Casting Call for a new show that will be at Edgemar’s Main Stage. Rehearsals tentatively scheduled to begin April 23rd and opening June 23rd.
Please send head shot and resume with subject in Casting MAMA. Please note that we will not look at links only document within the email or attached to it.
CAST:
MARLENA, MAMA (65-80)- An old woman with a swaying gait but straight back and plenty of street smarts. She sees her life through the lens of a Holocaust survivor and is suspicious, sarcastic and strong up to the end.
ANNE (40-50) -Marlena’s youngest daughter, a writer in her late forties, attractive in a sporty, casual way. She is rational and gentle, but passionate when it comes to protecting her mother.
STELLA (45-55) – the middle sister, slightly older than Anne, a stylish, woman with bright red hair perfectly done. She is impatient and brittle and avoids responsibility. Like her father, she is flirtatious and hedonistic.
GUSTAV is Marlena’s husband, first in his forties, then late sixties or early seventies. He is charming and glib and incredibly selfish-a persistent womanizer. He dresses well and assumes a breezy, flirtatious manner. In his old age he is still a stubborn, angry man, still self absorbed.
MARLENA’S FATHER (55-70) a man in his 60′s, he the typical German autocratic father of the old school, self centered and in control.
MARLENA’S MOTHER LUCIE (65-70) is in her late 60′s, strong willed, contemptuous and certain that she knows best about everything. Her relationship with Marlena is strained.
THE NAZI(25-55) – a typical official, harsh and unreachable.
THE PRIEST (25-50)- a typical priest, mild mannered, concerned.
MR. PINSKY (65-85) – the landlord, an elderly Jewish man, trying his best to placate his tenants. He is soft spoken, kind and perplexed. He speaks with a European accent, wears a baseball cap and old clothes.
YOUNG ANNE (9-10)- a child of six, could be played by a small nine or ten-year old. She is unusually serious for her age, watching everything, saying little. All her scenes come early in Act One.
Synopsis SURVIVING MAMA by Sonia Levitin
“One mother can take care of three children, but three children can’t take care of one mother.”
Marlena is an old woman in her eighties, a German Jew, survivor of the Holcaust. A dominant feature of her life and personality is the fact that she saved her husband and children from the Nazis, but was unable to save her mother. She is fiercely independent, still living alone. She challenges anyone who tries to “dictate” to her. As Marlena becomes increasing frail, forgetful and difficult, her daughters fight bitterly about putting her into an old age home. Marlena resists until the climax when even her favorite child, Anne, agrees that it is no longer safe for Mama to live alone.
During the conflict surrounding Mama’s aging, past and present-day scenes reveal truths about this troubled family and the secrets that have kept them together physically, but emotionally apart.