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Measure for Measure

Vincentio, Duke of Vienna
Angelo, The Deputy
Escalus
Claudio, A young Gentleman
Provost
Lucio, A Fantastic
Thomas, A Friar
Peter, A Friar
Varrius, A Justice
Elbow, A Constable and a clown
Froth
Pompey
Abhorson, An Executioner
Barnardine, A Prisoner
Isabella, Sister to Claudio
Mariana, Betrothed to Angelo
Juliet, Beloved of Claudio
Francisca, A Nun
Mistress Overdone, A Bawd

The Importance of Being Earnest:

PLEASE USE AGE RANGES AS GUIDES – IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A CHARACTER, AUDITION FOR IT
THE AGE RANGES IN THIS SHOW ARE QUITE VARIABLE, WE MAY CAST OLDER OR YOUNGER

John (Jack/Ernest) Worthing, J.P. (age 24-38) – The play’s protagonist. Jack Worthing is a seemingly responsible and respectable young man who leads a double life. In Hertfordshire, where he has a country estate, Jack is known as Jack. In London he is known as Ernest. As a baby, Jack was discovered in a handbag in the cloakroom of Victoria Station by an old man who adopted him and subsequently made Jack guardian to his granddaughter, Cecily Cardew.

Algernon Moncreiff (age 24-38) – The play’s secondary hero. Algernon is a charming, idle, decorative bachelor, nephew of Lady Bracknell, cousin of Gwendolen Fairfax, and best friend of Jack Worthing, whom he has known for years as Ernest. Algernon is brilliant, witty, selfish, and given to making delightful paradoxical and epigrammatic pronouncements. He has invented a fictional friend, “Bunbury,” an invalid whose frequent sudden relapses allow Algernon to wriggle out of unpleasant social obligations.

Gwendolyn Fairfax (age 19-35) – Algernon’s cousin and Lady Bracknell’s daughter. Gwendolen is in love with Jack, whom she knows as Ernest. A model and arbiter of high fashion and society, Gwendolen speaks with unassailable authority on matters of taste and morality. She is sophisticated, intellectual, cosmopolitan, and quite full of herself.

Cecily Cardew (age 17-28) – Jack’s ward, the granddaughter of the old gentlemen who found and adopted Jack when Jack was a baby. Cecily is probably the most realistically drawn character in the play. Like Gwendolen, she is obsessed with the name Ernest, but she is even more intrigued by the idea of wickedness. This idea, rather than the virtuous-sounding name, has prompted her to fall in love with Jack’s brother Ernest in her imagination and to invent an elaborate romance and courtship between them.

Lady Bracknell (age 45-75) This character may be played by a man or a woman! – Algernon’s domineering aunt and Gwendolen’s mother. Lady Bracknell married well, and one of her goals in life is to see her daughter do the same. Through the figure of Lady Bracknell, Wilde manages to satirize the hypocrisy of the British aristocracy. She is cunning, authoritarian, and possibly the most quotable character in the play.

Miss Prism (age 45-65) – Cecily’s governess. Miss Prism is an endless source of pedantic bromides and clichés. She highly approves of Jack’s presumed respectability and harshly criticizes his “unfortunate” brother. Despite her rigidity, Miss Prism seems to have a softer side .She entertains romantic feelings for Dr. Chasuble.

Rev. Canon Chasuble, D.D. (age 45-65. – The rector on Jack’s estate. Both Jack and Algernon approach Dr. Chasuble to request that they be christened “Ernest.” Dr. Chasuble entertains secret romantic feelings for Miss Prism. The initials after his name stand for “Doctor of Divinity.”

Lane – Algernon’s manservant. When the play opens, Lane is the only person who knows about Algernon’s practice of “Bunburying.” Lane appears only in Act I.

Merriman – The butler at the Manor House, Jack’s estate in the country. Merriman appears only in Acts II and III.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead:

Genders are reversed for this play, but we are not changing ANY of the script.

Rosencrantz: Female, 20s-30s
A gentleman and childhood friend of Hamlet. Along with his companion, Guildenstern, Rosencrantz seeks to uncover the cause of Hamlet’s strange behavior but finds himself confused by his role in the action of the play. Rosencrantz has a carefree and artless personality that masks deep dread about his fate.

Guildenstern: Female, 20s-30s
A gentleman and childhood friend of Hamlet. Accompanied by Rosencrantz, Guildenstern tries to discover what is plaguing Hamlet as well as his own purpose in the world. Although frequently disconcerted by the world around him, Guildenstern is a meditative man who believes that he can understand his life.

The Player: Female, any age
The leader of the traveling actors known as the Tragedians. The Player is an enigmatic figure. His cunning wit and confident air suggest that he knows more than he is letting on. The impoverished state of his acting troupe makes him eager to please others, but only on his own terms.

Alfred: Female, early 20s
The lowliest member of the Tragedians who is perennially forced into playing female roles, Alfred is a miserable and unwilling actor who is frequently bullied by the Player and offered up as a prostitute for any paying audience member interested in cruder entertainments.

Four Tragedians: Female, Any age. (Doubles as Laertes, Ambassadors, possibly others)
A group of traveling male actors. The Tragedians specialize in melodramatic and sensationalistic performances, and they are willing to engage in sexual entertainments if the price is right.

Hamlet: Female, 20s-30s
The prince of Denmark and a childhood friend of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Hamlet is thrown into a deep personal crisis when his father dies and his uncle takes the throne and marries Hamlet’s mother. Hamlet’s strange behavior confuses the other characters, especially Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

Ophelia: Male, 20s-30s
The daughter of Polonius and Hamlet’s former beloved. Ophelia spends the play in a state of shock and anguish as a result of Hamlet’s bizarre conduct.

Claudius: Female, 40+
Hamlet’s uncle and the new king of Denmark. Claudius is a sinister character who tries to exploit the friendship between Rosencrantz, and Guildenstern and Hamlet to learn what Hamlet believes about the king’s marriage to Gertrude.

Gertrude: Male, 40+
Hamlet’s mother and the queen of Denmark. Although she has disgraced herself by marrying Claudius so soon after her husband’s death, Gertrude does seem to care for Hamlet’s well-being and sincerely hopes that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern can help her son.

Polonius: Female, 40+
A member of the Danish court and adviser to Claudius. Polonius is a shifty man, willing to interrogate Hamlet and even spy on him to learn what he wants to know.

Horatio: Female, 30s
At the end of the play, he holds Hamlet’s corpse and speaks the lines that he speaks at the conclusion of Shakespeare’s play, promising to tell the story of Hamlet’s tragedy.

Guard/Soldier/Fotinbras – Female, any age.

Heritage Theatre
The Place to Be

Grand Rapids Miscast

Cast List: Measure for Measure

Cast: Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

Cast: The Importance of Being Earnest

Cast Needs: Summer 2017