Announcing Youth Auditions for The Secret Garden: Spring Edition
Based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Adapted for the stage by Marsha Norman and Lucy Simon
First rehearsal: Monday, March 22nd at 6:30pm
First performance: Thursday, April 15th at 10:30am (Student matinee)
Last performance: Sunday, May 23rd at 4:30pm
Total performances: 47 (these will be split between two Marys and two Colins)
Director: Emily Ernst
Music Director: Adam C. Wright
Assistant Director: Stephanie Lidstrom
Date: Monday, November 2nd from 4:30-8:30pm
Call or email for appointment: 214-978-0110 or e-mail at auditions@dct.org
Location: DCT’S Rosewood Center for Family Arts, 5938 Skillman at Northwest Highway, Dallas, 75231
Roles:
- Seeking young actors of any ethnicity to portray Mary and Colin
- All stage managerial positions have been filled.
- Local actors are encouraged to attend.
Requirements:
- Mary: please prepare “The Girl I Mean To Be” and the available sides
- Colin: please prepare “Come To My Garden” and the available sides
- Please bring photo and resume.
- Sides will be provided upon signing up for an audition.
Other Information:
- Youth actors will receive a $500 stipend
- Performances will take place at DCT’s Rosewood Center Baker Theater
- Both roles will be double cast
- Perusal script will be made available at DCT.
Character Breakdown
Actor 1: Mary Female, any ethnicity, age 10-12. A lonely, sour young girl whose journey from spoiled and withdrawn to compassionate and courageous is the heart of the story. Curious, proud, and resilient, Mary makes her first friend in a robin and later her friend Dickon. Alto. British dialect. This role will be double cast.
Actor 2: Colin
Male, age 10. Mary's cousin and Archibald's son. Colin has spent nearly his entire life confined indoors following the death of his mother and has been led to believe he is frail and destined to die. Through Mary's friendship and the magic of the secret garden, he transforms from a terrified, tantrum-throwing child who bosses around the staff to a confident, mischievous, healthy boy who is ready to receive his father’s love. Tenor. British dialect. This role will be double cast.
About the Director
Emily Ernst is the Artistic Director of Dallas Children's Theater and has trained as an actor, director, and movement coach. Prior to joining DCT, she co-founded Fair Assembly and served as Associate Artistic Director of River & Rail Theatre Company in Knoxville, Tennessee. She began her career as the assistant to the Artistic Director at Theatre for a New Audience in New York City, and later became the Associate Director of Flatwater Shakespeare Company in Nebraska. In Dallas, she has held staff positions at Cry Havoc Theater, Teatro Dallas, and TACA. Recent directing credits include King Lear, Macbeth, Henry V, Romeo and Juliet, Fiddler on the Roof, It's a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play, The Merit System, and Mame. Emily has taught advanced acting at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, and acting and directing at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. With Junior Players, where she led the inaugural female cohort of Shakespeare with Henry, Texas's first youth-focused Shakespeare in Prison program. Emily holds a B.F.A. in Acting from SMU's Meadows School of the Arts, trained at L'École Internationale de Théâtre Jacques Lecoq in Paris, and is a fellow of the Dallas Institute of Humanities and Culture.
Dallas Children's Theater online audition announcements are intended only to provide general descriptions; none of the information provided for any audition should be interpreted as a commitment by Dallas Children's Theater to specific terms and conditions for acceptance and/or employment.