CALL TO AUDITION:
PERFECT ARRANGEMENT
by Topher Payne
PRESENTED AS PART OF MARDI GRAS+
It’s 1950, and new colours are being added to the Red Scare. Two U.S. State Department employees, Bob and Norma, have been tasked with identifying sexual deviants within their ranks. There’s just one problem: Both Bob and Norma are gay, and have married each other’s partners as a carefully constructed cover. Inspired by the true story of the earliest stirrings of the American gay rights movement, madcap classic sitcom-style laughs give way to provocative drama as two “All-American” couples are forced to stare down the closet door.
CREATIVE TEAM & CREW
Director Patrick Kennedy
PERFORMANCE DATES
Tue 3 Feb to Sat 7 Mar 2026
STILL LOOKING FOR OUR TED!
THEODORE SUNDERSON (40s–50s) – A force of nature in a pinstripe suit. Booming, bombastic, and bursting with patriotic fervour, Theodore Sunderson – State Department big wig – is the kind of man who fills a room before he even walks into it. A master of pomp and self-importance, with a talent for talking over absolutely everyone.
REHEARSALS
Rehearsals have already begun. The two scenes with Ted Sanderson will be rehearsed ASAP at the actors’ availability. Rehearsals will break for the holiday period from Sun 21 Dec 25 to Sat 3 Jan 26.
SUBMISSIONS
Please express interest with director Patrick Kennedy directly at patrick@patrickkennedytheatremachine.com.
PLEASE NOTE
New Theatre an amateur theatre company and a volunteer-based organisation – there is no for payment for this production.
If cast, you will be required to wash your own costumes and assist with production bump out.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Hailed as ‘one of the country’s most fascinating theatre practitioners’ (British Theatre) who ‘delivers exciting theatremaking stuffed with visual delights’ (Time Out), Patrick Kennedy is a British-Australian theatre director and producer recognised as one of the major figures of the twenty-first century European avant-garde. He is the founder of Patrick Kennedy Theatre Machine and is a leading expert on the work of New York downtown doyenne Richard Foreman. He has produced 9 of his works in collaboration with Foreman across the world.
Originally trained as a director of classical work by the Globe Theatre, Kennedy’s work has since spanned 15 years and includes reinventions of Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard, radical film-theatre projects and creating a sell out new musical based on the women of the Weimar era which played in London’s West End.
Recent credits include the critically acclaimed The Flea (New Theatre); Did You Mean To Fall Like That? (KXT On Broadway); Sophia=(Wisdom): The Cliffs (New Theatre); Halbwelt Kultur (The Other Palace, London); Zomboid! (New Wimbledon Theatre, London); Elephant Steps: An Occult Opera Upon Perception (Arcola Theatre, London).
Main image: © r.classen/Shutterstock