The Summer Conservatory Experience
Open to all rising 7th-12th graders
Theatre Aspen makes history this summer with TWO Conservatory Productions!
First, the most famous RomCom in history -
Move over Lin-Manuel! Discover for yourself why Shakespeare is the preeminent wordsmith of all time in our most exciting addition to the summer line-up! Get acquainted with the timeless genius of William Shakespeare in the original RomCom - A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Lots of great roles, with fully-produced performances happening in the time-honored tradition of Shakespeare in the Park.
Featuring: ● Lots of roles for men and women ● Training in Shakespearean acting; gain confidence in the language and tackle your role with NO FEAR! Plus - voice and diction, physical comedy, and more ● Specialized classes in improvisation, acting, and movement ● 6 fully-produced performances in an idyllic open-air setting in the Shakespeare-in-the-Park-style tradition ● Masterclasses with Broadway pros from the Theatre Aspen mainstage ● See one of our Main Stage professional performances with the Conservatory Company and receive a talkback with the actors ● Meet new friends and strengthen your existing friendships
Dates: June 15, 2020 - July 11, 2020; Rehearsals M-F June 15 - July 6, 2020 Performances: July 7-11, 2020 Times: 9a-4p Tuition: Only $995; Scholarships available Directed by Elissa Russell and Graham Northrup Then, the Tale as Old as Time -
Evolve your individual performance skills while working with your peers to stage a classic tale of transformation: Beauty and the Beast. As a Conservatory student, you will receive specialized training in musical theatre, as well as workshops and masterclasses from industry professionals. Plus, you’ll use your newly refined skills to bring this “tale as old as time” to life on the Hurst Theatre stage.
Featuring: ● Training in ensemble performance, character movement, and more ● Classes in singing and dance ● 6 fully-produced performances in the Hurst Theatre tent ● Masterclasses with Broadway pros from the Theatre Aspen mainstage ● See one of our Main Stage professional performances with the Conservatory Company and receive a talkback with the actors ● Meet new friends and strengthen your existing friendships
Dates: Callbacks (as needed) June 27, 2020; Rehearsals M-F June 29 - July 22, 2020 Performances: July 23-29, 2020 Times: 9a-4p Tuition: Only $1250; Scholarships available
Directed by Graham Northrup Choreography by Luke Ryan
*Significant bundle discount applies if student participates in both productions*
Auditions and Availability
Our 2020 Conservatory programs (A Midsummer Night’s Dream & Beauty and the Beast) offer advanced-level training for students in grades 7-12+ and participation is by audition only.
For questions regarding the audition process or either production, please contact [email protected]. Audition Requirements
Please note: the Creative Teams for these productions may be making final casting decisions based solely on these video audition submissions. Preparation is key-- help us to see your full range of abilities!
All candidates must submit an audition using the link below, including a resume, headshot and audition video(s) - Youtube link, Dropbox or other online format. If you have technical questions about creating, editing, saving/exporting, or uploading video, we can help answer some of your questions. Email us at [email protected].
What to Prepare for Auditions
Those auditioning for A Midsummer Night’s Dream must prepare: ● BOTH contrasting monologue excerpts from the play (provided below). Both monologues must be memorized. Effective auditions will emphasize bold and contrasting character choices. Those auditioning for Beauty and the Beast must prepare: ● 16-32 bars from a song from a contemporary or classic musical. Song must be memorized. Effective song selections will highlight your vocal range and character choices. You MAY submit 2 contrasting songs if you feel this will more fully showcase your abilities. ● A comic or light dramatic monologue 45-90 seconds in length. Must be memorized.
Students wishing to be considered for either/both productions must submit all of the above materials.
DEADLINE: Audition videos are accepted February 20 through April 19. Candidates are encouraged to submit earlier than later, as the programs may fill prior to the deadline. Due to voice changes, evolving candidate pool, show selection, limited space, and other factors, prior Summer Conservatory students must re-apply and audition each year. Those selected to participate in the programs will be notified no later than April 25, 2019.
Availability In order to broaden the educational opportunities for our students, Theatre Aspen is offering a second fully-produced Conservatory production to complement and enhance the students’ range of experiences.
Students must indicate on their audition form whether they are available to be cast in Midsummer, Beauty and the Beast, or EITHER or BOTH productions.Enrollment is capped in each production based on the needs of the show.
