WILLIAMSVILLE-The Rock River Players will host open auditions for The Freeing of Mollie Steimer by Brattleboro playwright Patrick Keppel. The play follows the life of an early 20th-century anarchist who, at the age of 20, stood up to intense U.S. political oppression, refusing to back down in her fervent fight for a freer world.
Auditions will be held at the Williamsville Hall, 35 Main St., on Friday, Jan. 24, from 3 to 5:30 p.m.; Saturday, Jan. 25, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m; and Sunday, Jan. 27, from 4 to 7 p.m. The Williamsville Hall is ADA compliant.
The script calls for 21 characters of various ages which could be played by 12 actors or more.
A premiere will be produced and co-directed by Keppel and RRP founder Annie Landenberger. The production will commemorate the Players' 10th anniversary season, running Aug. 15–17 and 22–24.
Based on the life of a Ukraine-born immigrant who lived in the United States from 1913 to 1923, The Freeing of Mollie Steimer presents episodes in Steimer's life from her arrival in the U.S. to her deportation. With a goal to be perfectly free so she can better help create the perfectly free society that anarchism aims to achieve, she must shed every tie that binds her to the world as it is, no matter how painful, futile, or apparently counter-productive that may seem.
Event organizers say the story "dramatizes the psychological difficulty of maintaining ideals - or even expressing a glimpse of one's basic humanity - within an utterly corrupt society," providing a historical lens "through which we can better perceive current political controversies and divisions without contemporary tribal markers."
The play's components are interlaced with live music.
Landenberger, former artistic director of the Rock River Players, has directed some 90 productions in her career. Keppel, a fiction writer and playwright, is on the faculty at New England Conservatory and chair of its Liberal Arts department.
Mollie Steimer was written in 1997 and received a staged reading at the Boston Playwright's Theater in May 1999. It has since been seen in parts at various venues - including last June's "Triangle" one-act on the RRP stage - but this production will be its premiere.
For audition materials, visit rockriverplayers.org; for more information, write Annie Landenberger at [email protected] or [email protected].
This Arts item was submitted to The Commons.