THE BROKEN MACHINE
LEHIGH UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF THEATRE
OPEN AUDITIONS FOR A NEW PLAY
All welcome regardless of experience or major!
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 2019 - 5-9 PM
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4 - 4-5:30 PM
CALLBACKS - WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 4 - 6-8 PM
FOWLER BLACK BOX THEATRE - ZOELLNER ARTS CENTER
ABOUT THE PLAY
A NEW PLAY
Commissioned by Lehigh University’s Department of Theatre
THE BROKEN MACHINE
By Liz Duffy Adams, Theodore U. Horger ’61 Artist-in-Residence in the Performing Arts
Directed by Pam Pepper
A burnt-out hermit nurses a broken arm and makes lists from memory—of endangered
species, moments of Lost Time, Incorrect States of Mind—in company with her only
friend, a gray fox with a bad attitude. When wild fires approach they flee through the
wilderness, pursued by would-be rescuers and threatened by a mythic-punk
psychopomp. The Broken Machine, a provocative climate-chaos tragicomedy, was
commissioned by Lehigh’s Department of Theatre and written by the 2018-2019
Theodore U. Horger ’61 Artist-in-Residence in the Performing Arts. Liz Duffy Adams “is
an artist of playful and highly literate imagination, radical instincts, and sardonic but
generous humor.” ~~San Francisco Bay Guardian
PERFORMANCE DATES
November 15,16, 20, 21, 22, 2019, 7:30
November 17, 2:00
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Liz Duffy Adams is a playwright whose play Or, premiered Off Broadway at WP Theater and has been produced over 60 times since, including at Magic Theater and Seattle Rep. She’s a New Dramatists alumna and has received a Lillian Hellman Award, Women of Achievement Award, New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship, Weston Playhouse Music Theater Award, and Will Glickman Award.
Adams received her MFA from Yale School of Drama and BFA from New York University. She was the 2012–2013 Briggs-Copeland Visiting Lecturer in Playwriting at Harvard, where she received two Certificates of Teaching Excellence based on student evaluations. She has also taught at SUNY Purchase, Mt Holyoke, and University of Manitoba, among other places.
Her work has also been produced or developed at the Contemporary American Theater Festival, Humana Festival, PlayPenn Conference, Portland Center Stage, Flux Theatre Ensemble, New Georges, Clubbed Thumb, Cutting Ball, Shotgun Players, and Crowded Fire.
Publications include Dog Act in “Geek Theater: Anthology of Science Fiction and Fantasy Plays” (Underwords Press 2014); Or, in “Best Plays of 2010” (Smith & Kraus); Poodle With Guitar And Dark Glasses in “Best American Short Plays 2000-2001” (Applause Books); and several plays in acting editions by Playscripts, Inc. and Dramatists Play Service. She has dual Irish and American citizenship, and divides her time between NYC and Western Massachusetts. More at lizduffyadams.com.
THE CHARACTERS
HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE AUDITION AND WHAT TO EXPECT
- Please read the play. Your familiarity with the text will be of enormous assistance to you. (and to me!) Please email our department coordinator, Deb Laub, (dal5) and she will send you a link to the play. Her office is 301 Zoellner Arts Center.
- Seek to identify a character of interest to you. I'll ask you to read selections from the script (listed below). And we'll talk a bit!
- Familiarize yourself with the song, "Don't Fence Me In." Here are three versions that I like: Rosemary Clooney, Gene Autry and Bing Crosby and the Andrew Sisters. There are tons out there!
AUDITION SELECTIONS
MAC: pg 9 (monologue)
GRAY: pgs 42-43 (monologue)
JANE & JOE: pgs 17-21
JANE: pg 21 (monologue)
JOE: pg 34 (monologue)
PSYCHOPOMP & MAC: pgs 24-31
PSYCHOPOMP: pg 24-25 (song/monologue)
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
- If you are cast in the play, you will be given permission to register for THTR 35 (2 crs) for a grade.
- I'd like to schedule a first read-through of the play in the evening, Thursday, September 5. The playwright will be joining us!
- Three-hour rehearsals will be held M-F evenings (except during tech week, which will be longer). Exact rehearsal times TBD once schedules and conflicts are reviewed.
- See the top of this flier for performance dates.