33 VARIATIONS BY Moises Kaufman. Directed by John Barrett

Auditions will be held at Beatrice Herford’s Vokes Theatre, Route 20, Wayland, MA by appointment

• Sunday, June 2, 7-9:30pm
• Monday, June 3, 7-9:30pm

Other times available upon request

Please prepare a monologue, two minutes or less, from any source, something that shows you at your best

TO SCHEDULE APPT:      Please see the instructions below.

PERFORMANCES:  July 18 through August 3 (Thursday – Saturday Evenings; Matinees Saturday, July 27 & August 3)

About the play

In 1819, Anton Diabelli, a music publisher and minor composer, conceived of a plan to ask all of the great composers in Vienna and beyond to compose variations on a little ditty he had written. Beethoven reportedly initially dismissed the tune as a Schusterfleck or “‘cobbler’s patch” but at some point changed his mind and wrote, not one, but 33 Variations. The resulting work has been called, by the music writer Donald Tovey “the greatest set of variations ever written”, and by Alfred Brendel  “the greatest of all piano works”  What happened?

This play is an imaginative exploration of the impulse that drives creativity, as an impatient Diabelli (in 1819) wonders what’s taking Beethoven so long, and Katherine Brandt, a musicologist (in 2019) delves into the mystery of how and why Beethoven became so obsessed.

As each, pursues the great man, in their own way, in their own century, in a series of brilliantly overlapping and interwoven scenes, the centuries collide and questions about the core of the creative impulse are explored in a delightfully entertaining way.

Above all, this is a wonderfully theatrical piece, a real actors’ play.

If you are unable to make the schedule times, please contact me about setting up a special time. This is a wonderful actors’ play and I don’t want to miss out on anyone because of a minor scheduling glitch.

TO BOOK AN APPOINTMENT

Please go to: http://www.signupgenius.com/ and select Find a Sign Up in the upper right corner

On the next screen, if you are not a member of Sign Up Genius, you can join for free or access the search by putting in my email under Search by Email:  jbarrett@curry.edu

If you have any difficulty in booking, or have any question at all, please email me at the address above

Thank you, John Barrett

A word on casting:

I am reluctant to go into much detail here. As I said, this is more than anything an actors’ play. I am far more concerned with putting together a strong company than whether a candidate for any given role is tall/thin/brunette/40s/whatever. If the play sounds intriguing, please don’t type yourself out based on anything that follows. The only real restriction is that Katherine must be old enough to have a grown daughter, but their respective ages can slide up or down based on what I see at auditions.

That said, here’s a brief scorecard:

2019

• Dr. Katherine Brandt – 55-70 or so – musicologist, brilliant, a little prickly, struggling with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), resents (and rejects) the looming loss of independence – her physical condition deteriorates in the latter part of the play.
• Clara Brandt (Katherine’s daughter) – the perfectly normal daughter of the perfectly brilliant, forceful mother – as such, she both loves, and is intimidated by, Katherine – wants very much to take care of a person who doesn’t want to be taken care off – leads to some tension.
• Dr. Gertrude Ladenburger – older would be better – the librarian in the Beethoven-haus and as such the gatekeeper of the archives, initially cold to Katherine as the outsider, she comes to respect the American and their relationship develops into true friendship – German accent.
• Mike Clark – age an appropriate match for Clara – Katherine’s nurse – very good at his job, caring but no nonsense, becomes involved with Clara and is an important bridge between mother and daughter.

1819

• Anton Diabelli – at this point he was 38, but older would be fine too – might be a little fussy – he needs this project to go to stay financially solvent – his impatience with trying to get Beethoven to finish mirrors Katherine’s rush to find an answer before her time runs out – their dual race with the clock frames the play’s structure
• Anton Schindler – would have been 24, again could slide a little older, but 20s would be good – Beethoven’s invaluable assistant? parasitic hanger-on? Probably both – a lot of room for actor exploration here.
• Ludwig van Beethoven – would have been in his 50s at this point, and by now almost totally deaf – since the whole play is about various characters’ pursuit of, frustration with, and confusion about what he’s up to, the part is deliberately constructed to be a mysterious, yet all-consuming presence.

I welcome questions about any of the above – or anything else, really –  jbarrett@curry.edu