News

Auditions for Enemy of the People

Auditions for February-March 2024 production of An Enemy of the People
by Henrik Ibsen
directed by Jim Masini
Tuesday and Wednesday, November 28 and 29, 7–10 p.m.

CALLBACKS
: Thursday, November 30, 7–10 p.m.
Saint Sebastian Players at St. Bonaventure,
1625 W. Diversey, Chicago

Audition requirements:

Cold readings, no monologues

Synopsis and Main Character Descriptions

An Enemy of the People concerns the actions of Dr. Thomas Stockmann, a medical officer charged with inspecting the public baths on which the prosperity of his native town depends. He finds the water to be contaminated. When he refuses to be silenced, he is declared an enemy of the people.

Dr. Thomas Stockmann (40–50)
A practicing medical doctor, the medical officer of the town baths and the brother of the mayor, who got him the job at the baths. Stockmann is idealistic and excitable. For much of his life, he was destitute and lived in the countryside; now he is happy to be fairly prosperous and living in a bustling town.

Mrs. Katherine Stockmann (40–50)
Dr. Stockmann’s wife. She is loyal and practical and often encourages her husband to think of his family when he is being rash. Morten Kiil is her adoptive father, or grandfather, depending on translation.

Petra Stockmann (20s)
The daughter of Thomas and Katherine, Petra is as idealistic as her father. She is a hard-working teacher, and she is frustrated that the law requires her to teach things she doesn’t believe in.

Peter Stockmann (35–45)
Dr. Stockmann’s brother. He is also chairman of the baths committee. He is a cautious but sometimes ruthless politician.

Hovstad (30–60)
Editor of The People’s Herald, the town’s leftist newspaper. Although slightly corrupt, he is at heart a political radical.

Aslaksen (30–60)
The newspaper’s printer. Because he lets the paper print on credit, he has a degree of editorial control. He is also the chairman of the homeowners association, which represents the town’s small business class, the majority of voters. He also has great influence with the Temperance Society, and he is a lover of moderation.

Billing (30–40)
An assistant at the newspaper, he is a radical, like Hovstad, but he is also ambitious and plans to run for office. He is in some way courting Petra.

Captain Horster (40–60)
A ship captain who has little interest in local politics, Horster provides the hall for Dr. Stockmann’s speech, but he is fired from his ship as a result.

Morten Kiil (50–70)
A rich old man, Kiil owns several of the tanneries that Dr. Stockmann implicates in his water pollution report. He is the adoptive father or grandfather (depending on the translation) of Mrs. Stockmann, and his will assigns a good deal of wealth to her and her children.

Morten Stockmann (10–12)
Dr. Stockmann’s young son. At the end of the play, Dr. Stockmann decides to educate Morten and his brother, Ejlif, according to his own principles so that they can lead a new generation of independent and politically righteous men.

Ejlif Stockmann (13–15)
Dr. Stockmann’s young son. At the end of the play, Dr. Stockmann decides to educate Ejlif and his brother, Morten, according to his own principles so that they can lead a new generation of independent and politically righteous men.

Pay
There is no pay for this project.

Rehearsals
December 4, 2023–February 15, 2024

Performances
February 16–March 10, 2024
Fridays and Saturdays 7:30 p.m., Sundays 2 p.m.
All rehearsals and performances take place at St. Bonaventure Oratory, 1625 W. Diversey. Parking available.

Please do not submit if you are unavailable for any performances or tech week beginning Saturday, February 10.

To request an appointment, please email headshot and resume
to [email protected].
Please indicate your day/time preference; we will do our best to accommodate you.

 

Auditions for The Real Inspector Hound

Auditions for The Real Inspector Hound
by Tom Stoppard

directed by Rob Gretta

Monday, November 8, 7–9 p.m.
Tuesday, November 9, 7–9 p.m.

We seek adult actors (18+) of all ages, ethnicities, and genders

CALLBACKS: Wednesday, November 10, 7–9 p.m.

 

Audition requirements
Proof of full COVID-19 vaccination and a photo ID
Ability to use a British accent
Auditions will involve cold readings, no monologues. To request an appointment, please email headshot and resume
to  
auditions@saintsebastianplayers.org.


Pay

There is no pay for this project

Rehearsals
November 14, 2021–January 13, 2022

Performances
January 14 – February 6, 2022
Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
Please do not submit if you are unavailable for any performance dates or tech week beginning Jan. 3.

Characters
MOON – Gender non-specific. 30s
Second string theatre critic of a major newspaper in London. Youngish, nerdy but with an academic quality, self-absorbed, generally nervous, well educated, obsessed with status, poor self-esteem, prone to outbursts, and generally unhappy. Ambitious but with career impotence. Self- absorbed, self-conscious and self-righteous at times.

BIRDBOOT – Male identifying. 30s or 40s.
First string theatre reviewer with the “other” major London paper. Married to a woman he does not love nor has anything in common with. He desires the glamorous life of the theatre and uses his power to gain sexual favors from young up-and-coming actresses. Possibly too formal, prissy, likes to indulge his desires and impulses. He’s secure in his career and rather likes who he is. Can be self-righteous and overly defensive. He is hypocritical (morally), pompous, superior and larger than life.

