Audition for Professional Summer Theatre Festival at The Playhouse at White Lake
The Playhouse at White Lake hosts their professional Summer Theatre Festival with a different production every weekend, this July and August. To cast four of the plays that are slated for the Festival, The Playhouse invites actors of all levels to the Playhouse stage on Sunday and Monday, May 22 and 23, for acting auditions in their upcoming professional Summer Theatre Festival. Auditions take place in blocks of time for each of the four shows: Escanaba in da Moonlight, RED, Moon over Buffalo and The Outsider. Descriptions of the play and characters available for casting in each one are available on the Playhouse website listed below, along with the application.
First up, comes The Outsider by Paul Slade Smith, with show dates: July 14-16 and a matinee on July 17. This timely and hilarious comedy skewers politics and celebrates democracy, as audiences meet Ned Newley, who doesn't even want to be governor. He's terrified of public speaking; his poll numbers are impressively bad. He might be the worst candidate to ever run for office. Unless the public is looking for ... the worst candidate to ever run for office.
Following on the popularity of the past production of Escanaba in da Moonlight, The Playhouse is pleased to present the next segment, Escanaba in Love by Michigan native Jeff Daniels, August 4-7. This prequel to Escanaba in da Moonlight is set at the Soady family deer camp during World War II and outfitted with a whole new cast of Wacky Yoopers. In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, it’s 1944, and deer hunting season is underway. The biggest challenge of the season occurs when young Albert brings (gasp!) a woman to the camp with him. But, Big Betty Balou is not your average bride-to-be. In Jeff Daniels' prequel to the hilarious Escanaba in Da Moonlight, he brings out the charm and romantic side of these loveable characters.
Next up, the weekend of August 11-14 brings the raw and provocative play, RED to the Playhouse stage. Master abstract expressionist Mark Rothko has just landed the biggest commission in the history of modern art, a series of murals for New York’s famed Four Seasons Restaurant. In the two fascinating years that follow, Rothko works feverishly with his young assistant, Ken, in his studio on the Bowery. RED is a searing portrait of an artist’s ambition and vulnerability as he tries to create a definitive work for an extraordinary setting.
Finally, in the madcap comedy tradition of Lend Me a Tenor, the hilarious Moon Over Buffalo hits the Playhouse stage to close the season with a show full of lighthearted laughter. Centering on George and Charlotte Hay, fading stars of the 1950s,currently portraying Private Lives and Cyrano De Bergerac in rep in Buffalo, New York with five actors. On the brink of a disastrous split-up caused by George’s dalliance with a young ingénue, they receive word that they might just have one last shot at stardom. Unfortunately for George and Charlotte, everything that could go wrong does go wrong, abetted by a visit from their daughter’s clueless fiancé and hilarious uncertainty about which play they’re actually performing. Show dates run August 18-21 for this closing piece of the Summer Theatre Festival.
The Summer Theatre Festival 2022 is generously underwritten by the Michigan Arts and Cultural Council, and by multiple Grand Sponsors including Libby Keenan, Eastbrook Homes, The Delmar & Audria M. Olson Family Foundation, White Lake Area Chamber and Visitors Bureau and Carmichael Heating and Air Conditioning.
Single tickets are on sale now and may be purchased for $27 each at the Playhouse website below or by calling or visiting the Box Office, which opens on July 6 or pre-show for any Spring performance. Showtimes are at 7:30 p.m. for all evening productions, except for White Lake Youth Theatre, which presents at 7 p.m. All matinees begin at 2 p.m.
Season Flex Passes are also available for those who wish to save money while regularly supporting the Playhouse. A Full Flex Pass for 12 tickets is $270- (two free tickets) and a Mini Flex Pass for six tickets is $135- (one free ticket). These passes can be used for season ticket holders on their own, but can also be gifted to friends. For deeper discounts, patrons are encouraged to take advantage of the SPRING FLASH SALE, which offers those who purchase Season Flex Passes two free tickets to the upcoming Michigan Mandolin Orchestra, if bought before the show on Friday, May 20. Register to audition or review the entire Summer Theatre Festival season by visiting www.theplayhouseatwhitelake.org. Questions about events or ticket sales can be sent to davis-dykema@cityofwhitehall.org. To learn more about spring concerts and other events at The Playhouse, join the mailing list on their website or follow on social media.
