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Open Auditions for the Tennessee Williams Festival's Upcoming Production of SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH |
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Audition Notice
An open audition for the Tennessee Williams
Festival's upcoming Production of SWEET BIRD OF YOUTH is scheduled for
this coming Wednesday, May 5th, from 7-9:00pm and will be held upstairs
in Second Stage in the Cromwell building located in the back of the MUW
campus.
Please come with a monologue or be prepared to read from the script.
The show will run the first week in September.
Contact Brook Hanemann at 662-889-5746 for more information.
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Cast of Characters
Bud
Bud is a St. Cloud local who used to be friendly with
Chance. When Bud and friends see Chance in the hotel cocktail lounge,
Bud is rather mean. Like others, he doubts much of what Chance says
about himself. At the end of the play, Bud helps Tom Junior with
Chance's implied castration.
Charles
Charles is a servant in the Finley household.
Alexandra Del Lago
See Princess Kosmonopolis
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Heavenly
Heavenly Finley is the daughter of Boss Finley
and sister of Tom Junior. She is also the object of Chance Wayne's
obsession. She and Chance were lovers until she contracted a sexually
transmitted disease from him. Left unchecked, it led to her having a
hysterectomy at a young age. Heavenly still resents the fact that her
father would not let her marry Chance before he became corrupted.
Despite her problems, Chance still looks at Heavenly as the symbol of
his lost youth - one that he desperately wants to recapture but never
does.
Tom Finley, Junior
Tom Junior is the son of Boss
Finley and brother of Heavenly Finley. Like his father, he is a
politician. Tom Junior does not have the power of his father, but has
organized the Youth for Boss Finley club. He also acts in his father's
interests in other ways. Tom Junior leads the activities to get Chance
Wayne out of town. When Boss Finley gives him free reign, Tom Junior
intends to castrate Chance as revenge if Chance will not leave town. At
the end of the play, it seems likely this event will occur, as Chance
refuses to leave.
Boss Tom J. Finley
Boss Finley is a
leading political figure in St. Cloud and the father of Tom Junior and
Heavenly. Finley is a harsh, domineering man, and he is incensed that
Chance has returned to town. Finley would not let Chance and Heavenly
marry several years ago, which contributed to Chance's life choices and
indirectly led to Heavenly's disease. Though Finley is protective of
his daughter, he has also tried to marry her off to many older men.
Finley enjoys having power over others. |
Fly
Fly is an African-American hotel waiter who serves coffee
and Bromo to Chance at the beginning of Sweet Bird of Youth. Chance
promises him a big tip because Fly remembers Chance from happier times.
In act 2, scene 2, Fly delivers a message to Chance, who only gives it
a cursory glance.
Dan Hatcher
Hatcher is the assistant
manager of the Royal Palms Hotel in St. Cloud, Florida, where Princess
Kosmonopolis and Chance Wayne are staying and where Boss Finley's
political rally is held. Hatcher is the one who informs George Scudder
that Chance has checked into the hotel. Hatcher works with the Finley
family to get Chance to leave the hotel and the town.
The Heckler
The
Heckler is a hillbilly who attends Boss Finley's political rallies and
asks questions to expose his hypocrisy. Miss Lucy facilitates his
admission into the rally at the Royal Palms Hotel. He asks his
question, which concerns the operation that Heavenly Finley underwent.
After he asks it, he is beaten up.
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Princess Kosmonopolis
Princess Kosmonopolis is the alias of
middle-aged actress Alexandra del Lago, a central character of the
play. She is ashamed of her life as an aging starlet and embarrassed by
her latest work. At the beginning of the play, the Princess does not
know who Chance is or where they are.
The Princess slowly
remembers that Chance is her driver/gigolo. She does not want to be
left alone but knows that while Chance has been taking care of her, he
wants something in return. Chance wants her to get him a studio
contract; a means for getting Heavenly out of town; and material
symbols of success to show off to the locals. Though the Princess gives
him the first and last temporarily, this does not change Chance's
destiny.
The Princess tries to help Chance get out of town, but
he will not leave. Like Chance, the Princess is afraid of aging and the
effects of time, but she is more realistic about her situation than
Chance is about his.
Miss Lucy
Miss Lucy is the mistress
of Boss Finley. She lives in the hotel in a room paid for by him.
Finley's power over her is important to him. When he learns that she
has said he is too old to have sex, he hurts her fingers by snapping a
jewelry box on them. For this, Miss Lucy takes revenge by enabling The
Heckler to get inside the rally. While she wants him to hurt Boss
Finley, she is not fully comfortable with The Heckler's implied attack
on Heavenly. Miss Lucy is one of the many people who tell Chance that
he should not be in town, and she offers to take him to the airport.
Aunt Nonnie
Aunt
Nonnie is the sister of Chance Wayne's dead mother, though she now
seems to work and/or live with the Finleys. It was she who encouraged
and facilitated the previous relationship between Heavenly and Chance,
a fact that Boss Finley resents. Nonnie tries to get Chance to leave
town. She also begs Boss Finley and Tom Junior not to resort to
violence against Chance. It is Nonnie who realizes that Chance's
obsessions with Heavenly and with acting are symptoms of a futile
desire to return to his pure youthful state.
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Scotty
Scotty is a St. Cloud local who used to be friendly with
Chance. When Scotty and friends run into Chance in the hotel cocktail
lounge, Scotty is rather cold. He doubts much of what Chance says about
himself. At the end of the play, Scotty helps Tom Junior with Chance's
implied castration.
George Scudder
George Scudder is a
doctor in St. Cloud and the chief of staff at the local hospital. He
performed the operation on Heavenly after her sexually transmitted
disease ran rampant. Scudder also is allegedly Heavenly Finley's future
husband. Though Scudder owes much to the Finley family, it is he who
comes to Chance at the beginning of the play to learn his intentions
and warn him of the trouble he faces. Scudder informs Chance that his
mother has died and that Heavenly has had troubles since Chance last
saw her. Scudder had tried previously to notify Chance about both
matters, but Chance was impossible to track down. When Tom Junior wants
Scudder to be part of his plans to take revenge on Chance, Scudder
declines because it might jeopardize his career.
Stuff
Stuff
is the bartender in the Royal Palms Hotel's cocktail lounge. He has
held this job for only a short time, having previously worked as a soda
jerk at a drugstore. Though Stuff once admired Chance, he is now a
member of the Youth for Boss Finley club. It is he who tells Tom Junior
what Miss Lucy says about Boss Finley's inability to have sex. This
gets Finley's mistress in trouble and leads to revenge by Finley.
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Chance Wayne
Chance Wayne is one of the central characters in
the play. He has returned to his hometown of St. Cloud to see his
mother and to take his girlfriend, Heavenly, away to Hollywood. Chance
has arrived under difficult circumstances. He is now twenty-nine years
old, and his primary occupation is gigolo. When Chance originally left
St. Cloud, it was to be an actor. While he has had some opportunities,
he has been unable to capitalize on them. Chance had better luck making
love to rich New York socialites, a life to which he returned after a
stint in the Navy and recovery from a breakdown.
Because
Chance's lifestyle made it hard to find him, he does not know that his
mother has died and that Heavenly has suffered a devastating loss
because of a sexually transmitted disease that he gave her on one of
his previous visits. Though Chance still loves Heavenly, he is clueless
about the effects his actions have had on her and on the town.
Chance
has also come to St. Cloud to prove to everyone that he is a success.
While Chance is obsessed with recapturing his fading youth, he also has
some compassion for the Princess. At the end, Chance will not leave
town despite repeated warnings that he will be harmed (castrated) if he
remains.
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