Auditions

Logo, company name Description automatically generated with medium confidence

Brunswick Little Theatre Announces 

Table Read & Special Audition for

Red Velvet

By Lolita Chakrabarti

 

Presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals

Directed by Ken Greenman.

 

TABLE READ FOR THOSE INTERESTED 

And

SPECIAL AUDITION FOR THE ROLE OF IRA ALDRIDGE 

Only the role of Ira Aldridge will be cast at this audition.  Auditions for all other roles will take place in August.

 

Dates (no appointment necessary):   

  • Table read:  May 10 from 1-4pm
  • Audition for Ira Aldridge:
    • May 18 from 1-4pm
    • May 19 from 6-8pm

 

Performance Dates: Oct.9-26,2025

Show Times: 12,19,25, & 26: 3 pm.  All others 7:30 pm

 

Location:   Brunswick Little Theatre (BLT), 8068 River Road SE, Southport

 

Questions?  kdolphin48@aol.com, (910) 368-3922




 

Synopsis:

Theatre Royal, Covent Garden, 1833. Edmund Kean, the greatest actor of his generation, has collapsed on stage while playing Othello.  A young black American actor has been asked to take over the role.  A black man has never starred on a major London stage—not even as Othello—until tonight.

An imagined version of true events, RED VELVET transports audiences to the turbulent backstage world of London’s Theatre Royal in Covent Garden to tell the little-known story of Ira Aldridge. As British Parliament debates the abolition of slavery, Aldridge prepares to make his entrance as Othello. His groundbreaking performance upends centuries of British stage tradition and changes the lives of everyone involved.

In reality, the audience was enamored but the critics were not amused and the Theatre Royal temporarily shut down. Despite this, Aldridge went on to build a stellar career with an impeccable reputation throughout Europe, however, he never returned to a London stage again.

Here are two videos (each under 5 minutes) discussing the play, the historical context, and its lead character:  

 

Characters:

  CASIMIR - Polish male, 20's, stage-hand. Inexperienced, low status and likes Halina. 

  HALINA WOZNIAK - Polish female, 20's.  Journalist. Bright, ambitious, frustrated with her life. 

  TERENCE - White male, 50's, English. Ira Aldridge's valet and dresser. Loyal, hard working. 

  IRA ALDRIDGE - Black male, 20’s, American, actor. Ambitious, keen, passionate and optimistic.  Also plays a later stage of life, 60’s, haughty, impatient, ferocious and unwell. 

  CONNIE - Jamaican female, any age, experienced, servant. Older than her years and the voice of truth. 

  BETTY LOVELL - White female, 20's, English, actress. Self-concerned, not clever but pleasant. 

  HENRY FORESTER - White male, 20's, English actor. Political, self-interested, ambitious and earnest. 

  BERNARD WARDE - White male, 50's, English, actor. Old school, a bit lazy, opinionated and insecure. 

  CHARLES KEAN - White male, 30's. English, actor (son of Edmund Kean). Haughty but without the talent to support it. Suffers from being Edmund's son. 

  ELLEN TREE - White female, late 20's, English, a leading actress. Talented, motivated, classical but progressive. 

  PIERRE LAPORTE - White male, mid 30's – 50’s, French, manager of the theatre. Gay, revolutionary, entrepreneurial. 

  MARGARET ALDRIDGE - White female, 30's, English, wife of Ira Aldridge. Plain, solid, trustworthy, Ira's rock.