TDM’s Spring 2018 Production is Three Americanisms
Written by Mac Wellman
Directed by Paul Lazar
Mac Wellman’s “Three Americanisms” is uniquely attuned to our current troubled times, despite its having been written close to thirty years ago. Via three interrelated monologues, the play depicts a trio of defensive, angry, vulnerable, fierce, suspicious, compelling people who are burdened with the cruel task of navigating an environment that is physically and psychically threatening and unpredictable.
Marjorie Pearlman speaks of “Wellman’s uncanny ability to capture the deep structure of contemporary experience in all of its absurdity and illogic.” This is most prevalent in the language of the play which Wellman describes as “full of clumsy constructions, double (and triple) negatives, demented neologisms, and every conceivable combination of out of fashion, dated, or wholly artificial slang…I found to my great surprise that the stuff possessed great expressive power, was usually about important ideas, and almost always was far more speakable than the better class of American language……..” Three Americanisms is a dark comic language experiment and a piercing social commentary.
Learn more about Paul Lazar and Big Dance Theater here: https://youtu.be/ZeJld3SeiKQ
AUDITIONS
Monday, November 27, 7-11pm
Tuesday, November 28, 4-8pm
CALLBACKS
Wednesday, November 29, 4-7pm
All auditions and callbacks take place in Farkas Hall Room 203, 12 Holyoke Street.
Rehearsals start Monday, March 5. Performances run April 12-15.
We are looking for a diverse ensemble of actors. Actors need only do a text audition (from the audition sides provided).
Dance training is absolutely not necessary to fulfill these roles, but abstract movement and dancing will be a part of the piece. The gender of characters in the play are two men and one woman. It is possible for actors of any gender to enact these characters.
To audition for THREE AMERICANISMS:
Please email Dana Knox at danaknox@fas.harvard.edu with 2 one hour windows of time (first choice and second choice). You will be assigned a 10 minute time slot within those hours. Walk up auditions will also be accepted on the audition nights, and placed into the next available slot.
To join the Design/Tech Team:
Please email Dana Knox at danaknox@fas.harvard.edu with your desired field(s). This is an opportunity to work with professional guest artists in Direction, Producing, Scenery, Costumes, Lights, Sounds, Dramaturgy, and Stage Management.
For more information about receiving course credit, please email Dana Knox at danaknox@fas.harvard.edu.
More info: https://tdm.fas.harvard.edu/current-productions
ABOUT PAUL LAZAR
Paul Lazar is a founding member and co-artistic director, along with Annie-B Parson, of Big Dance Theater. He has co-directed and acted in works for Big Dance since 1991, including commissions from the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Walker Art Center, Dance Theater Workshop, Classic Stage Company and Japan Society. Outside of Big Dance, Paul directed Christina Masciotti’s Social Security at the Bushwick Starr in 2015, Elephant Room at St. Ann’s Warehouse for the company Rainpan 43 in 2012, and Young Jean Lee’s Obie Award winning, We’re Gonna Die in 2011. He directed a new version of We’re Gonna Die in 2015, featuring David Byrne, at the Meltdown Festival in London. He also directed Bodycast: An Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra starring Frances McDormand for the 2014 BAM Next Wave Festival; and Major Bang for The Foundry Theatre at St. Ann’s Warehouse. Paul is an Associate Member of The Wooster Group, acting in Brace Up!, Emperor Jones, North Atlantic and The Hairy Ape. Other stage acting credits include Tamburlaine at Theatre For A New Audience, Young Jean Lee’s Lear, The Three Sisters at Classic Stage Company, Richard Maxwell’s Cowboys and Indians at Soho Rep, Richard III at Classic Stage Company, Svejk at Theatre for a New Audience, Irene Fornes’ Mud at the Signature Theater, and Mac Wellman’s 1965 UU. He has acted in over 30 feature films, including Snowpiercer, The Host, Mickey Blue Eyes, Silence of the Lambs, Beloved, Lorenzo’s Oil and Philadelphia. His awards include two Bessies (2010, 2002), the Jacob’s Pillow Creativity Award in 2007, and the Prelude Festival’s Frankie Award in 2014, as well an Obie Award for Big Dance in 2000. Paul currently teaches at New York University. He has also taught at Yale, Rutgers, The William Esper Studio and The Michael Howard Studio.