Auditioned for The 5th Great Ape on Sunday

So I leave the house with my wife. Her car is at my parents. Drop her off.

Almost out of gas. Fill Up.

Then I need to stop by work because that is where the directions to the audition are located. Get those.

Make it to the parking deck and I cannot find a parking spot. Well I do find some but not any I can get into. Very small parking deck at Emory University. I think it was for that quadrant of the campus and everybody was on campus on Sunday. What is even worse about this parking deck is that it has three entrances. So after driving around this deck, exiting from one entrance and entering again from another I finally find a spot. Still have to pull part way in, back up to straighten and finally I am parked.

Entered on the first level, parked on the second and had to go up the stairs to exit on the street I wanted. On the way up the stairs, I tripped and put some wrinkles in my headshots.

Entered the building where the auditions are being held on the second floor. I’m on the first. I don’t see any stairs so I walk around. Don’t see an elevator or stairs. I walk a complete circuit of the first floor and return to the door I enter. There is a small sign saying stairs in this little alcove with a door that I first assumed as a janitor’s closet. This alcove was small with pipes coming out of the wall and a small door beyond. I mean a small door. I wonder how many people have walked into this building looking for a way to the second floor and leaving in frustration.

So into this little alcove, past the pipes and open the door, and indeed there are stairs. Up the stairs and there are two doors to exit out of. No signs. Ok. Let’s go left. And there is a sign with an arrow pointing toward the auditions. OK, we are making progress. Around the corner is a table with someone sitting at it. No sign saying sign in, but it looks like the right place so I stand there for a second and look at the papers on the table. Finally the girls says, “Fill out this form and here is additional information. What is your name?”

Fill out paperwork, turn it in with headshots and then sit and wait. Amazingly, I only have to wait about a minute. Apparently the person before me has not shown up yet.

In the room are 3 people: Ariel de Man (director), Ken Weitzman (writer) and third guy whose name I cannot remember (sorry about that). All very nice people. So I do a dramatic monologue and then Ariel has me read the first Scientist side. They were all smiles when I finished so I know I didn’t do a bad job. It sounded as if things were going very well for the auditions; there were not going to be any callbacks. The schedule over the weekend sounded aggressive, so I am sure they gave offers for roles yesterday.

Thankfully, leaving was a lot easier than arriving.

Audition Notice: The 5th Great Ape

Theater Emory announces auditions for The 5th Great Ape, by Out of Hand Theater and Ken Weitzman, directed by Ariel de Man.

Equity Auditions on Saturday, April 25 from 10:00AM – 6:00PM.
Non-Equity Auditions on Sunday, April 26 from 2:00-6:00PM.

Rehearsals start on Oct. 20 and the play runs Nov. 12 – 22.

Prepare a contemporary monologue of 1-2 minutes that can be presented with great physicality. There will also be readings from the script (sides available at auditions and in advance).

Actors are paid for rehearsal and performance. Performers of all ethnic and racial backgrounds are encouraged to attend. Auditions are at the Rich Building at 1602 Fishburne Drive on the Emory University campus in Atlanta. Call 404-712-9118 M-F, 10-5 starting Thursday, 4/9 for more info and to schedule an appointment. (Please no calls prior to 4/9.) See our website for more information:

Click on ‘Theater Emory’ and ‘Audition Info’.

Theater Emory operates under a SPT contract with Actors Equity Association. Audition notices for this production are also posted in “Casting Call” on the AEA website www.actorsequity.org and locally on the ACPA website www.atlantaperforms.biz.

Description: Scientists agree that humans are approximately two percent genetically different from chimpanzees. World-famous primatologist Frans de Waal of Emory University’s Yerkes National Primate Research Center wants to know what that two percent means for human nature. In a co-production with Theater Emory, Out Of Hand Theater and playwright Ken Weitzman are working with assistance from Dr. de Waal and Yerkes to develop The 5th Great Ape. The human ape is examined in this collaboratively-generated, highly physical theater piece that retells a riveting true story of murder and suicide in the largest chimpanzee colony in captivity. Human characters explore our true nature in a play that offers new ideas and questions about power, sex, violence, kindness, and morality through study of our closest primate relatives.

Female role:
Mama (40s – 50s): The matriarch of the community. Ruled before the men came. The arbiter, the dispute settler, the peacekeeper. You better listen to Mama if you know what’s good for you.

Male roles:
Scientist (mid 30s – 60s): A primatologist studying the human ape community, passionate about his research, highly perceptive, trained to be objective and unemotional, but can’t help forming personal attachments to his subjects.

Jerome (40s – 50s):  The oldest man in the community, over the hill, a calculating old fox, an Iago.