various heavenly visions. When the play begins, he is dating Louis Ironson. His best friend is Belize. Also plays: The Man in the Park, a gay man Louis encounters while cruising for sex in Central Park.
Hannah Porter Pitt: Female, 40+. Joe’s mother. Currently residing in Salt Lake City, living off her deceased husband’s army pension. She moves to New York after her son drunkenly comes out to her on the phone. She arrives to find that Joe has abandoned his wife. Also plays: Rabbi Isidor Chemelwitz: an orthodox Jewish rabbi, Henry: Roy’s doctor & Ethel Rosenberg: The ghost of a woman executed for being a Communist spy. She haunts Roy, whom she blames for her conviction and execution, as he dies.
Belize: Male, 20+. A registered nurse and former drag queen whose name was originally Norman Arriaga; Belize is a drag name that stuck. He is Prior's ex-boyfriend and best friend. Also plays: Mr. Lies: Harper’s imaginary friend, a travel agent. In the style of dress and speech he suggests a jazz musician; he always wears a lapel badge emblazoned “IOTA” (International Order of Travel Agents).
The Angel: Female, 30+. Four divine emanations, Fluor, Phosphor, Lumen and Candle; manifest in One: the Continental Principality of America. A messenger from Heaven who visits Prior and tells him he is a prophet. Also plays: The Voice: the voice of the Angel, Emily: Prior's hospital nurse, a no-nonsense Italian-American, Sister Ella Chapter: Hannah's Salt Lake City realtor friend who helps her sell her house & A Homeless Woman: An unmedicated psychotic who lives on the streets of the South Bronx.
We encourage people of all races & ethnicities to audition for all roles.
Please direct all questions to [email protected] and visit www.cdctheatre.org for more information.