Highland Stage to hold auditions for Shakespeare's Twelfth Nigh

VERNON-The Highland Stage, Vernon's professionally staffed community theatre, will hold auditions for a unique, historically-based production of Shakespeare's comedy, Twelfth Night. The comedy of love, combined with gender-switching and identity confusion, will be staged in the cafeteria of the Cedar Mountain Elementary School on Sammis Road in Vernon from June 3 to 11. Open auditions are set for 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, March 22, Tuesday, March 29and Wednesday, March 30 at Holy Counselor Lutheran Church on Sandhill Road in Vernon. Call-back auditions are set for April 2, and rehearsals begin April 4. Actors and actresses from 16-60 are invited to participate in this landmark production. The company maintains an open door policy and requires no fee or previous experience for participation as an actor or technician. Those auditioning are asked to present a monologue from any piece of Shakespeare other than this play, or from the classical repertoire of the Greek playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides or the comic playwright Aristophanes. Those who are not experienced with preparing memorized, audition monologues will be offered a choice of two monologues to read at the audition. The play will be directed by the company's founder and producing director William R. Donald, Jr. He will be assisted by Heather Hamilton as stage manager and costumer. Donald, who holds a Ph.D. in arts education and has decades of experience teaching high school theatre, plans a production that is consistent with the methods for which the original scripts were written and is appropriate for students in high school and college. All audience members can expect gender-switching among actors (as well as among characters in the plot), high energy, audience interaction, a fast pace, and a direct connection with audience members, as well as musical entertainment to add to the comedy. For directions to the church, call 973-827-5251. For information about the company or the production, call 973-875-3039.