🗓 January 19th & 20th
⏰ 6:00 PM
📍 Kilbourne Hall at Grace Episcopal Church – 405 Glenmar Avenue, Monroe, LA

.gnorw seog taht …yalp siht htiw spohc cidemoc ruoy esacwohs dna seot ruoy no yatS

Director: Toby Otero

What to Prepare:
– a 2-3 min comedic monologue
– prepare for cold reads from the script

About the Show:

Time Period: Present Day
Duration: 2 Acts

The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society is putting on a performance of The Murder at Haversham Manor – a 1920s murder mystery play, similar to The Mousetrap, which has the right number of parts for the members.
Before the play starts the audience sees the backstage staff doing last-minute adjustments to the set, including trying to mend a broken mantelpiece and find a dog that has run off.
During the performance, a play within a play, a plethora of disasters befalls the cast, including doors sticking, props falling from the walls, and floors collapsing. Cast members are seen misplacing props, forgetting lines, missing cues, breaking character, having to drink white spirit instead of whisky, mispronouncing words, stepping on fingers, being hidden in a grandfather clock and being manhandled off stage. One cast member is knocked unconscious, and her replacement (the group’s technician) refuses to yield when she returns. In another scene, an actor repeats an earlier line of dialogue, cuing the other actors to repeat the whole dialogue sequence, ever more frenetically, several times. In the climax, virtually the whole of the remaining set collapses.

Character Breakdown:

(AGES are how the character will be perceived and not necessarily the age of the actor.)

Annie – female presenting, age 20-30. The stage manager. She has the biggest journey of any of the characters. When Sandra is indisposed Annie, who cannot bear to be on stage, must step in. Initially terrified by acting, she is willing to kill for it by the end of the play. Her initial terror turns to joy, and then to fury. She starts small, but grows and grows.

Sandra – female presenting, age 30-40. Plays Florence Colleymoore. She is vain and possess a huge ego. Wants to be loved. Has ambitions to go to Hollywood and will hurt anyone standing in the way of what she wants, but is smart enough to stay on the good side of someone who can help her (like the director). You know the type. The stakes are high for her. Very physical role.

Trevor – male presenting, age 20-30. The play’s lighting and sound operator. He simply wants to get on with the show. Curmudgeonly and doesn’t care for actors. He is easily distracted and does many things he shouldn’t, including engaging with the audience. When things go really sideways, he is forced to act in the play. He hates acting.

Chris – male presenting, age 30-50. Plays Inspector Carter. High status clown. Rigid, uptight, everything really matters. He is the director of the show and this is the biggest day of his life. Everything is riding on this. It is a nerve wracking and exciting night. His pain is evident and every time someone laughs the pain deepens. He has equal amounts of contempt for his fellow actors & the audience watching the play.

Jonathan – male presenting, 30-50. Plays Charles Haversham. A bit bland, but sees himself as a James Bond type. Excited and having fun, but not naïve. He technically has to drive the show. He cares about the play, but not to the same extent as the others. Very Physical role.

Robert – male presenting, age 30-40. Plays Thomas Colleymoore. He wants to be Richard Burton, as evidenced by his declamatory style. He is, however, not a parody of a bad actor. He is unaware of others around him. He does not feel badly when things go wrong and never learns from his mistakes. There is a power struggle between Robert and Chris to be president of the Cornley Poly Drama Society (a position that matters a great deal to Robert). Has real
vocal power.

Dennis – male presenting, age 30-50. Plays Perkins. He has no real desire to be involved in the theatre, he just wants to make friends (of which he has none). He believes if he does well in the show, he will be more successful socially. Laughter from the audience is agony for him. He may be slightly oblivious, but understands when he gets things wrong. The laughter is a personal tragedy/failure.

Max – male presenting, age 30-40. Plays Cecil Haversham and Arthur the Gardner. He has never been on stage before. He learned his lines and does exactly what he’s told to do. He has zero connection with any of the other actors, but when he gets a laugh he breaks the 4th wall and engages with the audience. Childlike and naïve. His mistakes are fundamental. He doesn’t think anything through, just looks for approval.

Stage Crew – age 20-40. The on stage crew of the show that start the show before the show both on stage and in the lobby. They will make appearances throughout the play.

Production Dates:

🗓 Mar 19-22 & 26-29
Don’t miss your chance to be part of this humorous production! Whether you’re an experienced actor or stepping onto the stage for the first time, we welcome you to audition and share your talent.