John Abbott Colleges

Professional Theatre Program

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Fashion and Film To nd out more about our program Please call Carolyn @ (514) 457-6610 ext. 5425 or carolyn.murdoch@johnabbott.qc.ca

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C.P ./P .O. Box 2000 21275 boul. Lakeshore Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue (Qubec) H9X 3L9 Information: (514) 457-6610 extension 5425

CGEP JOHN ABBOTT COLLEGE

Fax: (514) 457-9451 www.johnabbott.qc.ca e-mail: theatre@johnabbott.qc.ca

How to Contact Us at John Abbott

CGEP JOHN ABBOTT COLLEGE Department of Theatre and Music Mailing Address: John Abbott College Department of Theatre and Music 21,275 Lakeshore Road, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue, (Qubec), H9X 3L9
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. Copyright 1945 by Tennessee Williams and Edwina D. Williams and renewed 1973 by Tennessee Williams. The Dark at the Top of the Stairs by William Inge. Copyright 1945 by William Motter Inge and renewed 1972 by William Inge. The Lark by Jean Anouilh. Copyright 1953 by Jean Anouilh. Adapted by Lillian Hellman, copyright 1956. The Rainmaker by Richard Nash. Copyright 1955 by Richard Nash and renewed 1983 by Richard Nash CGEP John Abbott College Department of Theatre and Music, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue. All rights reserved

Telephone: (514) 457-6610 ext. 5425 Fax: (514) 457-9451 e-mail: theatre@johnabbott.qc.ca Internet: http://www.johnabbott.qc.ca

CGEP JOHN ABBOTT COLLEGE

AUDITION MEN (II)

Department of Theatre and Music

THE GLASS MENAGERIE by Tennessee Williams

TOM: I didnt go to the moon. I went much further for time is the longest distance between two places Not long after that I was fired for writing a poem on the lid of a shoe box. I left Saint Louis. I descended the steps of this fire escape for a last time and followed, from then on, in my fathers footsteps, attempting to find in motion what was lost in space I traveled around a great deal. The cities swept about me like dead leaves, leaves that were brightly colored but torn away from the branches. I would have stopped, but I was pursued by something. It always came upon me unawares, taking me altogether by surprise. Perhaps it was a familiar bit of music. Perhaps it was only a piece of transparent glass Perhaps I am walking along a street at night, in some strange city, before I have found companions. I pass the lighted window of a shop where perfume is sold. The window is filled with pieces of colored glass, tiny transparent bottles in delicate colors, like bits of shattered rainbow. Then all at once my sister touches my shoulder. I turned around and look into her eyes Oh, Laura, Laura, I tried to leave you behind me, but I am more faithful than I intended to be! I reach for a cigarette, I cross the street, I run into the movies or a bar, I buy a drink, I speak to the nearest stranger anything that can blow your candles out! For nowadays the world is lit by lightning! Blow out your candles, Laura and so good-bye

Handbook
Auditions and Interviews

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Audition Handbook

GENERAL INFORMATION
AUDITIONS and INTERVIEWS
1. Read this handbook. It contains most of the information that you need to prepare for the admission process of the Theatre Department. Please bring a photograph of yourself to the audition/interview. This will become part of your file. 2. If you have queries and questions, please call us. We want you to have the best possible information to enable you to have a great audition or interview at the College. Our various phone numbers are shown in a panel marked How to Contact the Department inside the back cover. 3. Arrive at the College early. Parking is available on campus without problems on a Saturday. Do not use staff or handicapped spaces but student, visitor or general spaces. Do remember that public transport to Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue operates a weekend service on Saturdays, not the full service. 4. Make your way to the waiting room (C.0046) in the Theatre Department. This is in the basement of the Casgrain Building near to the swimming pool. You should allow the morning and afternoon for the session. Identify yourself to a faculty member or department student. Fill in the form and hand in your photograph, rsum and any other information that you have. They will give you instructions on where to go during the process. 5. Relax while you wait. Have a coffee or soft drink. Some will be provided, there are also nearby vending machines. Make sure that you have some change for the vending machines. Do remember that food and drinks can only be consumed in the waiting area. Not in the departmental rooms or corridors. 6. Please remember that John Abbott College is a non-smoking campus and that this is strictly enforced with substantial fines for offenders. 7. Although the faculty members can give you an indication of their recommendation, the final acceptance decision can only come from the admissions office. who will review the departmental decision together with your school and provincial results and marks as well as the CGEP admission requirements. Only a provisional decision can be given before you complete your Secondary V. IMPORTANT NOTE FOR ALL STUDENTS Theatre is a very demanding profession, both for Actors and Production Staff. Working in this profession makes great call on both the physical and mental state of students. All students are recommended to consult with their physician before entrance into the program and are strongly advised to inform the department of anything that may affect their studies. Please note that several courses will require you to be available outside regularly scheduled class hours of 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (for example, production work in the evening or during the week-end).

