Courtesy LALT
LALT News:
Los Alamos Little Theatre will hold auditions for Diane Samuels’ drama Kindertransport at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 15 and 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 17 at the Performing Arts Center, 1670 Nectar St. Callbacks by invitation will take place Thursday, Dec. 19. The cast consists of five women and one man.
Rolls to be cast:
- EVELYN: English, middle-class woman. In her fifties.
- FAITH: English, Evelyn’s only child. In her early twenties.
- EVA: Evelyn’s younger self. She starts the play at age 9 and finishes at 17. German Jewish, becoming increasingly English.
- HELGA: German Jewish woman of the late 1930s. In her early thirties. Eva/Evelyn’s mother.
- LIL: English, Eva/Evelyn’s foster mother. In her eighties.
- THE RATCATCHER: A mythical character who also appears as THE NAZI BORDER OFFICIAL, THE ENGLISH ORGANIZER, THE POSTMAN, and THE STATION GUARD.
Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script, and those auditioning should demonstrate some comfort speaking in the dialects of the characters listed. Perusal copies of the script are available at the information desk at the Mesa Public Library.
Kindertransport tells the story of one of the thousands of German Jewish children sent to England before the outbreak of World War II. When nine-year-old Eva’s parents fail to escape Germany, she begins the process of changing her name and forgetting her roots. The drama unfolds decades later, when Eva’s own daughter discovers old letters and photos in the attic, and the past is revealed.
Diane Samuels’ compelling drama debuted at London’s Soho Theatre Company in 1992 and then travelled to New York’s Manhattan Theatre Club. Samuels won that year’s Verity Bargate Award for her drama, and the Guardian has called it “the best play about the pain and passion of mother/daughter relationships . . .”
Kindertransport will begin rehearsals in mid-January, and run for three weekends in March. The production is directed by John Cullinan, and produced by Ken Milder. Questions can be addressed to the director at rev.jcullinan@gmail.com.
