CALL TO AUDITION:

SUNSET STRIP

BY SUZIE MILLER

“Look, I’m a fuck up, but maybe there’s some beauty in just surviving and feeling the pain.”

How far will you go and what will you put up with in the name of family?

Sisters Caroline and Phoebe have charted very different courses in their lives. While one escaped their hometown, the struggling holiday hamlet of Sunset Strip, the other has stayed, caring for their father in between her stints in rehab and battles with DOCS.

Now Caroline has returned, recovering from chemotherapy, to find the ever-optimistic Phoebe newly in love and determined to make life fabulous, despite dad’s decline into dementia.

From acclaimed Australian playwright Suzie Miller (Prima Facie, RBG: Of Many, One) comes this exquisitely wrought examination of familial love, dysfunctional relationships and surviving the worst that life can serve up with humour and resilience.

“Tenderly gripping and frequently funny” – Sydney Morning Herald

CREATIVE TEAM & CREW
Director Annette van Roden

PERFORMANCE DATES
9 Jul – 3 Aug 2024

REHEARSALS
Rehearsals will commence Sun 5 May 2024 with a combination of weekend days, week evenings and possibly weekdays. Exact times and dates tbc, subject to cast availability

AUDITION DATES
Open audition Sat 4 May 2024, 9:30am for a 10am start.
Actors will be called up to read from the script.

Call-back time/date tbc

ROLES AVAILABLE
Phoebe – approx 32-36
Beautiful, fragile, impulsive, charismatic. She is a single mother whose children are not with her.

Caroline – approx 38-42
Phoebe’s older sister, lawyer who lives in the big city. Clever, serious, in control.

Teddy – 2 years older than Caroline
Phoebe’s lover, small town musician. He has come to a certain peace with his own demons.

Dad (Ray) – 60s
Once a success in the local mine, he would fish the lake on weekends for its multitude of fish. He now has dementia yet on occasions is lucid and capable of a deep knowing of his situation.

We very much encourage and welcome submissions from people who identify as First Nations, PoC, CaLD, LGBTQI+, gender diverse.

TO BOOK AN AUDITION
This will be an open audition only.

It is essential to read the script BEFORE applying. There is a perusal copy of the script available for viewing here.

Email your EOI to sunsetnt2024@gmail.com with AUDITION in the subject line.

In your email, please:

Include an up-to-date headshot and CV.
Indicate if you are currently a New Theatre member.
Indicate if you are unable to audition in person – submission of self-tape can be arranged.
Indicate your rehearsal availability (days and/or evenings).

PREPARATION
Please ensure you are very familiar with the play. All readings will be from the script and the you will be directed during the audition process.

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
Annette has freelanced as a creative for many years, co-developing and managing several of her own production companies including an animatronic display company and a children’s entertainment company. 14 years ago she developed a business specialising in diversional therapy entertainment which she performs for residents in aged care facilities. She also works as an actor specialising in emotionally complex, immersive improvisational role play as part of an education team focusing on difficult conversations and dealing with bad news.

Actively involved in community theatre both as an actor and director, Annette has played the lead in The Addams Family Musical, Marat/Sade, Dangerous Liaisons, Stepping Out, Steaming and (most recently) Things I Know To Be True, as well as directing The Sum of Us, Proof, And Then There Were None, The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged), Calendar Girls, Dark Voyager and A Few Good Men. This will be her directing debut at New Theatre.