The theater held their first day of auditions for “Black Comedy” on March 4, at 7 p.m. in Grubbs Hall. This was the first of two days auditioning students. At these auditions, the students will read as different characters in the script, work through scenes, and interact on stage together. Later in the auditions, they do improv as a way to see how well the student synergies are together. “Black Comedy” will premiere on April 23 – 26.
Dr. Megan Westhoff, the director of theater, explains what she is looking for during auditions. “I usually get enough in auditions to say who’s workable, so to speak. Because I would rather work with somebody who may not necessarily be the most skilled, but they have the best attitude, rather than somebody who has really good skill and has a bad attitude.”
Auditions are not exclusive to theater majors; all students and community members are encouraged to get involved and try out for productions. They practice three times a week, with “Black Comedy” having five main characters and three smaller rolls near the end their practices will vary.
Aspen Williams, a community member auditioning, said, “I have not done theater here before, but I’m involved in Pittsburg Community Theater.”
He also described which character he would like to play in the production. “Right now, based off the lines that we’ve been doing, I wouldn’t be opposed to playing Brindsley.”
With eight total rolls open to play, it leaves a lot of room for many different kinds of people to audition.
Kendra Johnson, a junior majoring in vocal performance, talks about playing Carol, the Fiancé of Brindsley, “Black Comedy’s” male lead.
“Carol is very similar to Anne from ‘A Little Night Music’. She’s spoiled, a little bratty, but like, well-meaning. I’d like to do that type of character again.” She goes on to talk about Clea, Brindley’s short fused secret girlfriend. “Clea is very different than anything I’ve ever done, and she would be very fun to just walk around and just pick on people.”
“Black Comedy” is a one act play about a struggling sculptor, Brindsley, and his fiancé, Carol. They are having a party to try and impress her father and a millionaire art critic. The couple steals furniture from their antique dealer neighbor when the main fuse in their apartment blows. They are left to stumble around in the dark as their apartment’s layout is now different. What the audience sees when the characters are in the dark is that the lights are on. When the characters have a light, those lights dim. This makes it so while the characters are unaware of what’s happening, we as the audience can see the context.
Dr. Westhoff talks about “Black Comedy” being the theater’s last production of the school year. “I’m excited, because we’ve just had a really a good year all around, and we’ve had great students who’ve really dedicated and worked hard and all the different productions. I’m just excited to close it out, and I think right now we need something, the world is heavy, and we need some lightness in our lives.”
She continues to speak about how we need to be able to laugh in hard times. “To realize that the best thing is to sit next to somebody in a theater, laugh, and not care about whatever is bothering you or troubles you have. But there’s nothing better than sitting in a dark and auditorium with other people who are sometimes complete strangers to you and just be able to laugh at something that you’re watching and forget about your troubles and escape for a minute.”