By Matthew Barber
Presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service, Inc..
Director: Neil Hollands
From February 1 to February 16, 2019

Enchanted April

Presented by special arrangement with Dramatists Play Service

Written by Matthew Barber

Directed by Neil Hollands
Stage Management by Casey Clauberg and Jason Kriner
Performances February 1st-16th
Rehearsals three to four days per week, 7 pm-9:30 pm, with all Fridays and Saturdays off until December 20th,
After a Christmas break, rehearsals in January will be mostly Sunday through Thursday, 7 to 10 pm.

Auditions
Sunday November 4th and Monday November 5th at 7 PM
(You may attend either session)
Williamsburg Players
200 Hubbard Lane

Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. No advance preparation required, but audition sides are available for advance review on request. Casting for this production will be "colorblind," with all welcome. Approximate ages to be considered for each character are given below. Please bring your calendar so that you can mark any conflicts during the rehearsal period.

The play is adapted from a 1935 novel by Elizabeth von Arnim. There is a 1991 film which is quite close. Both items are available at the Williamsburg Regional Library and the film and portions of the play (in so-so productions) are on You Tube.

Synopsis:
It's 1922. When two unhappy London housewives decide to rent a country villa near Genoa, Italy for a holiday from their bleak marriages, they recruit two very different English women to share the cost and the experience. There, among the wisteria blossoms and Mediterranean sunshine, all four bloom again-rediscovering themselves in ways that they-and we-could never have expected.

Roles (all but Costanza speak with proper English accents):
Lotty Wilton-age 25 to 40-the instigator of the April trip to San Salvatore, she's given to having visions, earnest and at times naïve, very spontaneous, her enthusiasm is persuasive

Rose Arnott-age 30 to 50-a "disappointed Madonna", believes in a life in service to religion and others, but it isn't working for her, empathetic, used to smoothing things over, but worn down by it, dragged along to San Salvatore by Lotty, but inside desires the trip just as much

Mellersh Wilton-age 25 to 45-a family lawyer obsessed with building his business contacts and social standing, convinced of his wisdom to the point of being officious and controlling, especially to his wife, he has one scene in only a bath towel

Frederick Arnott-age 35 to 55-once a poet, but has taken to writing celebrity biographies and running with racy company, wants worldly success and admiration, but in seeking this, he has lost his wife's favor

Lady Caroline-age 20 to 35-beautiful, prematurely hardened, runs in society circles and has seen it all, used to being the focus, but goes to San Salvatore to escape the attention of men, carrying a sad secret

Mrs. Graves-age 60 up-a widowed dowager, proper, distrusting, somewhat miserly, used to imposing her will on others, trapped in the past and her memories of great men until she encounters San Salvatore

Costanza-40 up-the Italian housekeeper at San Salvatore, able to communicate much (especially her disdain for Mrs. Graves) in body language and Italian, convincing pronunciation of the language will be a requirement of the role

Antony Wilding-30-55-The owner of San Salvatore, worldly, charming, a little freer than the average man of the time, finds chemistry with Rose