Auditions and News

CASTING NOTICE

Frankie and Johnny in the Clair De Lune

By Terrence McNally

“The action is daring and original; it's good to see a play that assumes we're all grownups.”

WESTWORD

VENUE: Pluto @ Ad Astra.  210 Petrie Terrace, Brisbane.

DIRECTED BY:  Fiona Kennedy

PERFORMANCE SEASON: October 24 - Nov 22

PERFORMANCE DAYS &  TIMES: Wed, Thu, Fri Sat @ 730/8pm and Sunday 2pm

REHEARSALS: to be decided on availability but generally two week nights 630-930 and weekend day 10-4.

PAYMENT: This is a co-op production, all members of the creative team receive a share of ticket sales after expenses.

AUDITIONS DATES AND TIMES :  Sunday 27th and Tuesday 29th.

CALL BACK DATES AND TIMES :  TBC

To apply, please email creatives@adastracreativity.com. Please include your current CV in Word or Google Doc only, as well as a RECENT headshot. Please make sure you specify the role/roles you will be auditioning for.

CREATIVE TEAM  

Ad Astra Theatre Company

Ad Astra started in 2018 in a converted 1970s two story brick office block at 57 Misterton Street in Fortitude Valley - called the Satellite Theatre.  It has a vibe very similar to the cool small theatres of LA, London and NYC.  From humble beginnings, it has grown to take its place amongst the best independent theatre companies in Brisbane.   It has seen hundreds of emerging and re-emerging amazing creatives showcase their talent on a professional stage.  Many have been nominated for Matilda awards over the years.  Ad Astra receives regular critical acclaim for its productions from both reviewers and audiences alike.  In 2024 we have kick started Astra Nova, which is a program for emerging playwrights, who get to work with a mentor over a six month period to help bring new local plays to a professional stage.  Next year, we will open in our new incredible building which will have various creative spaces including Galaxy which is a 151 seat proscenium-arch theatre and is where our first musical will be performed prior to this play.  The new complex will also have a sexy 44 seat black box theatre called Pluto, and this play will be the first ever production.  The complex also has other beautiful spaces for rehearsals, performances, film events and so much more.

Director - Fiona Kennedy (also Artistic Director for Ad Astra Theatre Company)

Fiona loves textual analysis and exploring the playwright’s intention.  Each season she curates a selection of Australian, Classic and unexpected productions that give Brisbane’s emerging and re-emerging creatives the opportunity to reach for the stars!  Ad Astra's motto is ‘to the stars and beyond’. We strive to take players and audience beyond what is familiar and known, beyond what is timid and undisturbed, to new paradigms and distant galaxies.  Fiona has an exciting range of acting credits to her name including Bakersfield Mist and Loot and has performed in theatres across south east Queensland.

Executive Producer - Gregory Wilken

Gregory is committed to helping emerging and reemerging creatives grow, especially in the ‘business’ side of a production. Gregory has been working across Ad Astra to develop budgeting guidelines, marketing plans as well as systems and procedures to ensure that each production has every chance of success. Gregory has been travelling interstate and overseas meeting with theatre companies to learn from their successes and setbacks to help Ad Astra grow stronger. Gregory is also an accomplished actor with theatre and film credits around Australia. 

ABOUT THE PLAY

First performed in 1987 Off-Broadway, Terrence McNally’s Frankie and Johnny at the Claire de Lune is a two-hander which has been nominated for Tony Awards and has been adapted for the screen.  The play begins with the two in bed together.  This first date fling evolves as the interplay between contrasting characters, the romantic and the realist, the grandiose and the introverted, becomes a deepening connection.  The play celebrates intimacy and vulnerability.  It is funny, disconcerting and poignant: all that black box theatre should be. 

WHAT ARE WE LOOKING FOR?

Character:

1. Frankie

Female

Acting age range: 38 to 45

Frankie is striking, but not conventionally good looking.  She is described in the text as having a sense of humour and a fairly tough exterior, frightened and can be very hard to reach.  

She works as a waitress in a city diner and the play is set in her small New York apartment: “a walk-up tenement in the West Fifties” which is cramped when the sofa bed is down.

She grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania.  Her accent is not New York, and could be general American.  

This production is the first in our new black box theatre at the refurbished, 210 Petrie Terrace venue.  We will be looking for naturalistic, filmic acting.  

One critic writes of an actor’s portrayal of Frankie in the following terms: “the juxtaposition of strength and vulnerability…she won’t let the various walls she has built around herself be violated unless it is on her terms.

This actor will need to be confident with partial nudity in a Black Box theatre.

2. Johnny

Johnny

 Male

Acting age: Johnny is 48 in the script. 

Frankie is younger than Johnny.  We will cast with this age difference in mind.

Johnny works as a short order cook in a New York city diner.  He grew up in foster homes and has “done time” in jail.   He lived in Allentown and Baltimore as a child, and then all over, so his American accent could be general American.

Johnny's witty banter is entertaining.  He is a rough, Shakespeare quoting romantic who is already envisioning a life together with Frankie in the middle of a one night stand.  Johnny is in good physical condition.  He is charismatic and craving connection.

 Please prepare two (2) suitable monologues: one comedic and one dramatic.  The audition will involve cold reads of the script.