AUDITION INFO: NOV. 16/17
Forward written by Chantal Bilodeau and directed by Jennifer Vellenga will audition actors on Monday, Nov 16 in Nichols Hall from 7-10:30pm
AUDITION PREPARATIONS
Prepare (memorize) a one minute monologue.
CALLBACKS
Tuesday, Nov. 17 in Chapman Theatre from 6-10 pm , movement work and scenes or monologues provided from Forward. No need to sing at the callback, but please indicate singing experience on the audition form
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION
Set in Norway, this new play by playwright-in-residence, Chantal Bilodeau, presents a poetic history of climate change from the initial passion that drove Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen to the North Pole, to the consequences of over a century of fossil fuel addiction. The play progresses backwards from 2013 to 1895, and zeroes in on 30+ characters whose day-to-day lives illustrate how the choices we make often have unintended consequences. A compassionate look at the legacies we leave behind, this premiere production asks what we are willing to do for love.
This is the premiere production. Looking for flexible and creative actors who move well. The characters of Ice and Nansen must be able to sing.This is a demanding play that requires intense focus coupled with a willingness to “play.” Please note Rehearsals being right after Thanksgiving break and pick up again on January 10th- before classes begin. Actors may need to arrange for alternate housing if they are staying in the dorms.
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
With the exception of ICE, all actors play historical figures. Four actors also play many other fictional characters.
ICE (F)
Must be able to sing.
A queen in a frozen paradise, she is both solid and liquid, strong and vulnerable. She moves or rather drifts according to the whims of winds and currents. She lures Fridtjof Nansen throughout his Arctic journey.
FRIDTJOF NANSEN (M)
Must be able to sing.
Born in 1861. A Norwegian explorer, scientist, diplomat, humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize laureate. His efforts in the Fram (“forward” in English) Expedition were revolutionary. Charismatic, volatile and highly intelligent.
He is seduced and tormented by ICE, married to EVA NANSEN, and re-married to SIGRUN MUNTHE after EVA’s death.
EVA NANSEN (F)
Born in 1858, died in 1907. A celebrated Norwegian opera singer. Married to FRIDTJOF NANSEN.
This actor also plays several other characters in a 100 year time span.
SIGRUN MUNTHE NANSEN (F)
Married to FRIDTJOF NANSEN in 1919. A bitter woman with whom Nansen had an affair before EVA NANSEN’s death.
This actor plays 8-10 other characters in a 100 year time span.
OTTO SVERDRUP (M)
Born in 1854. A sailor and Arctic explorer, FRIDTJOF NANSEN’s second in command.
This actor plays 8-10 other characters in a 100 year time span.
HJALMAR JOHANSEN (M)
Born 1867. Norwegian polar explorer and dedicated colleague to FRIDTJOF NANSEN.
This actor plays 8-10 other characters in a 100 year time span.
FIRST REHEARSAL
Movement work begins the week of Nov. 30, rehearsal resumes after the break on January 10, 2016.
We may be able to work around Winter Dance, please indicate your participation on the Audition form.
IMPORTANT DATES
January 28 crew watch
January 30 tech begins
February 4 7:30PM opening night
February 5-6 7:30PM performance
February 11-13 7:30PM performance
February 14 2:30PM closing matinee/strike
FRAM EXPEDITION
From Wikipedia
Nansen’s Fram expedition was an 1893–1896 attempt by the Norwegian explorer Fridtjof Nansen to reach the geographical North Pole by harnessing the natural east–west current of the Arctic Ocean. In the face of much discouragement from other polar explorers, Nansen took his ship Fram to the New Siberian Islands in the eastern Arctic Ocean, froze her into the pack ice, and waited for the drift to carry her towards the pole. Impatient with the slow speed and erratic character of the drift, after 18 months Nansen and a chosen companion, Hjalmar Johansen, left the ship with a team of dogs and sledges and made for the pole. They did not reach it, but they achieved a record Farthest North latitude of 86°13.6′N before a long retreat over ice and water to reach safety in Franz Josef Land. Meanwhile, Fram continued to drift westward, finally emerging in the North Atlantic Ocean.
The idea for the expedition had arisen after items from the American vessel Jeannette, which had sunk off the north coast of Siberia in 1881, were discovered three years later off the south-west coast of Greenland. The wreckage had obviously been carried across the polar ocean, perhaps across the pole itself. Based on this and other debris recovered from the Greenland coast, the meteorologist Henrik Mohn developed a theory of transpolar drift, which led Nansen to believe that a specially designed ship could be frozen in the pack ice and follow the same track as the Jeannette wreckage, thus reaching the vicinity of the pole.
Nansen supervised the construction of a vessel with a rounded hull and other features designed to withstand prolonged pressure from ice. The ship was rarely threatened during her long imprisonment, and emerged unscathed after three years. The scientific observations carried out during this period contributed significantly to the new discipline of oceanography, which subsequently became the main focus of Nansen’s scientific work. Fram’s drift and Nansen’s sledge journey proved conclusively that there were no significant land masses between the Eurasiancontinents and the North Pole, and confirmed the general character of the north polar region as a deep, ice-covered sea. Although Nansen retired from exploration after this expedition, the methods of travel and survival he developed with Johansen influenced all the polar expeditions, north and south, which followed in the subsequent three decades.