Based on your stated availability and audition, applicants may be accepted to one production or the other, with a limited number of students accepted into both productions, as dictated by each production’s needs. As there is some overlap in rehearsal schedules, students involved in both productions will be excused from affected rehearsals as necessary.
A note on casting: The Creative Team is diligent in our efforts to cast students in roles that will both help them experience growth, as well as ensure the success of each production as a whole. Upon admission to a Summer Conservatory production, students acknowledge that they will accept any role.
Sample Availability Question from Audition Submission Form:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream Rehearsal/Performance Dates: 6/15-7/11 Beauty and the Beast Rehearsal/Performance Dates: 6/29-7/29
Please indicate which Conservatory production(s) you are willing/available to participate in. Your selection will inform our Creative Team’s casting decisions, so please only indicate productions that fit with your schedule and that you will accept a role in, if offered.
-I would ONLY like to be considered for Midsummer -I would ONLY like to be considered for Beauty and the Beast -I would like to be considered for EITHER Midsummer OR Beauty and the Beast (i.e. I would only like to be cast in one show, but have no preference) -I would like to be considered for BOTH Midsummer and Beauty and the Beast (but I might only get cast in one)
Monologue Excerpts and Resources for Midsummer Auditioners
PUCK If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear. And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: if you pardon, we will mend.
Character Description: Puck is a mischievous, humorous, and quick-witted fairy who serves King Oberon, the ruler of the fairy kingdom. S/he drives the plot forward with impish pranks and comic misunderstandings. Context: Puck delivers this soliloquy at the very end of the play. It is a direct address to the audience to apologize to anyone who may have been confused or offended by the play. Tip: understand what you are saying!
BOTTOM That will ask some tears in the true performing of it: if I do it, let the audience look to their eyes; I will move storms. The raging rocks And shivering shocks Shall break the locks Of prison gates.
Character Description: Nick Bottom, a weaver by trade, is another humorous character in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He is one of the so-called “rude mechanicals”, a group of manual laborers not generally praised for their intelligence. Bottom has an elevated sense of self, imagining himself as an incredible actor. His overly dramatic and arrogant speeches are a source of great comedy in the play. Context: Bottom and the other rude mechanicals are rehearsing for a play they will perform for Duke Theseus. In this excerpt, he brags about how good his performance will be, then practices his lines (the italicized text). Tip: go big!
Resources Play summary/ “translation” via No Fear Shakespeare: https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/msnd/ 5 Tips for Prepping Your Shakespeare Monologue: https://www.backstage.com/magazine/article/keys-preparing-shakespeare-mon ologue-901/ Character Descriptions
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Please note that many of these roles are gender flexible, and that some actors may be double-cast to play more than one role as needed.
The Court
Theseus (M), the Duke of Athens, has recently won a war against the Amazons, and to reward himself for his victory is going to marry their queen Hippolyta, whether she likes it or not.
Hippolyta (F) is Queen of the Amazons. Having been defeated in battle by Theseus, she is now betrothed to him.
Egeus (M), The father of Hermia who insists she marry the man he has chosen, or be put to death. He brings his quarrel to Theseus for resolution.
Philostrate (M or F) - Theseus’s Master of Revels.
The Lovers
Lysander (M) is a young man of Athens, of good family and fortune.
Demetrius (M) He is the former love interest of Helena, but is now in love with Hermia. He has her father’s blessing to be with her, but Hermia does not love him and openly professes her love to Lysander.
Hermia (F), is Egeus’s daughter. In love with Lysander, she refuses to marry Demetrius despite the threat of death for her refusal. Helena’s best friend.
Helena (F), is a young lady of Athens. She was wooed by Demetrius and remains obsessively in love with him. Hermia’s best friend.
The “Rude Mechanicals”
Peter Quince (M or F) is a carpenter who organizes some fellow workers into preparing a play he has written/directed to present to Theseus and Hippolyta on their wedding day.
Bottom the Weaver (M) is a take-charge sort of fellow, and a great stage ham who wishes to play all the parts he can in Quince’s play.
Flute (M) is a bellows-mender, a young man who plays Thisbe in Quince’s play.
Snout (M or F) is a tinker cast as the Wall in Quince’s play.
Snug (M or F) the joiner is not the most quick-witted, and plays the Lion in Quince’s play.
Starveling the tailor (M or F) portrays Moonshine in Quince’s play.
