By By LINDSEY SHERRIL Special to The Standard
Get ready for Rogers and Hammerstein to take the Escambia County High School stage this summer.
The Greater Escambia Council for the Arts (GECA) will hold auditions for its summer production of Oklahoma at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Atmore Lions Community Center in the library. The production calls for a cast of over 100 people ranging in age from small children to senior adults. GECA is looking for anyone interested in being involved in the production. There will be casting for leads, supporting roles, chorus members, dancers and extras as well as stage hands and technical helpers.
Auditions will include a reading audition for those desiring speaking roles, a music audition for leads, supporting and chorus roles, and a dance audition. Extras and those seeking chorus roles who have been in a past GECA production need only to come and fill out the audition form.
The reading audition will be a short selection from the script. For the music audition, those auditioning should come with a short song or selection prepared. The dance audition will be a group audition of a short piece of choreography that will be taught at the audition. Those auditioning should dress and wear shoes for comfort.
Oklahoma tells the story of Laurey and Curly, a young couple in the Indian territory at the turn of the century. The story follows their adventures as well as the lives of the rambunctious Ado Annie, the gruff Jud Fry, Laurey's Aunt Eller, and a host of other memorable characters.
Oklahoma, last produced in Atmore in the 1980s, is the first collaboration of famed theatre duo Richard Rogers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The show, based on the 1930s play by Lynn Riggs, Green Grow the Lilacs, was first produced in 1943 and has won numerous awards in its 61 year history, including two Tony awards, the International Emmy, the Special Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the Best Musical of the Century award from the New York Drama League.
The production, set for July 30 through August 1 at ECHS, will continue GECA's 2004-2005 theatre season. Season tickets are currently available, which offer unlimited access to the Oklahoma run as well as the GECA members and season ticket holders only productions of I Do, I Do, Yes, Virginia There is a Santa Claus, and Everything I Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. Season passes are $35 for a family pass and $25 for an individual. For more information on auditions, Oklahoma tickets, season passes, future events or joining GECA, email gecarts@hotmail.com or call 368-3899.