AUDITION MEN (I)

THE DARK AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS" by William Inge

SAMMY: I always worry that maybe people arent going to like me, when I go to a party. Isnt that crazy? Do you ever get kind of a sick feeling when you dread things? Gee, I wouldnt want to miss a party for anything. But every time I go to one, I have to reason with myself to keep from feeling that the whole worlds against me. See, Ive spent almost my whole life in military academies. My mother doesnt have a place for me, where she lives She she just doesnt know what else to do with me. But you mustnt misunderstand about my mother. Shes really a very lovely person. I guess every boy thinks his mother is very beautiful, but my mother really is. She tells me in every letter she writes how sorry she is that we cant be together more, but she has to think of her work. One time we were together, though. She met me in San Francisco once, and we were together for two whole days. She let me take her to dinner and to a show and to dance. Just like we were sweethearts. It was the most wonderful time I ever had. And then I had to go back to the old military academy. Every time I walk into the barracks, I get kind of a depressed feeling. Its got hard stone walls. Pictures of generals hanging all over oh, theyre very fine gentlemen, but they all look so kind of hard-boiled and stern, you know what I mean. Well, gee! I guess Ive bored you enough, telling you about myself.

Audition Handbook Page 2 Audition Handbook

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AUDITION WOMEN (II)

THE RAINMAKER by Richard Nash LIZZIE:
(continued) again the way I used to. And I knew from that minute

PRODUCTION INFORMATION
PRODUCTION PROCESS
1. Study the general information of this handbook as well as the other information
given.

on that it was no go. So I didnt go to the rodeo dance with them - I stayed home and made up poems about what was on sale at Sears, Roebuck. And the day I left Sweetriver little Peter was bawling. And he said: Youre the most beautifulest girl that ever was!

2. At the start of the session, you will be given a tour of the theatre facility. We are
always interested to hear applicants reaction to the facilities and to answer their specific questions. 3. Your interview will be with a member of the design/technical faculty. They will be interested to hear your reasons for thinking about theatre design and technical work as a field of study at college. Certainly any information about your experiences as a member of a production team at school or in the community should be brought out. We also like to hear an applicants thought and plans for their career and future. 4. If you have a portfolio of work including examples of your drawing techniques or work done on drafting or technical drawing projects, we are most interested in seeing it. Photographs illustrating your theatre work are also useful. We are not interested in seeing programs where your name is listed. We realize that for many applicants, the lack of productions at high school or specific classes in drawing or drafting does not allow them to establish a portfolio. Therefore, if you do not have a portfolio or examples of your work, this will in no way penalize you in the interview process.

