The Oswego Players will be hold auditions for “The Last Lifeboat” – a play about the sinking of the Titanic and the man became forever blamed for the incident. Director William Edward White is looking for strong actors 18 to 60+ for an ensemble cast of eleven.
Auditions will be Monday and Tuesday, April 24 and 25 from 6:30-9PM each night at the Players’ home, the Frances Marion Brown Theatre at Fort Ontario, Oswego, NY. Callbacks, if needed, will be on Tuesday, May 2, also from 6:30-9PM. Actors are asked to prepare a one-minute monologue.
Written by Luke Yankee, the play explores the life of J. Bruce Ismay, owner of The White Star Line. An upper-crust Englishman who always did what was expected of him, Ismay went to the best schools, married the right society girl (even though he was in love with someone else) and vowed to his staunch, unfeeling father on his deathbed that he would take over the family shipping business and build the biggest, most opulent ship the world had ever seen: the RMS Titanic.
We all know the story of how the ship sank…or do we? Ismay saved as many people as he could and finally, with no women and children in sight, he stepped into the last lifeboat…and was branded a coward and traitor forever. The world needed a scapegoat and Ismay became the perfect target.
Addressing the issues of corporate greed, commercial success-vs-human safety, survivor’s guilt, and how making a the choice not to follow one’s heart can destroy a life, even if it is ‘saved,’ an ensemble cast playing multiple roles tells this epic tale which explores not only the tragedy itself, but the sensationalized trials and aftermath of the night that changed the world forever.
This is a movement play. Those auditioning should be able to move, sit, and stand easily. This production will use eleven actors, five men and five women to play over sixty roles by changing costume pieces and using hand props and a minimal set. Actors never leave the stage and work as an ensemble to tell the story. Most characters speak with standard British and American accents.
Actors who can speak with an Irish or Scottish or other mid-European dialects should be prepared to demonstrate one as part of auditions, but this is not a requirement.
Rehearsals will commence in a workshop format in mid-May. The production will run weekends July 14-23 onstage at the Frances Marion Brown Theatre.