Shake it Up Auditions Set at Long Wharf

Long Wharf Theatre’s education department is holding auditions for this summer’s Shake It Up Shakespeare Youth Ensemble productions of Hamlet and the original musical Threads of a Spider Web.


The general auditions for Non-Equity performers age 14 to 20 will be from June 20-24 from noon to 4 p.m. The performances take place August 24-27. Hamlet will be performed on August 24 and 26 and Threads of a Spider Web will take place on August 25 and 27. All performances take place on Stage II. Both shows will be directed by Annie DiMartino, Long Wharf Theatre’s director of education, with musical direction by Carol Taubl. “We are looking for students who are willing to take risks, people who understand how to be ensemble players,” said DiMartino.

Auditioners will be expected to perform a Shakespearean of no more than 90 seconds, a poem one minute in length and a power ballad or alternative rock song (chorus and verse). Suggested poets are Edna St. Vincent Millay, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Frost, William Wordsworth (no original poetry accepted.) Some suggested musical artists to explore would be Death Cab for Cutie, Jeff Buckley, Evanescence, Celine Dion and Johnny Cash.

DiMartino is seeking young performers with musical theatre experience and some classic training. If performers are proficient in a musical instrument (guitar, bass, piano, violin, cello) they should bring the instrument to the audition.

Invited call backs will take place June 27-30, with actors performing physical work, learning music and rehearsing scenes and monologues from both shows.

Rehearsals for the show will begin on July 11, taking place on Mondays through Fridays from 1 to 4 p.m.

Shakespeare’s classic Hamlet will be performed in repertory with DiMartino’s Threads of a Spider Web, with original music by Carol Taubl. In Threads, a mother tells a stranger on a plane about the loss of her two children to a drunk driver. From this horrific tragedy comes an exploration of several interlocking lives, all considering love, loss, acceptance and the poignant question of what might have been. The characters are lightly influenced by the poetry of Coleridge, Wordsworth, St. Vincent Millay, Plath and Dickinson. Original music – a mix of pop, power ballads and rock – complete the experience.

For more information about the show, or to make an appointment to audition, call DiMartino at 203-772-8271 or visit http://www.longwharf.org/.