Audition for Small Mouth Sounds
Audition Dates: Nov 30 - Dec 1 6-9pm
Show Dates: Feb 4-21
Small Mouth Sounds- A Black Box Performance
Six strangers arrive at a secluded spiritual retreat in the woods of upstate New York, each carrying something they desperately want relief from. Their unseen Teacher asks them to spend the retreat in silence with no talking, no phones, and very few distractions from themselves.
There’s Joan and Judy, a longtime couple whose relationship is being tested by Judy’s serious illness; Alicia, a struggling former child actor nursing a broken heart; Ned, an anxious man who seems to have endured an almost comically terrible run of misfortune; Rodney, an attractive and supremely confident yoga instructor; and Jan, a quiet Finnish pastor grieving a devastating loss and struggling to understand the English being spoken around him.
Without ordinary conversation to hide behind, their personalities, fears, desires and grief gradually emerge. They irritate one another, misunderstand one another, become attracted to one another and sometimes manage to offer exactly the comfort another person needs.
Small Mouth Sounds isn't really about meditation or finding enlightenment. It's about people desperately trying to connect when the usual tool they use have been taken away.
Character Summary
JOAN — late 40s
A therapist and sex educator and Judy's longtime partner. Joan presents herself as enlightened, open-minded and spiritually aware, but underneath that carefully constructed exterior is a tremendous amount of anger. She's intelligent, observant and capable of being very funny, but her relationship with Judy exposes the limits of all that self-awareness. Joan is one of the more emotionally complicated characters in the play.
JUDY — around 50
Joan's partner and a successful art editor. Judy is dealing with cancer, which brings an enormous unspoken question into her relationship with Joan: Will Joan stay when things get really difficult? She can be practical and controlled, but underneath is considerable fear and vulnerability. The silence between Judy and Joan becomes one of the play's most powerful relationships.
ALICIA — younger woman
A former child actor who arrives late, drenched, emotional and clearly having a terrible day. She's struggling after a breakup with Fred and has a particularly hard time giving up her phone and disconnecting from the outside world. Alicia can initially seem dramatic, needy and somewhat self-absorbed, but there's much more underneath. She's funny because she is absolutely terrible at being peacefully silent—which, frankly, makes her one of the more relatable people at the retreat.
NED — 40s
Awkward, anxious, intelligent and spectacularly unlucky. The playwright describes him as having endured a run of bad luck worse than the worst country-western song. He's uncomfortable with the outdoors and doesn't naturally fit into the serene-retreat environment. That makes him a terrific source of comedy, but Ned also carries genuine pain. His vulnerability eventually makes him one of the most sympathetic characters.
RODNEY — mid-30s
Fit, handsome and seemingly the person most likely to have this whole enlightenment thing figured out. He's a successful yoga instructor in New York and the Hamptons and arrives with the confidence of someone accustomed to being admired. But the polished spiritual exterior hides a much messier man, particularly when it comes to sex and relationships. He's charming, narcissistic and more complicated than he initially appears.
JAN — around 50
A pastor from a small town in Finland who has significantly overestimated his command of English. At first, that creates some very funny moments. But Jan's story becomes deeply poignant: he is grieving the loss of his son and has come to the retreat because traditional religion hasn't given him the answers or peace he's looking for. His difficulty understanding everyone else's language also beautifully reinforces the central theme of the play—sometimes words aren't what allow people to understand one another.
THE TEACHER — voice only / any gender
The retreat's unseen spiritual leader, heard through an amplified microphone. The Teacher speaks in an unusual, somewhat accented voice, with strange pauses and occasionally questionable wisdom. At times profound, at times ridiculous, the Teacher is partly guru and partly comic device. Importantly, we never see them, so the six participants—and their reactions to what they're being told—remain the focus.
For BRCT, I think the strongest promotional angle is that this isn't a solemn 90-minute meditation exercise. It's a very human comedy about six people attempting to find inner peace while being completely incapable of escaping themselves. The almost dialogue-free premise also gives you a terrific marketing hook: How much can six people say without saying anything?
Please review and bring the Auditon form with you
