Arcadia
by StageCenter Community Theatre
Oct. 08 - Oct. 09 (2018)
Arcadia
written by Tom Stoppard
directed by Mandy Mershon
“It’s the best possible time to be alive, when almost everything you thought you knew is wrong.”
Arcadia moves back and forth between 1809 and the present at the elegant estate owned by the Coverly family. The 1809 scenes reveal a household in transition. As the Arcadian landscape is being transformed into picturesque Gothic gardens, complete with a hermitage, thirteen year-old Lady Thomasina and her tutor delve into intellectual and romantic issues. Present-day scenes depict the Coverly descendants and two competing scholars who are researching a possible scandal at the estate in 1809 involving Lord Byron.
This brilliant play moves smoothly between the centuries and explores the nature of truth and time, the difference between classical and romantic temperaments, and the disruptive influence of sex on our life orbits- the attraction Newton left out.
*by special arrangement with Samuel French
Auditions October 8 & 9, 2018, 7 pm
Performances Nov 29 - Dec 15, 2018
We will hold auditions at our new space, 218 N. Bryan Avenue (on the corner of 24th and Bryan Ave.) at 7pm on October 8th and 9th. Expect to do cold reads from the script. (but if you email Mandy at mmershon@stagecenter.net, she will tell you which scenes she is pulling from so you can read them in advance.)
1800's cast
THOMASINA COVERLY - aged thirteen, later sixteen (LEAD)
I will cast someone a little older in this role who can appear younger. Thomasina is innocent but precocious and intelligent, having no problem shocking her tutor and very proper parents with questions a proper lady ought not to ask.
SEPTIMUS HODGE - her tutor, aged twenty-two, later twenty-five (LEAD)
I will cast this pretty true to age if possible. Spetimus is a stuffy pretentious intellectual but he does love the ladies, perhaps a little too much. He is quick and clever and is possibly too tolerant of Thomasina's questions.
JELLABY - a butler, middle-aged
I will cast this much older or younger and even cross-gender this and make her a maid. Jellaby is full of disapproval and gossip.
EZRA CHATER - a poet, aged thirty-one
I will cast 20's-40's for this character. Ezra is a high strung man who thinks he is better than Septimus. He might be right, although he lacks Septimus's clever wit and a strong will and he is easily manipulated.
RICHARD NOAKES - a landscape architect, middle-aged
I will cast almost any age for Richard who is all business. He has strong ideas and no time for nonsense.
LADY CROOM - middle thirties
Lady Croom can be mid 30's-40's. She is Thomasina's mother, proper and intelligent and she is definitely the head of this household, superior to all men in the 1800's cast.
CAPT. BRICE, RN - middle thirties
Captain Brice can be 30's-50's. He is proper and formal but dotes on his wife and daughter. He is not as intellectual as the men around him but he is much more honorable.
AUGUSTUS COVERLY - aged fifteen
Augustus is Thomasina's younger brother so he must appear to be a teenager but can be played by someone slightly older. He is a student at Eton and wears his wealth and privilege proudly. He is probably equal to Septimus and Thomasina intellectually but because of class and gender, he feels he is above them both.
Modern cast
HANNAH JARVIS - an author, late thirties (LEAD)
I will cast Hannah from 20's-early 40's. She is both reserved and straightforward and pulls no punches with Bernard or his flattery. She resists romantic and emotional investments but softens a bit in the end.
CHLOË COVERLY - aged eighteen
Chloe can be slightly older than this as well. She is the complete opposite of Hannah and becomes emotionally attached to Bernard from the beginning. She is playful and coquettish and thinks she more emotionally mature than she really is.
BERNARD NIGHTINGALE - a don, late thirties (LEAD)
Bernard can be 20's to early 40's and he is Hannah's foil so they should be well matched and have good stage chemistry. He tries from the beginning to get on her good side but he is completely oblivious to how he comes across. He is overly confident about everything and his single-minded determination coupled with his reliance on instinct is both his strength and his downfall. Bernard is the playful, clever side of Septimus.
VALENTINE COVERLY - aged twenty-five to thirty (LEAD)
Valentine can also be slightly older than this. He is the intellectual side of Septimus and he is completely opposite Bernard. He loves gaining more knowledge and doesn't mind making mistakes since mistakes lead to progress. Even so, because he is a math whiz, he thinks mostly inside the box and it is through studying Thomasina that he finds a way to think more openly.
GUS COVERLY - aged fifteen
Gus can be played by the same actor as Augustus. He is mysteriously mute in the modern scenes but must be played by an actor who can show great physicality.
