New York's NAATCO auditions
NAATCO (National Asian American Theatre Co.) is seeking an all Asian American cast for the world premiere of Karen Hartman's LEAH'S TRAIN, directed by Jean Randich. EPAs will be at the Ripley Grier Studios, 520 8th Avenue, 16th floor on Sunday, 11/23, 5:00 - 9:00 pm and Monday, 11/24, 10:00 - 2:00. Equity non-profit tiered showcase code pending. Rehearsals start January 12 and the run is February 6 - March 1.
LEAH'S TRAIN is a highly musical, language play. We seek physically transformatory, verbally gifted actors who can evoke the sense of different times and places, i.e., 1913 Russia and 2000 San Francisco communicating with each other.
LEAH'S TRAIN—SYNOPSIS
Two-act Comic-Drama, 100 Minutes
2M, 3W (boy of 11, girl of 12)
The death of Leah, the family matriarch, sets a series of departures in motion. Her granddaughter Ruth, a successful doctor, avoids her funeral and Ben walks out on Ruth; Ruth's mother, Hannah, leaves her husband, and Benji, a young boy, runs away from home. Three generations of love and anger are ignited when these riders cross paths on the rails and Ruth, the ambitious young doctor, travels through time to encounter her grandmother as a child on a train. With a legacy of rupture, heroism, and self-abnegation, can one be heroic and humane?
Cast breakdown:
LEAH Family matriarch. Age 12. Ukrainian Jewish girl compelled at 12 to go off alone in search of her missing brother and nephew. She rides the rails at a time when it was forbidden for Jews to do so. Brave, humane, instinctively responsive to need. A caregiver who immigrates to the U.S. and becomes a beloved nurse. Old soul in young body. (Lives in 1913)
RUTH - LEAH's granddaughter. Late 20's. Extremely accomplished, young geriatric doctor. Avoids her grandmother's funeral out of age-old resentment for being shunted down the basement when her grandmother came to live with her mother. Won't even take her mother's phone calls. As a young American touring Europe, Ruth was raped on a train. Seeks to control her fear and experience of other by "playacting" "train fantasies." Ruth is a puzzle: to her patients, the Perfect Person; to her mother, "impossible to love." (Lives in 2000.)
BEN (doubles as SOLDIER) Mid-20's. Lost and adrift in the wake of his mother's death. Clinging to Ruth, the doctor who cared for his mother until the end. Tired of playing her sex train fantasy with her, and longing to be a writer without having any experience of life from which to write, he breaks up with RUTH and embarks on an Amtrak cross-country journey. An "on the road" adventurer as long as someone else determines the direction. Someone looking for a way to hide from life. Physically and verbally charming. (Lives in 2000)
BENJI (doubles as JOSEPH) Boy of 10 or 11. Runaway. Self-determined, feisty con artist. Hates his mother, hates the idea of family, and chooses instead to live by stealing. Rides the rails and plays people with his innocence and vulnerability. Has hardened his heart. (Lives in 2000)
SOLDIER Late Teens. Actor doubles with BEN. Hard-bitten, 1913 Russian Soldier bleeding profusely who would lose his life if LEAH didn't care for him. Her nursing awakens a humanity in him—he protects her even though she is a Jew.
JOSEPH 11-years old. Actor doubles with BENJI. LEAH's young nephew. He ran off with her brother, BEN, but promptly lost him. Found an adoptive family, and is good at looking out for himself. Never lets concern for someone else blunt his goal of bettering his own fortune. Good, honest kid. (Lives in 1913)
