here’s the cast list

the third call back scene for the girls

Mixed Couples audition pieces #3 

We would like the pair of you to perform this piece twice, swapping the role of Wendla.

(Melchior is onstage. Wendla enters.)

Wendla: Melchior?!

Melchior: (Jumps startled) You?!

Wendla: (shrugs) I was lying by the stream, and then… I saw you here…

Melchior: Yes.

(An awkward pause)

Wendla: So…

Melchior: So…. the stream. Dreaming again? …

Wendla: I was, I guess.

Melchior: And, what were you dreaming of?

Wendla: It’s silly.

Melchior: Tell me.

Wendla: I dreamed I wa a clumsy little girl, who spilt my father’s coffee. And when he saw what I had done, he yanked out his belt and whipped me.

Melchior: Wendla, that kind of thing doesn’t happen any more. Only in stories.

Wendla: Martha Bessell is beaten almost every evening – the next day, you can see the welts. It’s terrible. Really, it makes you boiling to hear her tell it. Lately, I can’t think about anything else.

Melchior: Someone should file a complaint.

Wendla: You know… I’ve never been beaten. Not once. I can’t even imagine it. It must be just awful.

Melchior: I don’t believe anyone is ever better for it.

Wendla: I’ve tried hitting myself – to find out how it feels, really, inside. (Wendla sees a switch on the ground and picks it up) with this switch, for example? It’s tough. And thin. (she offers Melchior the switch. He takes it. Tries it, through the air.)

Melchior: It’d draw blood.

Wendla: You mean, if you beat me with it? …

Melchior: Beat you?

Wendla: Me.

Melchior: Wendla, what are you thinking?!

Wendla: nothing.

Melchior: I could never beat you.

Wendla: But if I let you?

Melchior: Never.

Wendla: But if I asked you to?

Melchior: Have you lost your mind?

Wendla: Martha Bessell – she

Melchior: Wendla! You can’t envy someone being beaten.

Wendla: But I’ve never been beaten – my entire life. I’ve never… felt….

Melchior: What?

Wendla: Anything.

Just for your benefit, here’s the SECOND prepared scene for call backs

GIRLS RECALL #2

We would like the pair of you to perform this piece twice, swapping the role of Ilse.

(Moritz stands alone. He withdraws a gun from his pocket, contemplating suicide. Ilse suddenly enters. Sees him. The pair stands facing the audience; yet talks as if facing one another.)

Ilse: Moritz Stiefel!

Moritz: (Frantically hiding the gun) Ilse?! You frightened me!

Ilse: Did you lose something?

Moritz: Why did you frighten me? (A beat) Damn it!

Ilse: What’re you looking for?

Moritz: If only I knew.

Ilse: Then what’s the use of looking? (A beat)

Moritz: So, where have you been keeping yourself?

Ilse: Priapa – The Artists’ colony?

Moritz: Yes.

Ilse: All those old buggers, Moritz. All so wild. So… bohemian. All they want to do is dress me up and paint me! That Johan Fehrendorf, he’s a wicked one, actually. Always knocking easlels down and chasing me. Dabbing me with his paintbrush. But then, that’s men – if they can’t stick you with one thing they’ll try another.

Oh god, Moritz, the other day we all got so drunk, I passed out in the snow – just lay there, unconscious, all night. Then, I spent an entire week with Gustav Baum (off his look) Truly. Inhaling that ether of his! Until this morning, when he woke me with a gun, set against my breat. He said “One twitch and it’s the end.” Really gave me the goosebumps.

(A beat) But how about you, Moritz 

Moritz: Well, this semester I’m through.

Ilse: God, you remember how we used to run back to my house and play pirates? Wendla Bergman, Melchior Gabor, you, and I…

(A pause. Nostalgic memories.)

Moritz: Actually, I better go.

Ilse: Walk as far as my house with me.

Moritz: And…?

Ilse: We’ll dig up those old tomahawks and play together, Moritz – just like we used to.

Moritz: I wish I could.

Ilse: Then, why don’t you?

Moritz: (A lie) Eighty lines of Virgil, sixteen equations, a paper on the hapsburgs…

Ilse: Just for an hour.

Moritz: I can’t.

(A beat)                                      

Ilse: You know, by the time you finally wake up, I’ll be lying on some trash heap. (She exits. Moritz Winces. If only he could run after her… but now, she’s gone.)

Just for your benefit, here’s the first of the three prepared scenes for the callbacks.

GIRLS RECALL

AUDITION PIECE #1

(Wendla is onstage. She has just put on a night gown she wore as a child. Frau Bergman enters)

Frau Bergman: Wendla!

Wendla: Mama?

Frau Bergman: Goodness, look at you – in that… that kindergarten dres! Wendla, Grown up girls cannot be seen strutting about in such –

Wendla: Let me wear this one, Mama! I love this one. It makes me feel like a little… faerie queen.

Frau Bergman: But you’re already… in bloom (off her look) Now, sssh. You made me forget all our good news. Just imagine, Wendla, last night the stork finally visited your sister. Brought her another little baby girl.

Wendla: I can’t wait to see her, Mama.

Frau Bergman: Well, put on a proper dress, and take a hat.(Wendla starts out, hesitates.)

Wendla: Mama, don’t be cross – don’t be. But I’m an aunt for the second time now, and I still have no idea how it happens.(Frau Bergman looks stricken.)

Mama, please. I’m ashamed to even ask. But then, who can I ask but you?

