The Penfield Players are pleased to announce auditions for their fall 2021 mainstage production, “The Haunting of Hill House,” adapted for the stage by F. Andrew Leslie from the novel by Shirley Jackson and directed by Jerry Argetsinger.

 

• Auditions are scheduled for August 23 and 24, 7-9 p.m., at the Penfield Community Center, 1985 Baird Rd., Penfield, NY, in the Community Room.

• The audition will consist of cold readings from the script. Monologues are optional.

• Please bring a list of your conflicts over the rehearsal period as well as a resume and a headshot.

• Cast members are expected to be present for all performances, rehearsals, and load-in, load-out, and set build dates in this announcement.

• The rehearsal schedule will take actors’ and production team members’ availability into account as much as possible. Rehearsals and performances will take place at the Penfield Community Center.

• We will follow all applicable Covid protocols in effect at the time of the auditions and during production and performances.

• Please let us know if you plan to attend auditions by sending an e-mail to penfieldplayers@gmail.com so that we may keep you apprised of the Covid protocols that will be in effect at the time of the auditions.

 

The Penfield Players are committed to inclusive casting. We invite anyone who can play the roles specified to audition regardless of age, race, ethnicity, or gender identification.

 

​The “Haunting of Hill House” is a “chilling and mystifying study in mounting terror in which a small group of ‘psychically receptive’ people are brought together in Hill House, a brooding, mid-Victorian mansion known as a place of evil and ‘contained ill will.’ Led by the learned Dr. Montague, who is conducting research in supernatural phenomena, the visitors have come to probe the secrets of the old house and to draw forth the mysterious powers that it is alleged to possess—powers which have brought madness and death to those who have lived therein in the past.” – Dramatists Play Service

 

The characters for which we are casting are:

 

• Mrs. Dudley, Hill House housekeeper. A stern, uncommunicative, somber woman.

• Eleanor Vance, a Hill House guest with experience of the paranormal. Honestly curious. Attractive but plain. There is something fragile about her that grows throughout the play

• Theodora, another Hill house guest with ESP powers. Exotic, guided by mood and impulse, yet she can step in with a kind of authority.

• Dr. Montague, an academic researcher of the paranormal. He has assembled the Hill House guests. Possibly bearded. A professional who can get lost in his work.

• Mrs. Montague, the wife of Dr. Montague, she is a formidable woman, dominant and overpowering. She considers herself to be an authority on the paranormal, but without her husband’s training. She often moves to usurp his authority. Eccentric. A believer in the “spiritual.”

• Luke Sanderson, heir to Hill House. Well educated, but often empty minded.

• Arthur Parker, Mrs. Montague’s assistant. Inappropriately flaunts his place both in the laboratory and in the bedroom.

 

The production schedule is as follows:

• Rehearsals begin the week of Sept. 27.

• Tech week runs from Oct. 25-28, with load-in and set build on Oct. 23 and 24.

• Load-out is on Sunday, Nov. 14.

• “The Haunting of Hill House” has seven performances:

  • Fri. and Sat., Oct. 29 and 30 at 8:00 p.m.

  • Fri. and Sat., Nov. 5 and 6 at 8:00 p.m.

  • Sunday, Nov. 7 at 2:00 p.m.

  • Fri. and Sat., Nov. 12 and 13 at 8:00 p.m.

 

We hope to see you in August!