Announcing Auditions for the final show of Hole in the Wall’s 2023 season: The Curious Savage by John Patrick, directed by Billy Moro
Audition Information
Auditions will be held Sunday, October 8th at 5pm and Monday, October 9th at 7pm. Auditions will be located at Hole in the Wall Theater, 116 Main Street, New Britain, CT.
Auditions will consist of readings from the script. Click here to preview selected audition sides. No monologues are required.
Show dates are December 1st & 2nd, 8-10th, 15th & 16th
ABOUT THE SHOW
Mrs. Savage has been left ten million dollars by her husband and wants to make the best use of it, in spite of her grown-up stepchildren’s efforts to use it for themselves. The stepchildren commit Mrs. Savage to a sanatorium, hoping to “bring her to her senses.” In the sanatorium Mrs. Savage meets various social misfits, people who need the help Mrs. Savage can provide. Contrasting the kindness and loyalty of psychiatric patients with the avarice and vanity of “respectable” public figures, it calls into question conventional definitions of sanity while lampooning celebrity culture.
Character Breakdown
Florence Williams: (20s-40s) The elegant “mother” of The Cloisters, she believes she has a five-year-old son named John Thomas; in fact, John Thomas is a doll. During Mrs. Savage’s stay at The Cloisters, Florence believes that John Thomas has the measles.
Fairy May: (early 20s) Fairy is a compulsive liar who is obsessed with having others love her. She is unkempt throughout the play, but believes herself to be stunningly beautiful. She is also very childlike, behaving and speaking in the tone of a six year old.
Jeffrey: (20s-30s) Once a military pilot, Jeff was shot down in the war, surviving a crash that killed all his men. He now believes that he has a scar on his face, which he constantly hides from others. He plays the piano, but is too shy to do so around other people. He is also married to Miss Willie, but does not remember that he is. Miss Willie works at the Cloisters in the hopes that one day Jeffrey will remember her.
Hannibal: (20s-40s) Hannibal, once a statistician, was fired and replaced by an electronic calculator. He has then taken up the violin, which he wrongly believes he can play beautifully.
Mrs. Paddy: (40s-50s) Mrs. Paddy paints with the quality of Hannibal’s violin playing. She paints only seascapes, which strikes Hannibal as “odd, because she’s never seen the ocean.” The other patients say that Mrs. Paddy stopped talking when her husband told her to “shut up” one day, and she hasn’t spoken since. She only speaks to announce what she hates. She hates “everything in the world.” She has given up electricity for Lent and turns off all the lights multiple times throughout the play, causing mayhem.
The Savages
Titus (18+): Sent so many threatening letters that he is listed by Western Union as a “tangible asset,” Titus is the least popular senator in congress. He is sober, humorless, and direct.
Lily Belle (18+): Lily Belle was once married to a Slovak prince, and has remarried five times since then. A celebrity heiress, she is arrogant, chic, and self-assured.
Samuel (18+) : Samuel has the distinction of being the judge with the most overturned decisions in the U.S. He walks in the shadows of his siblings, offering a short comment every once in a while, only to be shot down by his siblings.
Mrs. Ethel P. Savage (40s-80s): Ethel is a crafty but kindhearted woman with a shifted viewpoint of humanity. The events of the play are centered around her and her decision to hide the money which she has inherited from her late husband in an attempt to make her children look on others with more kindness. She dislikes her stepchildren, but learns to love the residents of The Cloisters.
The Staff
Dr. Emmett (any): The staff doctor for this wing of The Cloisters, Dr. Emmett is kind, warmhearted, and he works hard to help his patients.
Miss “Willie” Wilhelmina (20s-30s): Miss Willie is an administrative assistant and nurse. She is married to Jeff, but pretends not to be because he doesn’t remember her. He is the reason she is working here, but she is nonetheless extremely kind and understanding towards all the residents of The Cloisters. Though exceedingly kind to Jeff.