Frau Bergman: Wendla, Child, you cannot imagine that I could –

Wendla: But you cannot imagine I still believe in the stork.

Frau Bergman: I honestly don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this kind of talk. And on a day like today! Go, child, put your clothes on.

Wendla: And if I run out, now, and ask Gregor? Our chimney sweep? (A beat)

Frau Bergman: Very well, I’ll tell you everything… But not today. Tomorrow. Or the Day after that.

Wendla: Today, Mama.

Frau Bergman: Wendla Bergman, I simply cannot…

Wendla: Mama!

Frau Bergman: You will drive me mad.

Wendla: Why? I’ll kneel at your feet, lay my head in your lap …. you can talk as if I weren’t even here. (no response)  Please.

Frau Bergman: Very Well. (Wendla kneels. Flustered. Frau Bergman buries the girl’s head in her apron.)

Wendla: (waiting) Yes?

Frau Bergman: Child, I….

Wendla: Mama.

Frau Bergman: All right, then. In order for a woman to con….cieve…. a child…. You follow me?

Wendla: Yes, Mama.

Frau Bergman: For a woman to bear a child, she must…. in her own personal way, she must… love her husband. Love him as she can love only him. Only him … she must love – with her whole ….. heart. There. Now you know everything!

Wendla: Everything? ….

Frau Bergman: Everything. So help me.

some more practise slides for the television screens

Reading University Drama Society

SPRING AWAKENING

A few things we would like to know, please fill in the spaces on the dotted lines.

Your Name: ……………………………………………………………………………………………

Degree & Year: ……………………………………………………………………………………………

Previous Involvement with Ruds (do not be afraid, fresher, to say none):

……………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Are you more interested in playing a Principle role or a choral role?

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Which would you say you are strongest at? Singing, Acting, Dancing, or All of the above? (Be honest)

……………………………………………………………………………………………

Would you be willing to make alterations to your hairstyle should the play call for it?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Would you be comfortable performing scenes of an erotic/homoerotic nature?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………

Why do you want to audition for this musical? (e.g. loving the show, hearing about it from a friend, etc)

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

this is a test idea for something we may be able to put on the tv screens during the performance. i used the original soundtrack for the music.

okay ladies, here you go :)

Afternoon, Wendla, Martha, Thea and Anna are walking home together

Thea: Last one to the bridge has to hold hands with Hanschen!

(The girls start off)                                                                                          

Anna: Martha, careful – your braid’s coming loose.

Martha: (concerned) no.

Thea: Just let it. Isn’t it a nuisance for you – day and night. You may not cut it short; you may not wear it down…

Wendla: Tomorrow, I’m bringing scissors.

Martha: For God’s sake, Wendla, no! Papa beats me enough as it is.

Wendla: Really?

Martha: No, no, I – It’s nothing.

Thea: Martha…?

Anna: Martha, we’re your friends…(A beat)

Martha: Well, when I don’t do as he likes…

Anna: What?

Martha: Some nights… Papa yanks out his belt.“We have rules in this house. Your father will not be disobeyed.”(A beat)

The other night, I ran for the door. “Out the door? All right, I like that. That’s where you’ll spend the night – out on the street” (Another Beat)

Wendla: He beats you with a belt?

Martha: Anything.

Wendla: With a buckle?!

Martha: (rolls up her sleeve) Right there… (The girls are horrified by the scars on Martha’s Arm)

Anna: We must tell someone.

Martha: no, no, please, they’d throw me out for good. (A beat)

Thea: …My Uncle Klaus says, “If you don’t discipline a child, you don’t love it.”

Martha: That must be.

Ok, so here’s the preliminary audition piece for the boys.

It’s fairly raunchy, but then again, we need people who are comfortable with this sort of stuff right from the get go.

Boys Preliminary Audition Script

(Melchior opens a letter from Wendla. A group of boys breaks in. Melchior quietly pockets the letter.)  

Dieter: All right, each of you animals put a coin in. (they hand im a coin each)

Now, whoever hits ‘em gets ‘em.

(The boys begin their circle jerk)

Ulbrecht: Wait. (To Melchior)What are you lookin’ at?

Dieter: He just wants a part of the sport

Melchior: No thank you.

Rupert: (Ironic) Oh no, why would he dirty his hands? …

Dieter: Saving it for better things.

Melchior: What do you mean?

Ulbrecht: (Ironic) oh, a “good girl”, wasn’t she?

Rupert: He’s too busy fucking his slut –

Melchior: You shit!

(Melchior lunges at Rupert. The boys pin Melchior down. Rupert draws a straight razor, holds it to Melchior throat. Melcho drops the letter)

Rupert: Careful – razor burn.

(Ulbrecht picks up the letter )

Ulbrecht: Now what’s this? – A letter from his bitch?

Melchior: Animals!

Rupert: (reading from the letter, with exaggerated prissiness)”My dear Melchior… I only pray this letter reaches you. If only I could be close to you, and talk to you… (He skims further into the letter, something catches his eye) Oooh, hang on, the perfect thing to grease the works. Listen up…

(The boys begin to circle jerk listening to the letter)

Melchior: Son of a bitch!

Rupert:  In my bed each night, I have so many dreams: of the better world that we will build, together with our child – “

Melchior: (This is news to him) Child?!

Dieter: Forget the coins, we’ll use “Mommy’s letter.”

(Dieter tosses the letter into the center of their circle. The circle jerk intensifies.)

Rupert: (pushing Melchior’s face down toward the floor.) And you can lick it up!