The Fairies
Oberon (M) is King of Fairies. Proud, angry, and vengeful, he is at odds with Titania, because she has stolen a human boy that he wants as one of his goblins.
Titania (F) is Queen of Fairies. Queen of the fairies and Oberon’s lover. She is strong, fierce, classy, and capable. She has stolen a human boy and refuses to give him up to Oberon.
Puck, or Robin Goodfellow, (M or F) is a prankster. Oberon’s jester, he delights in practical jokes, transforming Bottom into a donkey and making him the object of Titania’s love.
Titania’s fairies (M or F): Peaseblossom, Cobweb, Moth, Mustardseed
Beauty and the Beast
Belle (F)
Belle is a smart, confident young woman from a small village. A strong singer and actress who is able to stand up to Gaston while showing compassion for Maurice, the Servants and eventually the Beast.
Vocal range top: F5; Vocal range bottom: G3
Maurice (M)
An aging and eccentric inventor, but more importantly, the adoring and protective father of Belle. This non-solo singing role is perfect for the student who can have fun interpreting this crazy old man while conveying some very strong emotions: fear and fatherly love.
Beast (M)
The Beast is a young prince who was hideously transformed by the Enchantress’ spell. He is a complex character: a dictator, a hurt child, a hero, a defender and a smitten prince.
Vocal range top: E5; Vocal range bottom: B3
Gaston (M)
Gaston is pompous and dim-witted and will do whatever it takes to win Belle's hand. Gaston has all the confidence in the world but lacks the humility to balance it.
Vocal range top: F5; Vocal range bottom: A3
Lefou (M)
Lefou is Gaston’s equally dim-witted lackey. This character needs to be Gaston’s foil and should double the laughs for them both. Lefou should be able to sing, act and dance. Vocal range top: E5; Vocal range bottom: B3
Silly Girls (F)
The Silly Girls are in love with Gaston and will do almost anything just to be near him. Looking for three girls who can portray the comic nature of these roles and enjoy playing off each other.
Vocal range top: F5; Vocal range bottom: C4
Lumiere (M)
Lumiere is a confident, charming French mâitre d’ who (under the enchantress’s spell) is becoming a candelabra. French accent encouraged.
Vocal range top: D5; Vocal range bottom: A3
Cogsworth (M)
Cogsworth is the British major-domo of the castle who is becoming a clock. Like all of the castle’s Servants, he shows a fatherly compassion for Belle yet is perfectly submissive to the master, the Beast.
Vocal range top: E5; Vocal range bottom: A3
Mrs. Potts (F)
Mrs. Potts is the castle’s endearing cook who is becoming a teapot. She acts as a loving mother figure to all the characters.
Vocal range top: E5; Vocal range bottom: F3
Babette (F)
Babette is the maid of the castle who is turning into a feather duster. She misses the finer things in life. Babette is happy to be at Belle’s service at a moment’s notice, but her true heart comes through in Human Again.
Vocal range top: B4; Vocal range bottom: A3
Madame De La Grande Bouche (F)
Madame De La Grande Bouche is an opera singer who is becoming a wardrobe. Madame is larger-than-life in everything she does, including her singing and dancing. She is the ultimate diva with a heart with an outsized personality and voice.
Vocal range top: C5; Vocal range bottom: A3
Chip (M)
Chip is Mrs. Potts’s son who is becoming a teacup. Chip has a wonderful naïveté that endears him to all of the Servants.
Vocal range top: D5; Vocal range bottom: D4
Old Beggar Woman/Enchantress (F) Do we want to include this?
The Old Beggar Woman/Enchantress should be portrayed by an actor with a flair for the visually dramatic as this is a non-speaking role. Her transformation in the Prologue needs to entice the audience into the story. After the Prologue, this student may join the ensemble as a Villager or castle Servant.
Monsieur D'arque (M)
Monsieur D'Arque is the sinister proprietor of the lunatic asylum who may double as other roles throughout the show.
Servants (M & F) The Servants of the castle can include Statues, Flatware, Plates, an Egg Timer, Napkins, a Carpet, Salt & Pepper Shakers and various other household items. These enchanted characters are the Rockettes of the castle.
Villagers (M & F)
The Villagers are the inhabitants of Belle’s town. There are some featured solos and lines that will come from this ensemble (Bookseller, Baker, etc.). These actors can double as the castle Servants if needed.