Original Play Festival gearing up, needs readers

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Aloha Performing Arts Company will hold open auditions for volunteer actor/readers for its 20th annual Original Play Festival at 6:30 p.m. June 28 and 2:30 p.m June 29 at the APAC Loft in Kainaliu. Entry is above and behind Kiernan Music Store. Parking is scarce, so the street or the public lot north of the building is recommended.

Aloha Performing Arts Company will hold open auditions for volunteer actor/readers for its 20th annual Original Play Festival at 6:30 p.m. June 28 and 2:30 p.m June 29 at the APAC Loft in Kainaliu. Entry is above and behind Kiernan Music Store. Parking is scarce, so the street or the public lot north of the building is recommended.

Five directors will be casting more than 40 characters in the nine plays chosen for the festival, and first-time actors are encouraged to audition. Original Play Festival XX performance week is Aug. 14 through 17. Each play of the festival will have five rehearsals, generally on the same night of the week as the performance. Rehearsals will begin July 10. The festival features new, unproduced and unpublished scripts presented in staged reading format, so line memorization is not required.

The festival opens Aug. 14, with five plays on the bill. Gloria Blum will direct “Oh, No!” by Susan Shafer, a short comedy about an elderly Jewish man from Florida trying to dissuade his son from marrying a Hawaiian girl; “Mrs. Chambers’ Used Car,” a short scene by Kitty Powell about a man looking at a surprising car for sale; and “Impostor,” a farce by Mark Tjarks involving a married couple and the condition known as Capgras delusion. Roxanne Fox will direct “The Talented Tongue of Walter Lipinski,” a comic tale about the sexual memories of three middle-aged former classmates, and “The Slip,” a contemporary story by Mark Tjarks involving security breaches, centered around a pickpocket and a U.S. senator.

A double bill is featured Aug. 15: Dick Hershberger’s play “Ask Pat,” a comedy of confused identities set the the office of a family owned newspaper’s advice column, directed by Miguel Montez; and “It Had Been the Perfect Crime,” by Mark Tjarks, a comic murder mystery set in an old New York theater, directed by Roxanne Fox.

The Aug. 16 offering is “The Cupcake Conspiracy,” an absurd comedy set in New York involving spies and lovers by C.J. Erlich and Philip J. Kaplan, directed by Felicity Johnson. On Aug. 17, the final play of the festival will be “In the Family Way,” a contemporary, topical, local drama by Anthony Oliver, directed by Sara Hagen.

APAC is sponsoring two workshops in conjunction with the festival. Audition Techniques, taught by Roxanne Fox, will focus on developing confidence and the basics of auditioning. It will be offered from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at the APAC Loft. A play writing workshop will be taught by award-winning playwright Hershberger, at the theater from 1 to 3 p.m. Aug. 17. Tuition for either workshop is $20.

All festival scripts are available for onsite perusal by arrangement with the APAC office, or online at alohatheatre.com. Those auditioning should arrive on time and be prepared to stay approximately 90 minutes. Attending both sessions is ideal, but not required. Auditions will consist of reading from the scripts in turns. No experience is necessary, and newcomers are welcome. The time commitment for each staged reading will consist of five rehearsals and one performance, with no memorization required.

Crew positions are also available.

For more information, call 322-9924.