The sound of student-performed monologues filled the Webster Village Apartments Clubhouse from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. Monday, Feb. 13, as student club Surfacing Theatre held their first auditions of the semester.
Surfacing held open casting calls to fill the roles in each of the seven student-written plays. The plays will be performed in April. Students of any major were invited to try out.
The directors and writers of each play sat at tables while auditioning students approached and performed a selected monologue one by one.
Sam Crouch, a sophomore animation major, tried out for every play.
“I just wanted to sign up for all of them to see what was out there,” Crouch said. “They wanted different parts, different characters — I’ve got to be the jokester, I’ve got to be the happy person, I’ve got to be somewhat of a dick at some point, and I had to be a scared boy.”
Kevin Kearsting, senior English major, observed auditions for his play “The Tea Did It.” It is Kearsting’s first play.
“I had written this for a class last spring and it was just an opportunity to see something I had written (be) performed,” Kearsting said. “So I submitted it and I was lucky I got chosen.”
The seven-play lineup for Surfacing’s Emerging Playwrights Festival this year is:
— “The Dangers of Ladies Reading Novels,” by Evangeline Van Houten,
— “Monstrous Problems,” by Scott Joy,
— “Communion,” by Scott Joy,
— “The Tea Did It,” by Kevin Kearsting,
— “End of the World,” by Aleena Yunuba Hammack,
— “Heckling,” by Paige Andrews-Johnson, and
— “Don’t Look Back,” by Seanna Tucker.
Caity Rautenstrauch, senior human rights major and student liaison to Surfacing, has been involved with the group since her sophomore year. She oversaw auditions for the first time Monday night, but has acted in Surfacing plays in previous years. She cast “The Vagina Monologues,” a special performance Surfacing recently began sponsoring.
“I’m always really impressed,” Rautenstrauch said. “I watch some of these auditions and I wonder how they’ll be able to choose who to cast for their show.”
Audition dates this week are: Monday Feb. 13 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., Wednesday Feb. 15 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. and Thursday Feb. 16 from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Roles will be announced at the end of the week.
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