THE LARK by Jean Anouilh JOAN:

I like remembering the beginning: at home, in the fields, when I was still a little girl looking after the sheep, the first time I heard the Voices, that is what I like to remember It is after the evening Angelus. I am very small and my hair is still in pigtails. I am sitting in the field, thinking of nothing at all. God is good and keeps me safe and happy, close to my mother and father and my brother, in the quiet countryside of Domremy, while the English soldiers are looting and burning villages up and down the land. My big sheep-dog is lying with his head in my lap; and suddenly I feel his body ripple and tremble, and a hand seems to have touched my shoulder. I turned to look. A great light was filling the shadows behind me. The voice was gentle and grave. I had never heard it before, and all it said to me was: Be a good and sensible child and go often to church. But I was good, and I did go to church often, and I showed I was sensible by running away to safety. That was all that happened the first time. And I didnt say anything about it when I got home; but after supper I went back. The moon was rising; it shone on the white sheep; and that was all the light there was. And then came the second time; the bells were ringing for the noonday Angelus. The light came again, in bright sunlight, but brighter that the sun, and that time I saw him. A man in a white robe, with two white wings reaching from the sky to the ground. He didnt tell me his name that day, but later on I found out that he was the blessed St. Michael.

WHAT TO WEAR You should dress to show yourself in the best possible way for the actual audition or interview. Clothing should complement rather than detract; keep jewelry to a minimum and hair away from your face. (No jeans, T-shirts, running shoes or boots). Applicants for the acting program should bring with you clothes that are comfortable to move in for the movement session. Shorts, leotards, ballet slippers and running shoes are suitable. There will be changing facilities available. Audition Handbook Page 3

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Audition Handbook

ACTING INFORMATION
AUDITION PROCESS

AUDITION WOMEN (I)

THE RAINMAKER by Richard Nash LIZZIE: What did I do in Sweetriver. Well, the first three or four days I
was there I stayed in my room most of the time. Because I was embarrassed! I knew what I was there for and the whole family knew it too. And I couldnt stand the way they were looking me over. So Id go downstairs for my meals and rush right back to my room. I packed I unpacked I washed my hair a dozen times I read the Sears, Roebuck catalog from cover to cover. And finally I said to myself: Lizzie Curry, snap out of this! Well, it was a Saturday night and they were all going to a rodeo dance. So I got myself all dolled out in my highest heels and my lowest cut dress. And I walked down to that supper table and those boys looked at me as if I was stark naked. And then for the longest while there wasnt a sound at the table except for Uncle Ned slurping his soup. And then suddenly like a gunshot I heard Ned Junior say: Lizzie, how much do you weigh? I said, I weigh a hundred and nineteen pounds, my teeth are all my own and I stand seventeen hands high. He was just trying to open the conversation. Well, I guess I closed then, about ten minutes later little Peter came hurrying in to the supper table. He was carrying a geography book and he said: Hey, Pop wheres Madagascar? Well, everybody ventured an opinion and they were all dead wrong. And suddenly I felt I had to make a good impression and I heard my own voice talking as if it didnt belong to me. I said: Its an island in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa right opposite Mozambique. Can I help it if I was good in geography? Everything was so quiet it sounded like the end of the world. Then I heard Ned Juniors voice: Lizzie, you fixin to be a schoolmarm? And suddenly I felt like I was way back at the high school dance - and nobody dancing with me. And I had a sick feeling that I was wearing eyeglasses

1. Study the appropriate two speeches on the following pages of this handbook as well as the other information given. If possible read the plays from which the speeches come. 2. Memorize the speeches. Work out for yourself any movement or characterization appropriate to the character. 3. You should be prepared to present your two memorized audition pieces to the Acting Faculty Members at the audition. 4. The speeches in this handbook are obligatory for those candidates who do not have their own material to present. We are more than happy to see and hear presentations of speeches from plays that you have studied or worked on recently. Please bring these speeches to the auditions, and use the speeches in this handbook only as a guide. Do remember that John Abbott College is an Anglophone college and although we are happy to hear audition speeches in French, we do expect applicants to offer at least one speech in English. 5. You may be asked to do a cold reading from a text provided to you at the time of the audition. A cold reading is a reading from a text handed to you, when you do not have time to extensively prepare the reading only time to read the text. 6. There will be a short improvisation/movement sequence for all acting applicants working as groups. You should bring with you clothes that are comfortable to move in. Shorts, leotards, ballet slippers and running shoes are suitable. There will be changing facilities available.
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Audition Handbook

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