Auditions for Vortex Youth Summer Theatre: The Physicists by Dürrenmatt

Received directly:

VORTEX Repertory Company

announces

AUDITIONS forSummer Youth Theatre 2011

The Physicists

May 23-June 4, 2011 by application and appointment

The VORTEX, 2307 Manor Road (click for map) Bus route. Free Parking.

VORTEX Repertory Company is seeking students ages 13-17 to participate in Summer Youth Theatre 2011 (SYT). Now in its 20th Year, the award-winning SYT program rehearses evenings and weekends in June and July and is tuition-free. SYT encourages diversity. Students of any ethnicity or heritage, students with disabilities or economic challenges, and students of all experience levels are welcome.

This summer, SYT presents The Physicists, a dark comedy written in 1961 by Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Three mad scientists--Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein, and Johann Wilhelm Möbius--hold court in an insane asylum atop the Swiss Alps. As nurses begin turning up dead, a police inspector and a venerated psychiatrist join forces to find the cause. Is it the ghost of King Solomon? Is it Möbius's revolutionary theory, the Principle of Universal Discovery? Or is it the simple truth that what has been thought can never be unthought? Written under the threat of nuclear war and now produced in the wake of the Fukushima disaster, The Physicists provides an opportunity for the students of SYT to tackle science, politics, and ethics while telling a story that will make audiences laugh out loud before it chills them to the bone.

SYT 2011 provides students with experiences in all aspects of theatre including acting, technical theatre, and publicity. Rehearsals and workshops are free to all participants. The rehearsals culminate in a full production of a play presented to the public over two weekends. Rehearsals are in the evenings with a few weekend day commitments.

Prior to the audition/interview, students must fill out a short application and prepare a memorized, one-minute piece of text from a play, poem, or song. A parent or guardian is also required to attend the interview.

The Physicists is directed by Rudy Ramirez, VORTEX Repertory Company director, actor, and performance artist. Mr. Ramirez is currently directing VORTEX’s production of LEAR, opening May 20. He has directed numerous other projects including Wheels of Wonderland for the Austin Bike Zoo and Trey Deason’s play, Cardigan. His one-man shows and writing have received accolades around town. He is receiving his MA from the University of Texas in Performance as Public Practice and additionally holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Summer Youth Theatre is funded in part by VORTEX Repertory Company, the City of Austin under the auspices of the Austin Arts Commission, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

To download an application, please visit www.vortexrep.org.

To receive an application by mail or to set up audition/interview time, please contact Bonnie Cullum at vortex@vortexrep.org or 512-478-5282.