MRS. DRUDGE – Gender non-specific. 30s–50s. Cockney accent. Must have excellent comedic timing.
The dutiful maid who sees and hears everything that goes on. Middle aged, not well educated but not without some learned formality working for nobility—still, a bit bohemian and spacey. Lives in the nearby village and rides a bike to work.

SIMON GASCOYNE – Male identifying. 20s or 30s. Handsome.
Young, dashing, self-absorbed, flirty and interested in Cynthia Muldoon. He has had a recent fling with Felicity and casts her aside to pursue his professed true love, Cynthia. He could be a gold digger or a mad man, it is very unclear.

FELICITY CUNNINGHAM – Female identifying. 20s or 30s.
Aristocratic but probably a “working girl” back in London. She is the current paramour (but short lived) to Simon Gascoyne. She is very attractive, a best friend of Cynthia (Lady Muldoon), old school chum, tennis player, wealthy, snobby, society girl. As a woman spurned, she has a temper.

CYNTHIA MULDOON – Female identifying. 20s or 30s. Beautiful and striking.
The Lady of the Manor and wife of the missing Albert Muldoon (gone 10 years). She is wealthy, upper class, sweet, entertaining and enjoys her station in life, she has had an affair with Simon. She has arranged this weekend’s gathering. She is good friends with Felicity; they are tennis and bridge players. She inherited the manor from her husband and endeavors to keep it going and live the aristocratic lifestyle but in a modern age. She is fashionable with good taste and dresses “the part” of the Lady of the Manor.

MAJOR MAGNUS MULDOON – Male identifying. 30s or 40s. Canadian and British accents.
Initially he is presented as the half-brother of the missing Albert Muldoon who just recently “showed up” at Muldoon Manor. He is disguised to look older and is wheelchair bound. He is a Major in the military. He is revealed (facial hair removed, etc.) at the end of the play to be The Real Inspector Hound, the long-lost Albert Muldoon and Puckeridge (the third string critic at another London newspaper). As Magnus, he is smug, aggressive and somewhat hateful. As Albert, he’s happy to be reunited with Cynthia. As the Inspector he is sharp and aggressive. As Puckeridge he is triumphant.

INSPECTOR HOUND – Gender non-specific. 30s or 40s. Bouncy Sherlock Holmes type.
Perhaps the “madman” – an imposter dressed like Sherlock Holmes. Or quite basically, just an actor playing Hound, perhaps young but made to look older as part of the disguise. We see later taking on the role of a theatre critic dressed as “Inspector Hound”. Overall motivation is unclear – could conceivably be “in on it” with Puckeridge.

 

Boys In The Valley

Tickets are $25 and available here


This fictional account explores the relationship between Mayor Richard J. Daley of Chicago and President Lyndon Johnson, specifically highlighting Daley’s quiet but adamant opposition to the war in Viet Nam. This special performance features SSP company members George Manisco as Daley and Todd Parkhurst as LBJ. Please come and explore with us the life and times of these two legendary leaders. A discussion will follow each reading.


Don’t miss this special Fundraiser benefiting St. Bonaventure, SSP & Subtext

 

 

 

Announcing our 2018–19 Season

The Mystery of Edwin Drood with book, music and lyrics by Rupert Holmes
Based on Charles Dickens’ final unfinished novel, this hilarious whodunit invites the audience to solve its mystery by choosing the identity of the murderer, potentially changing the show’s ending at each performance. This tune-filled, fast-paced tale is presented as a show within a show, as the Music Hall Royale—a delightfully loony Victorian theatre company—presents Dickens’ brooding mystery.
Performances October 26–November 18

Little Stones by SSP’s very own Leigh Johnson
In this romantic drama combining notions of reincarnation and fate, a young director and actress rehearsing different plays in adjacent classrooms of St. Bonaventure School in the autumn of 2018 find themselves inexplicably drawn to one another. Is it merely mutual attraction, or is it something deeper, more mysterious—a possible reconnection of old souls whose past lives were tragically cut short 100 years earlier? Combining neighbourhood history with New Age sensibilities, Little Stones is a made-in-Chicago fable of karma, theatre and influenza.
Performances February 15–March 10

Love, Loss, and What I Wore by Delia Ephron and Nora Ephron
Based on the bestseller by Ilene Beckerman. This play of monologues and ensemble pieces about women, clothes and memory covers all the commonly important subjects—mothers, prom dresses, mothers, buying first bras, mothers, hating purses and why women wear only black.
Performances April 26–May 19

Performances for each production take place Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m.—a new time starting this season—and Sundays at 2 p.m. at St. Bonaventure, 1625 W. Diversey, at Marshfield just west of Ashland, in Chicago. Free parking is available in two lots. Subscription packages for the three-play season are $50, $30 for seniors.

