Written by David Nehls and Betsy Kelso, this two-act musical comedy explores the relationships between the tenants of the Armadillo Acres Trailer Park in Starke, Florida, particularly between Pippi, the ‘stripper on the run,’ the Dr. Phil loving, agoraphobic Jeannie, and Jeannie’s tollbooth collector husband, Norbert. It was performed in the first annual New York Theatre Festival in 2004 before making its off-Broadway debut on September 27, 2005.
THE GREAT AMERICAN TRAILER PARK MUSICAL
Director
Anthony Paul Gilkinson
Assistant Director
Erin Coalson
Musical Director
Peter Belk
Round One: Audition Information
Please RSVP to
Please specify one of these dates.
Sunday, March 8, 1:00 – 4:00 p.m.
Tuesday, March 10, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
The location for auditions will be provided after an RSVP is received.
You will also receive an audition form to complete prior to coming to audition.
Sorry, walk-ins for auditions will not be permitted.
We will attempt to accommodate your preferred date. However, in order to manage capacity, we may ask you to consider a different time to audition. We appreciate your flexibility.
Be prepared to learn a short dance combination starting at 1:00 p.m. (Sunday) or 7 p.m. (Tuesday).
Prepare 16 bars of music for your audition and bring your sheet music.
An accompanist will be provided.
You may be asked to sing a cappella and to test your vocal range.
Please no CDs or mp3 / Ipod sound tracks.
Headshots are preferred but not required, as photos will be taken of each actor.
Everyone auditioning will be notified via email as to their status.
All actors should arrive promptly for their audition.
CAST OF CHARACTERS:
5 Women / 2 Men
Jeannie Garstecki – (Belt and Mezzo)
Jeannie has lived in a trailer at Armadillo Acres for 20 years with her husband and high-school sweetheart, Norbert. A faded beauty, she was 17 when she married, 18 when her son was born and 23 when he got kidnapped. That, coupled with a really bad perm, has turned her into an agoraphobic. She hasn’t left her trailer in all these years, and the man she loves is drifting further and further away and she’s determined to get him back…that is if she could manage to get out of the trailer to do it…
Norbert Garstecki – (High Baritone)
Jeannie’s husband Norbert collects tolls for a living and tries to be as good a husband as one can be to an agoraphobic. A former high-school football star, any good looks he may have had when younger, are now marred by fatigue and the stress of his difficult marriage. He is a simple man who desperately wishes his wife could get out of the trailer, but he’s not equipped with the emotional or intellectual tools to help her do it. He has never loved or slept with another woman other than Jeannie. That is until he meets…
Pippi – (Big Belt)
Up to this point, Pippi’s life has been about surviving. She is a professional stripper who has gotten by on her looks and talents for dancing and petty theft. She means no harm and is ready to stop making bad choices and start making changes, but first she has to get lost in a hick-town trailer park in North Florida so she won’t be found by her last bad choice…
Duke – (Rock Tenor)
Duke is Pippi’s obsessive, possessive and excessive Magic-Marker sniffing boyfriend; ex-boyfriend according to Pippi. Not so, according to Duke. Not the brightest guy south of the Mason-Dixon Line, Duke leaves a trail of disaster in his wake wherever he goes. His road trip to Starke is no exception and his arrival at the trailer park is full of surprises- even for a group of people who have had their share of excitement…
Betty – (Rough Belt)
Betty attended high school with Norbert and Jeannie Garstecki and has lived at Armadillo Acres for just as long. She now runs the leasing office and makes it her business to know everything about everybody who passes through the trailer park. Though a self-proclaimed bad-ass, Betty is really a mother hen to the denizens of the trailer park. Of all “The Girls,” Betty is the most grounded, earthy and dry.
Linoleum aka Lin – (Belt)
So named because her mother gave birth to her on the kitchen floor, Linoleum has a husband on death row at the Florida State Prison. His fate is the electric chair that doesn’t work properly unless most of the town’s electricity is turned off. So Lin watches everyone’s lights and appliances very closely in the hopes that she can keep the chair on the fritz. Sometimes self-absorbed and sometimes just a smart-ass, she hints at a wild, rock-and-roll past and is the fieriest of “The Girls.”
Donna aka Pickles – (Belt)
A newlywed, Donna is called “Pickles” because she is perpetually hysterically pregnant- that is, she is so convinced she should be pregnant she’s exhibiting symptoms. Her husband is a lot fancier than she is, as he is from the big city of Jacksonville. His parents haven’t been very supportive of his marital choice, so Pickles is desperate to give her husband a family of his own – even if she has to fake it. The dimmest of ‘The Girls,” Pickles is airy, sweet and blissfully ignorant.
PLEASE NOTE:
This show is a comedy but has ADULT LANGUAGE & DARK HUMOR. If you are shy and/or have genteel sensibilities, this is probably not the show for which you should audition.
Round Two: Call Back Audition
Wednesday, March 11, 7:00 – 10:00 p.m.
Rehearsal and Performance Dates
Rehearsals will be begin Monday, March 23, 7 p.m. – 10 p.m. Rehearsals will continue on March 25, 26, 30, & 31 and
April 1, 2. After these dates, rehearsals will be every Tuesday, Wednesday,
and Thursday, April 7th – May 28th.
Tech week begins Monday, June 1, and the final dress rehearsal is Wednesday, June 3.
All cast members must attend the first cast gathering,
The White Trash Potluck, on Saturday evening, March 21.
All scheduling conflicts, even potential ones, should be noted on your audition form.
All performers must sign an agreement to abide by the policies set by the Board of Directors of mad Theatre of Tampa, Inc.
Performance dates are June 4 – 21, 2015
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, 8:00 p.m.
Sunday, 2:00 p.m.
at the
Shimberg Playhouse
Straz Center for the Performing Arts
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