Full-priced single tickets are $25 for The Mystery of Edwin Drood and $20 for the two remaining plays; single tickets for seniors, students with valid ID and children younger than 12 are $15 for The Mystery of Edwin Drood and $12 for the remaining two plays. Group rates also are available.

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Audition for The Front Page

Auditions for the Saint Sebastian Players’ April-May production of The Front Page by Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur
  • Sunday, February 4, 12–5 p.m.
  • Monday, February 5, 7–10 p.m.
  • Callbacks Thursday, February 8
We seek actors OF ALL ETHNIC BACKGROUNDS to fill the following roles (18 M, 4  F):
  • Sheriff Hartman (30 – 60 yrs old)
  • Walter Burns (40 – 60 yrs old)
  • Hildy Johnson (20 – 40 yrs old)
  • Bensinger (20 – 50 yrs old)
  • Mollie Malloy (20 – 50 yrs old)
  • Mrs. Grant (40 – 60 yrs old)
  • Mr. Pincus (20 – 60 yrs old)
  • McCue (20 – 50 yrs old)
  • Jennie (20 – 60 yrs old)
  • Peggy Grant (20 – 40 yrs old)
  • The Mayor (40 – 60 yrs old)
  • Frank (20 – 50 yrs old)
  • Earl Williams (20 – 50 yrs old)
  • Diamond Louie (30 – 60 yrs old)
  • Murphy (20 – 50 yrs old)
  • Schwartz (20 – 50 yrs old)
  • Wilson (20 – 50 yrs old)
  • Second Policeman (20 – 50 yrs old)
  • Endicott (20 – 50 yrs old)
  • Woodenshoes Eichom (20 – 50 yrs old)
  • Kruger (20 – 50 yrs old)
  • Carl (20 – 50 yrs old)
Pay
There is no pay for this project.
 
Rehearsals
Rehearsals will take place at St. Bonaventure
 
Performances
April 27–May 20, 2017
Fridays 8 p.m., Saturdays 8 p.m., Sundays 2 p.m.
 
For the audition prepare the sides below:

Please do not submit if you are unavailable during tech week (April 22–26) or performance dates.

Email auditions@saintsebastianplayers.org with headshot/resume and your preferred appointment time.

Thank you!

 

Sebastian Studio Project: Remembrance

Sebastian Studio Project
Remembrance
by ArLynn Presser
A play about love, sacrifice and how we honor the memory of those we have (will always) loved
August 4–6, 8 p.m.
August 7, 2 p.m.
Purchase adult tickets here
Purchase senior/children tickets here

35th Anniversary Awards

SSP Company 2016-06

SSP company members gathered to celebrate our 35th season June 20! Standing L-R: Steven Walanka, Nick Ferrin, Jack Dugan Carpenter, Julie Lynn Johnson, Emil Zbella, Jessica Goforth, Anthony Fiorelli, Aaron Harris Woodstein Jill Chukerman-Test, Brittany Eude, Ed McGuire, Brian Vabulas, George Manisco, Leigh Johnson, Jim Masini, Todd Parkhurst, Maya Schultz, Gary Grenholm and Ally Cross. Kneeling L-R: Alex Demetralis, Nancy Pollock, Cortney West, Don Johnson, Eric S Prahl and Stephen Rowland. Also in attendance but not in the photo: Bill Chamberlain, Robert Kaercher and Beverly Parkhurst. We missed the rest of you!

 

SSP Awards 2016

We had a wonderful celebration of our 35th season June 20 at the annual Awards Party! Congrats to our Sebastian Award winners (L-R) Nancy Pollock, a double winner for Smashing Supporting Performer in Arsenic and Old Lace and the Scott Rosengarden Award; Linda Masini for the Fr. Dan Montalbano Award; Kate O’Connor (not in attendance but Linda is holding her award!) for Simply Stunning Performance in Arsenic and Old Lace; Joe Feliciano for Smashing Supporting Performer in The Woman in Black; Jack Dugan Carpenter for Sweetly Satisfying Production, as director of The Woman in Black; Ian Maryfield for Simply Stunning Performance in The Woman in Black; Brian Vabulas for the Barry Cunnane Award; and SSP President Jill Chukerman-Test.

Saint Sebastian 35th Anniversary

 

Saint Sebastian Players had a gathering  on 3/5 to celebrate SSP’s  35th birthday! About  45 people attended…cast audience and members…sharing generous champagne toasts!

Here’s to another 35 years of great theater!

Make A Contribution

We are thankful for YOU, our supporters, fans, friends and family. We are thrilled to have made it to 35 years, and we know we couldn’t have done it without you. If you’d like to see us last another 35 (at least), please consider helping us out with a tax-deductible contribution.

SAINT SEBASTIAN PLAYERS C/O ST. BONAVENTURE • PERFORMANCE SPACE: 1625 W. DIVERSEY PARKWAY (ENTER ON MARSHFIELD—STAIRS ONLY, NO ELEVATOR) •
MAILING ADDRESS: 1641 W. DIVERSEY PARKWAY, CHICAGO, IL 60614 • 773-404-7922